Superstition is a credulous Credulity in Alternative Medicine manifests itself prinicipally in the form of "X is good for/a cure for Y" where X is an herb, chemical, procedure, etc. and Y is either a malady or some desired state. Usually X is at most a factor with some effect but complete hoaxes are not uncommon belief Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true or notion, not based on reason Reason is a mental faculty found in humans, that is able to generate conclusions from assumptions or premises. In other words, it is amongst other things the means by which rational beings propose reasons, or explanations of cause and effect. In contrast to reason as an abstract noun, a reason is a consideration which explains or justifies or knowledge Knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject; (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information; or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to folk beliefs Folk religion consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices. Don Yoder has defined "folk religion" as "the totality of all those views and practices of religion that exist among the people apart from and alongside the strictly theological deemed irrational, which is appropiate since irrational means "not based on reason". This leads to some superstitions being called "old wives' tales An old wives' tale is a type of urban legend, similar to a proverb, which is generally passed down by old wives to a younger generation. Such 'tales' usually consist of superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or untrue details. Today old wives' tales are still common among children in school playgrounds. Old wives' tales". It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck Luck or fortuity is good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance, and attributed by some to reasons of faith or superstition, which happens beyond a person's control, prophecy A prophecy is the message that has been communicated to a prophet which the prophet then communicates to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of events to come and spiritual beings The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, all of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The spirit of a human being is thus the animating, sensitive or vital principle in that individual, similar to the soul taken to be the seat of the mental, intellectual and emotional powers. The, particularly the irrational Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking or acting without inclusion of rationality. The term is used, usually pejoratively, to describe thinking and actions that are, or appear to be, less useful or more illogical than other more rational alternatives belief that future The future is the time period in which all things become possible. It is the opposite of the past, and is the time after the present. In the Occidental view, which uses a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of the projected time line that is anticipated to occur. In special relativity the future is considered to be absolute future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events.

The etymology Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time is from the classical Latin Classical Latin in simplest terms is the sociolinguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it. Any unabridged Latin dictionary informs moderns that Marcus Tullius Cicero and his contemporaries superstitio, literally "a standing over [in amazement]", but other interpretations include an over-scrupulousness in religion or a "hold-over" from older beliefs .^[1] The word is attested in the 1st century BC, notably in Livy Titus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own and Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria. He is also well known for the Metamorphoses, a mythological hexameter poem, the Fasti, about the Roman calendar, and the Tristia and Epistulae ex, in the meaning of an unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic The study of magic in the Greco-Roman world is a branch of the disciplines of classics, ancient history and religious studies. In the ancient post-hellenistic world of the Greeks and Romans , the public and private rituals associated with religion are accepted by historians and archaeologists to have been a part of everyday life. Examples of this, especially foreign or fantastical ideas. Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, however, derives the term from the "superstitiosi" ("survivors"): parents indulging in excessive prayer and sacrifice hoping that their children would survive them to perform their necessary funeral rituals.^[2] By the 1st century AD, it came to refer to "religious awe, sanctity; a religious rite" more generally.^[3][4]

Superstition and folklore

To European medieval scholars the word was applied to any beliefs outside of or in opposition to Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (the two split from one another in 1054 A.D.), and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16; today it is applied to conceptions without foundation in, or in contravention of, scientific and logical knowledge.^[5] Many extant western superstitions are said to have originated during the plagues Plague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis . Primarily carried by rodents (most notably rats) and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death and devastation it brought. Plague is still endemic in some parts of the world that swept through Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Superstition and religion

In keeping with the Latin etymology of the word, religious believers have often seen other religions as superstition. Likewise, atheists Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one and agnostics Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable. Agnosticism can be defined in various ways, and is sometimes used to indicate doubt or a skeptical approach to questions. In some senses, may regard any religious belief Religious belief refers to a mental state in which faith is placed in a creed related to the supernatural, sacred, or divine. Such a state may relate to: 1 the existence, characteristics and worship of a deity or deities; 2 divine intervention in the universe and human life; or 3 values and practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader as superstition.

Religious practices are superstitious when they include belief in miracles A miracle is an unexpected event attributed to divine intervention. Sometimes an event is also attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that God may work with the laws of nature to perform what people perceive as miracles, an afterlife The afterlife is the idea that consciousness or the mind continues after the death of the body occurs, by natural or supernatural means. In many popular views, this continued existence often takes place in an immaterial or spiritual realm. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, supernatural interventions, apparitions In spirituality including religion, visions comprise inspirational renderings, generally of a future state and/or of a mythical being, and are believed to come from a deity, sometimes directly or indirectly via prophets, and serve to inspire or prod believers as part of a revelation or an epiphany. Many mystics take the word vision to be or the efficacy of prayer Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional connection to a God, deity or spirit, through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal, charms An amulet , a close cousin of the talisman (Arabic: طلاسم‎ / transliterated: tilasm), consists of any object intended to bring good luck and/or protection to its owner, incantations An incantation or enchantment is a charm or spell created using words. An incantation may take place during a ritual, either a hymn or prayer, and may invoke or praise a deity. In magic, occultism, witchcraft it may be used with the intention of casting a spell on an object or a person. The term derives from Latin "incantare" , meaning &, the meaningfulness of omens An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Though the word "omen" is usually devoid of reference to the change's nature, hence being possibly either "good" or "bad", the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous". [, and prognostications.

Greek and Roman pagans, who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. Such fear of the gods (deisidaimonia) was what the Romans meant by "superstition" (Veyne 1987, p. 211). For some Christians, just such fears might be worn proudly as a name: Desdemona.

The Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called considers superstition to be sinful Sin, in religion, is the concept of acts that violate a known moral rule. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity, i.e. divine law. Sin may also refer to omitting to act or simply desiring to act in violation of a moral norm. Sin may also refer in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, law and their previous promises in the divine providence In theology, Divine Providence, or simply Providence, is God's activity in the world. By implication, it is also a title of God. A distinction is usually made between "general providence" which refers to God's continuous upholding the existence and natural order of the universe, and "special providence" which refers to God's of God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue , is a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God (referred to using several names) to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb, and later authored by God and given to or written by Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They. The Catechism of the Catholic Church The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an official exposition of the teachings of the Catholic Church. A provisional, "reference text" was issued by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic constitution, Fidei depositum states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).

The Catechism clearly dispels commonly held preconceptions or misunderstandings about Catholic doctrine Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. The Greek analogy is the etymology of catechism relating to superstitious practices:

Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22 (para. #2111)

Some superstitions originated as religious practices that continued to be observed by people who no longer adhere to the religion that gave birth to the practice. Often the practices lost their original meaning in this process. In other cases, the practices are adapted to the current religion of the practitioner. As an example, during the Christianizing of Europe, pagan symbols to ward off evil were replaced with the Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix and to the more general family of cross symbols..

Superstition and psychology

In 1948, behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, author, inventor, social philosopher, and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974 published an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, in which he described his pigeons exhibiting what appeared to be superstitious behaviour. One pigeon was making turns in its cage, another would swing its head in a pendulum motion, while others also displayed a variety of other behaviours. Because these behaviours were all done ritualistically in an attempt to receive food from a dispenser, even though the dispenser had already been programmed to release food at set time intervals regardless of the pigeons' actions, Skinner believed that the pigeons were trying to influence their feeding schedule by performing these actions. He then extended this as a proposition regarding the nature of superstitious behaviour in humans.^[6]

Skinner's theory regarding superstition being the nature of the pigeons' behaviour has been challenged by other psychologists such as Staddon and Simmelhag, who theorised an alternative explanation for the pigeons' behaviour.^[7]

Despite challenges to Skinner's interpretation of the root of his pigeons' superstitious behaviour, his conception of the reinforcement schedule Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the delivery of a stimulus, after a response, that results in an increase in the future rate or probability of that response . The response strength is assessed by measuring frequency, duration, latency, accuracy, and/or persistence of the response after reinforcement stops has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. Originally, in Skinner's animal research, "some pigeons responded up to 10,000 times without reinforcement when they had originally been conditioned on an intermittent reinforcement basis."^[8] Compared to the other reinforcement schedules (e.g. fixed ratio, fixed interval), these behaviours were also the most resistant to extinction Extinction is the psychological phenomenon in which the probability of a response is reduced when a reinforcing stimulus ceases to be presented. In classical conditioning, this concerns the reduction in a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus repeatedly occurs without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus with which it has been.^[8] This is called the partial reinforcement effect, and this has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. To be more precise, this effect means that, whenever an individual performs an action expecting a reinforcement, and none seems forthcoming, it actually creates a sense of persistence within the individual.^[9] This strongly parallels superstitious behaviour in humans because the individual feels that, by continuing this action, reinforcement will happen; or that reinforcement has come at certain times in the past as a result of this action, although not all the time, but this may be one of those times.

From a simpler perspective, natural selection Natural selection is a natural law by which genetically heritable traits become more or less common in a population over successive generations. This selection in interaction with the production of variation, the possible genetic fixation process and possibly, in several cases, whith little epigenetic process determine the evolution of the species will tend to reinforce a tendency to generate weak associations. If there is a strong survival advantage to making correct associations, then this will outweigh the negatives of making many incorrect, "superstitious" associations.^[10]

See also

• Magical thinking In anthropology, psychology, and cognitive science, the term magical thinking is used to describe causal reasoning that looks for correlation between acts or utterances and certain events. In religion, folk religion and superstition, the correlation posited is between religious ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice or the observance of a taboo, and an
• Luck Luck or fortuity is good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance, and attributed by some to reasons of faith or superstition, which happens beyond a person's control
• Folk religion
• Taboo
• Numbers in Chinese culture
• post hoc ergo propter hoc
• Theatrical superstitions
• Baseball superstition
• Witch window

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1989. "The etymological meaning of L. superstitio is perhaps ‘standing over a thing in amazement or awe’. Other interpretations of the literal meaning have been proposed, e.g. ‘excess in devotion, over-scrupulousness or over-ceremoniousness in religion’ and ‘the survival of old religious habits in the midst of a new order of things’; but such ideas are foreign to ancient Roman thought."
2. ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum II, 28 (32), quoted in Wagenvoort, Hendrik (1980). Pietas: selected studies in Roman religion. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 236. ISBN 9789004061958.
3. ^ Oxford Latin Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1982.
4. ^ Turcan, Robert (1996). The Cults of the Roman Empire. Nevill, Antonia (trans.). Oxford, England: Blackwell. pp. 10–12. ISBN 0631200479.
5. ^ Jolly, raylene seaton; Raudvere, Catharina & Peters, Edward (2001) Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. x.
6. ^ Skinner, B.F. (1948). 'Superstition' in the Pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38(2), 168-172.
7. ^ Staddon, J.E., & Simmelhag, V.L. (1971). The 'supersitition' experiment: A reexamination of its implications for the principles of adaptive behaviour. Psychological Review, 78(1), 3-43.
8. ^ ^{a b} Schultz & Schultz (2004, 238).
9. ^ Carver & Scheier (2004, 332).
10. ^ Kevin R. Foster; Hanna Kokko (2009). "The evolution of superstitious and superstition-like behaviour". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276 (1654): 31. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0981. PMID 18782752. PMC 2615824. http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/v61648mh87863528.

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