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CrowdScience: What Makes Us Superstitious?

What Makes Us Superstitious?

12/10/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, What Makes Us Superstitious?

How rational people can hold irrational beliefs and why ‘luck’ may be a state of mind

Anand Jagatia sets out to reveal the lure of superstitions and explores why - even an era of scientific rationalism – belief in concepts like luck seem entrenched in our cultures.

Would you willingly break a mirror, walk under a ladder or cut up an image of someone you love - or might you be worried about tempting fate – even if you don’t believe in supernatural forces? 
 
Anand Jagatia enters the world of magical thinking on behalf of CrowdScience listeners to explore why - even in this era of scientific rationalism – superstition, magic and belief in concepts like the evil eye and luck appear deeply entrenched in our cultures and psyche.
 
Meeting historians and psychologists, Anand sets out to reveal the enduring lure of superstition and explore the biological factors that can influence us, like how our brains have evolved to look for connections and find patterns in seemingly random events. 
 
Is it possible that some people are ‘lucky’ and can we enhance our own ‘luck’? Experimental evidence is thin on the ground but finger’s crossed, CrowdScience can find some.
 
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Melanie Brown

(Image: A handmade Voodoo Doll with pins. Getty Images)

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