12.12.2024

THE LUCK RITUAL IS NOT JUST A SUPERSTITION - IT'S SCIENTIFICLY PROVEN TO HELP

Your colleague asks you to take the report to the boss for him. You don't want to because you are not aware of the details of the document. And then your colleague ends with an argument - he is worried that if he goes, there will be a scandal with the boss, because when he left for work in the morning, he put on his left shoe first. And when he goes wrong like that, the whole day doesn't go well for him.

You wonder whether to laugh or sympathize with the colleague. An educated man, with a successful career and a happy personal life, but in the grip of superstition.

True, it's a bit funny with the left and right foot. But psychologists say that superstitions and rituals should not be confused after all.

Many people, especially those who often appear in front of an audience or at competitions - artists and athletes for example - have rituals. Their importance should not be underestimated, because they help to remove the tension that often appears before a decisive moment and to gain self-confidence.

Irrational and sometimes frankly stupid actions play a positive role in regulating behavior, psychologists explain.

Scientific evidence has been collected through experiments that rituals actually change the brain's anxiety-related response and alleviate anxiety. They divert the mind from thoughts of possible failure and can be a tool for higher efficiency.

Researchers from the University of Toronto conducted a study to determine whether rituals actually help to tackle important tasks ahead. They assigned volunteers for a week to perform a certain ritual. "It consisted of a series of repetitive actions that resembled real-life rituals," explains lead study author Nick Hobson.

During the same week, the scientists monitored the brain activity of the participants. They found significantly reduced anxiety. They even measured a low neural signal in response to failures that occurred.

Nick Hobson points out that forms of ritual are found in all kinds of professional fields. They do not depend on intelligence. With them, exceptional specialists help each other to improve their concentration.

You've probably heard of surgeons who operate after playing certain music. Or for actress Cate Blanchett, who keeps a pair of elf ears in her purse, preserved from The Lord of the Rings, because they bring her good luck. The tennis player Rafael Nadal always goes out on the court with two bottles - an energy drink and water. He always puts them in a certain way to the left of his chair - one bottle behind the other and facing the court. "It's a way to introduce myself to the game," he commented.

Many of the most successful and creative people have good luck rituals, says Ellen Weinstein, who wrote a book on the subject. They rely on the power of self-belief that a ritual helps. Peace comes from faith itself, but one relaxes anyway.

Weinstein has collected in her book confessions of stars about strange rituals. Actress Lupita Nyong'o knits in her dressing room before going on stage. Beyoncé's obligatory pre-concert rituals take more than an hour, and prayer is the most unsurprising of them.

Experts advise creating a personal ritual that helps you reduce anxiety when starting a new task or facing a challenge.

But it should not be too obvious and too startling, because you will probably have to do it in front of other people. In order to pass the presentation successfully, you must turn three times from right to left is quite visible. Cross yourself three times too. Perhaps, if you are a believer, it is better to say in your mind "God first and I behind him".

The ritual should not border on obsessive-compulsive disorder. It's a state where a person can't do anything unless they start with some specific actions, if there's an odd number of objects around them, if their boss's tie is a little crooked, or if they have to sit on a red chair, say.

Rituals differ from superstitions in that they bring reassurance. Superstitions can also cause anxiety, as in the case of the colleague who put on the left shoe first.

Well, be careful on an important day, if you think it's going well if you step into the office on the right foot. But don't panic if you get the steps wrong.

By the way, superstitious rituals also help. It is claimed by researchers from the University of Chicago. They conducted experiments in which they observed behaviors to avoid bad luck and observed how they changed the way people perceived their fate.

In one experiment, the participants had to say "No one close to me will get into an accident." Then they would knock on wood, throw a ball (a Western European ritual against bad luck) or do nothing.

Scientists have found that most rituals with which people believe they cancel out evil involve an action that requires the application of active force - for example, knocking on a wooden table.

However, it is also such that it takes something away from the body - for example, knocking on the head did not have a positive psychological effect on the participants. Throwing salt or a ball helped. This is how we subconsciously convince ourselves that we have rejected something harmful, unpleasant or threatening, the scientists point out. Their experiments showed that the result is not just a calming of the psyche, but also a change in behavior from negative to more positive, which can have a real effect on life events.

Well, you probably shouldn't laugh at such superstitious rituals as telling a bad dream to running water so that it doesn't come true. It turns out that the magic is not that the bad goes down the drain, but that one feels much calmer and acts correctly.