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Feeling Lucky? Listening Fluency #88

Are you superstitious? Most people would say no, but in fact, many of us do make
choices in our lives that are completely irrational. In the US, Friday, the 13th is
thought to be so unlucky that 10,000 fewer people fly on this day. And businesses
make much less money than other Fridays, because fewer people are traveling.
Also, some elevators in the US even skip the 13th floor, moving from the 12th
floor to the 14th floor. Similarly in Japan and China, people are superstitious about
the number 4, and buildings sometimes lack a 4th floor.
Famous athletes are sometimes known for being superstitious.Michael Jordan wore
the same lucky blue underwear during every professional game of his life. Tiger
Woods always wears a red shirt on tournament Sundays. And professional tennis
player, Serena Williams, is known to repeatedly wear the same socks during a
winning tournament.
Even scientists, who we expect to be very rational, are known to be superstitious.
Before every NASA space launch, the commander must play a game of cards with
the technical crew and continue playing until he loses. There are stories of
superstitious commanders continuing to play late into the night until they can
successfully lose.
So why do we believe that some things bring us good luck and other things bring
us bad luck? Well, humans are pattern-seeking creatures. We have a great day and
we notice that we were wearing our favorite shirt, so that becomes our lucky shirt.
Or we get into a car accident on Friday the 13th, so we think that our bad luck must
be due to the day. Many times superstitions start because people notice
coincidences and think they are seeing a meaningful pattern.
Of course, most of us know that superstitions are irrational, but many of us still
follow at least one or two of them. According to new research, irrational
superstitions might not be a bad thing. In one psychology experiment, people were
tested on their golfing skills. Half of the people were randomly selected and told
that their balls were lucky. These people scored 35% better than those given
normal balls. Of course, both the lucky balls and the normal balls were
exactly the same. The researchers believe that using a lucky ball, made people
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feel more confidence, which led to better performance. What about you? Do you or
people you know have any interesting superstitions?