Superstitions, such as knocking on wood for good luck and avoiding walking under ladders, are scientifically irrational, but research shows that some people’s individual rituals are more a token of sentimental value, rather than from a fear of something going wrong.
Nicotinell (4) research showed that women opt to wear sentimental jewellery, and some buy house plants when moving in to new homes. Men enjoy listening to their favourite music before meeting a potential partner, and feel more confident when wearing their favourite clothes.
Dr. Patrick J. Cohn believes that people can use their rituals to achieve a higher likelihood of succeeding throughout life, by controlling the overall effect that rituals have on them.
The important purposes for establishing positive rituals are to focus the mind, instill confidence and to help people trust their own abilities
If people use rituals as a means of improving a situation only when necessary, such as doing gentle exercise before a sporting game to ‘warm-up’, this will have a positive effect on the outcome.
He states that the important purposes for establishing positive rituals are to focus the mind, instill confidence and to help people trust their own abilities.
In this way, people can develop sensible routines to help build confidence and calm nerves, rather than placing an over-reliant dependence on irrational superstitions.
By Kay Taylor.
(1)Taken from the McCombs School of Business website.
(2)Taken from the Peak Performance Sports website.
(3)Taken from the Medicinenet website.
(4)Research from Nicotinell, the official smoke free partner of The Football League.