The brain seems to have networks that are specialized to produce an explicit, magical explanation in some circumstances, said Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. In an e-mail message, he said such thinking was “only one domain where a relevant interpretation that connects all the dots, so to speak, is preferred to a rational one.”
Children exhibit a form of magical thinking by about 18 months, when they begin to create imaginary worlds while playing. By age 3, most know the difference between fantasy and reality, though they usually still believe (with adult encouragement) in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. By age 8, and sometimes earlier, they have mostly pruned away these beliefs, and the line between magic and reality is about as clear to them as it is for adults.
It is no coincidence, some social scientists believe, that youngsters begin learning about faith around the time they begin to give up on wishing. “The point at which the culture withdraws support for belief in Santa and the Tooth Fairy is about the same time it introduces children to prayer,” said Jacqueline Woolley, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas. “The mechanism is already there, kids have already spent time believing that wishing can make things come true, and they’re just losing faith in the efficacy of that.”
If the tendency to think magically were no more than self-defeating superstition, then over the pitiless history of human evolution it should have all but disappeared in intellectually mature adults.
Yet in a series of experiments published last summer, psychologists at Princeton and Harvard showed how easy it was to elicit magical thinking in well-educated young adults. In one instance, the researchers had participants watch a blindfolded person play an arcade basketball game, and visualize success for the player. The game, unknown to the subjects, was rigged: the shooter could see through the blindfold, had practiced extensively and made most of the shots.
Interesting stuff.
Sure, by typical measuring techniques it doesn’t appear that we have an effect on things. But some quantum physics experiments have shown at least a slight tendency for just observation leading to effect. Who’s to say we don’t influence the events around us by our actions?
Science is constantly evolving and discovering new things. Perhaps, some day in the future after a new form of energy or two are discovered and some new measuring techniques are invented, scientists will look back at the above mentioned psychology experiments and be able to tell us why we’re predisposed to think in those ways. Maybe they’ll be able to tell us that it’s not all just in our heads.
But even if it is all just in our heads, does that make it any less real to the individual experiencing it? And if it actually helps, is it a bad thing to use as a tool for success?
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce