Superstition: Oxford Very Short Lecture 010

In the 21st century, what do we still "believe" in?

Do you avoid hotel rooms on the 13th floor, worry about breaking a mirror bringing bad luck, or consider black cats to be ominous? Or do you carry lucky charms, or have your own personal good luck rituals before important life events? Even though everything today (seemingly) relies on science, superstitions are still everywhere.

The development of superstitions has gone through many twists and turns, but from the dawn of civilization to the present day, there has always been a consistent thread behind them. The first half of this book primarily introduces the history of superstitions. As the book shows, most of the reasons people were superstitious in the past are still observable today. Humanity's fascination with superstitions is partly due to their elusive nature and the contradictions that accompany them.

The latter half of the book delves into modern society. In addition to listing some of the most common superstitions and briefly describing their origins, it will also explore, from the perspective of psychological research: why do some people still believe in the power of magic in a world where scientific achievements are ubiquitous? The final chapter discusses the future of superstitions and what impact they might have on our society.

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Only when we understand that depression can be imagined as pain, superstition as a feeling of social support where one feels loved, and medication as reflecting our underlying anxieties, can we truly comprehend the social roots of the six major anxieties of the 21st century within highly atomized social structures, and build healing cultures suitable for every community and every individual. — Chao En-Chieh