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Dual process theory suggests that people use two processing systems to filter information and form judgments that direct a course of action: an intuitive and an analytic system. While the intuitive system is necessary for efficient and effective daily functioning, reliance on fast, intuitive thinking when gambling is likely to result in biased or flawed decision-making. Those who gamble tend to endorse an array of fallacious or irrational beliefs that contribute to risky decision-making and excessive gambling. This paper argues that gambling beliefs may be developed and reinforced through underlying cognitive mechanisms described by dual process theory. More specifically, gamblers tend to apply assumptions and theories developed based on their understanding of the natural world to artificial gambling contexts where such rules do not apply. As a result, gamblers develop biased interpretations and understandings for how gambling works, which tend to align with personal schemas, experiences and gambling motivations. These beliefs are used in future gambling contexts to inform decision-making. Gamblers are often unlikely or unwilling to reflect on the veracity of beliefs as they are often used to justify gambling behaviours. Educating gamblers on how they make decisions and encouraging them to think more analytically may help to reduce the strength with which erroneous beliefs about gambling are endorsed, resulting in safer gambling decisions.

This qualitative study investigated experiences of patients with epilepsy in Iran regarding stigma. Twenty-two participants were chosen by purposive sampling method. After getting informed consent, we conducted and recorded interviews and then transcribed them verbatim. After that, all the researchers read the texts thoroughly, and the data were analyzed using conventional content analysis method. Seven categories emerged from the analysis including need for support, defense mechanisms, superstitious beliefs, negative feelings, negative reactions of others, imposed deprivations, and spirituality. These results will increase healthcare professionals' knowledge about the problems of Iranian patients with epilepsy and improve the design of healthcare models that can promote successful coping strategies for them.

There is anecdotal and empirical evidence for black cat bias, the phenomenon where cats ( Felis silvestris catus) with black coats are viewed more negatively, adopted less often, and euthanized more often than lighter colored cats. Despite the anecdotal claims, there is scarce empirical evidence for black cat bias. Using evaluations of cat photos, the researchers examined differences in people’s attitudes toward black and non-black cats of various colorations on measures of perceived aggression, perceived friendliness, and willingness to adopt. The researchers also explored whether participants’ levels of religiosity, superstitious beliefs, and prejudicial racial attitudes were related to black cat bias. Finally, the researchers explored whether black cat bias was related to difficulties people had in reading the emotions of black cats compared to non-black cats. This study provided evidence of black cat bias in the sample. People exhibiting higher degrees of black cat bias had higher levels of superstition, but not religiosity or racial prejudice. Additionally, people who had difficulty reading the emotions of black cats tended to exhibit a stronger bias against adopting black cats.

Background Increasing worldwide rates of cesarean section are of global concern. In recent years, cesarean births upon maternal request have become a hotly debated issue. Hence, this study aimed to explore maternal reasons for cesarean preference without medical indications. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was conducted, using in-depth interviews with 27 pregnant women who preferred cesarean birth, attending antenatal care in Songklanagarind Hospital from September 2018 to June 2019. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results Maternal reasons for cesarean preference were classified into six main categories: fear of childbirth, safety concerns related to health risk perceptions, negative previous birth experiences, positive attitudes toward cesarean birth, access to biased information and superstitious beliefs in auspicious birth dates. Most women had more than one reason for opting cesarean birth. Conclusion Several reasons for cesarean birth preference have been elucidated. One striking reason was superstitious beliefs in auspicious birth dates, which are challengable for obstetricians to deal with. Obstetricians should explore the exact reasons why women request cesarean birth in order to prevent or diminish unnecessary cesarean births.

This study aimed to explore the relationship and the effects of community problems on anxiety and suicide. Data were from a case-control psychological autopsy study (392 suicides and 416 community living controls) carried out in 16 rural counties from three provinces in China. The World Health Organization Suicide Prevention-Multisite Intervention Study on Suicidal behaviors scale of community stress and problems and Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to measure the community problems and trait anxiety. Spearman's correlation and multivariable regression methods were used to probe the effect of community problems on anxiety and suicide. There were 12 and 6 community problems correlated with anxiety (rs = 0.169, p < 0.001) and suicide (rs = 0.081, p = 0.022), respectively. Medical care, alcohol abuse, superstition, and job security were important community problems for anxiety and suicide. Community problems had stronger correlation with anxiety than suicide. It might be an effective method to reduce anxiety and suicide risk by solving different community problems.

This study shows that people are likely to consider themselves special after experiencing lucky events, which increases the motivation for self-enhancement, consequently prompting them to deviate from majority-endorsed options and express a need for uniqueness. Prior luck-related research has primarily explored the effects of perceived luck on superstition or the illusion of control. The present study explored whether incidental luck affects consumers’ motivation to conform or stand out, specifically people’s tendency to diverge from others by choosing minority-endorsed options. The results from three experiments supported the proposed hypotheses in this study. Experiment 1 revealed that a lucky event arouses people’s need for uniqueness. Experiment 2 demonstrated that when people experience a lucky event and perceive that luck favors them after making a downward comparison, they consider themselves special and prefer minority-endorsed options. Experiment 3 revealed that self-enhancement is a mediator in the effect of lucky events on the need for uniqueness-seeking behavior. The findings of this research not only provide additional insight into the behavioral consequences of lucky events but also extend the understanding of uniqueness-seeking behavior.

Epilepsy remains one of the most common neurological diseases in the world but seems to be widely misunderstood, especially in low-income countries. Patients with epilepsy (PWE) can face considerable stigma in society, and there have been various studies that evaluate the knowledge and attitude of the population towards epilepsy. However, there was no study of this kind in Morocco. Purpose Our aim was thus to assess knowledge, attitudes, and traditional practices specifically among relatives and caregivers of PWE in our community, in order to better evaluate their educational needs. Methods This cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out over a year long period in the outpatient neurology clinic of the Mohammed 6 University Hospital, a tertiary referral center in Marrakesh, Morocco. The respondents were relatives of PWE (usually parents and siblings) or spouses who attended the outpatient clinic alongside them. The interviews were carried out by the same investigator at the outpatient clinic during patient's visits, face-to-face using Moroccan Arabic or Darija, with an 18-item questionnaire. Results Responses of 100 participants were analyzed. The mean age was 40 years old and 5 months. Sixty-six percent of the respondents were women, 50% of rural origin and 76 % lived in an urban area. Forty-one percent were illiterate, and 74% were of low income. Only 65% of the participants knew the Arabic term for epilepsy. For 48%, epilepsy was linked with witchcraft or demonic possession. Seventy-five percent of the respondents had at least one prior consultation to a traditional healer. Only 5% in our study knew the first-aid basics to apply in case of a seizure. Conclusion Despite having a relative with epilepsy, our participants' knowledge was very poor. The level of education and income seem to be the two major contributing factors. Cultural beliefs and superstition are very pervasive, and the majority of our sample had already used traditional healing and alternative medicine. Our study highlights the need for a more global intervention in Morocco encompassing healthcare policies, awareness campaigns, and educational reforms.

Gambling Disorder (GD) is characterized by persistent betting even in face of accruing debts and psychosocial hardship. Gambling Disorder behavior has been linked to conditioning, cognitive distortions and superstitious behavior. Previous studies have demonstrated that during response-outcome analytical tests (ROAT), non-gambling individuals are precluded from response extinction when failure feedback is suppressed, and develop superstitious behaviors and illusion of control instead. Gambling can be regarded as a ROAT paradigm in which disordered gamblers (DGs) fail to compute failure feedback; hence they do not perceive the independence between response and outcome. In order to investigate early phenomena on response and outcome processing in DGs, we developed two short ROAT versions, one with a controllable outcome and one with an uncontrollable outcome, both with explicit failure feedback. Twenty DGs and twenty healthy controls were assessed using this novel paradigm. Compared to controls, DGs reported higher distress during the controllable ROAT, less self-confidence in the uncontrollable ROAT, and more random responses and less use of analytical strategies in both tests, evidencing potential deficits in cognitive control. In contrast to previous findings, DGs did not demonstrate more superstitious beliefs, or illusion of control, and were generally more skeptical than controls regarding the controllability of both ROAT versions. Taken together, our findings provide some support for deficits in cognitive control in GD that precede illusion of control and superstitious behaviors.

Objective To determine the validity of the superstition that utterance of the word “quiet” in a clinical setting increases workload. Design Prospective randomised controlled non-inferiority study. Setting Microbiology department of a large teaching hospital in Lancashire, UK. Participants Two members of the medical microbiology team carried out the duty work on any given week day and an on-call team member on any weekend day. 29 days were assigned in which staff were to say “Today will be a quiet day” and 32 days were assigned in which staff were to refrain from saying the word “quiet” in any context. Interventions Each day was randomly allocated to either saying “Today will be a quiet day” (intervention group) or refraining from saying the word “quiet” (control group) in any context. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was mean overall workload: a composite of number of clinically related telephone calls, clinically significant results, or validated results processed by the duty medical microbiology team during a 24 hour period referred to collectively as “clinical episodes.” A difference of 30 clinical episodes was considered as the margin of non-inferiority. Secondary outcomes included the individual components of the primary outcome. Results Workload was measured each day over a 61 day period (1 May to 30 June 2019). A mean 139.0 clinical episodes occurred on control days compared with 144.9 on days when the experimental intervention was uttered, a difference of 5.9 (95% confidence interval−12.9 to 24.7). The upper bound was less than the specified margin of 30, providing evidence for non-inferiority. No evidence of a difference in workload was found between interventions with any of the four components, whether considering unadjusted or adjusted analyses, or looking at the subgroups of week days or weekends. Conclusions The study findings refute the long held superstition that utterance of the word “quiet” impacts on clinical workload, and therefore it should not be avoided. In the era of considerable staff shortages and increased work related stress, doctors should look to other methods to increase resilience and protect their wellbeing and mental health. Trial registration Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s research department SE-259.

Superstitious beliefs have been frequently encountered in our day-to-day practices among patients and caretakers. Though this is a common phenomenon, there is a paucity of data pertaining to these beliefs due to various reasons. Many of these beliefs are deep engraved into the culture and mindsets of the population. This is an observational study performed in Tertiary burn care center in India during period October 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019. Data from 100 patient units were collected through a set of questionnaires given to each of patient and their caregivers/family members and responses were collected and analyzed. In the food category of superstitions, there was a thought that white colored foods had to be avoided to avoid pus discharge and wound healing in 60% of the response; eating pomegranate or drinking the juice of pomegranate improves the hemoglobin in 80% of the response. Wearing various colored strings in various parts of the body seemed to be a dominant practice in 85% of the responses, wearing the hair with origin from human, donkeys, horses, and various animals was practiced in 45% of people and wearing peacock feathers was seen in 40% of patients. About 95% of the patients thought adversely to the idea of bathing or even contact of the water with the wounds. This study is an attempt to analyze the different parameters of superstition, misconception, and magical beliefs.

In three studies, we found that reading information in a foreign language can suppress common superstitious beliefs. Participants read scenarios in either their native or a foreign language. In each scenario, participants were asked to imagine performing an action (e.g., submitting a job application) under a superstitious circumstance (e.g., broken mirror, four-leaf clover) and to rate how they would feel. Overall, foreign language prompted less negative feelings towards bad-luck scenarios and less positive feelings towards good-luck scenarios, while it exerted no influence on non-superstitious, control scenarios. We attribute these findings to language-dependent memory. Superstitious beliefs are typically acquired and used in contexts involving the native language. As a result, the native language evokes them more forcefully than a foreign language.

Magical thinking, or illogical causal reasoning such as superstitions, decreases across childhood, but almost no data speak to whether this developmental trajectory continues across the life span. In four experiments, magical thinking decreased across adulthood. This pattern replicated across two judgment domains and could not be explained by age-related differences in tolerance of ambiguity, domain-specific knowledge, or search for meaning. These data complement and extend findings that experience, accumulated over decades, guides older adults' judgments so that they match, or even exceed, young adults' performance. They also counter participants' expectations, and cultural sayings (e.g., "old wives' tales"), that suggest that older adults are especially superstitious. (PsycINFO Database Record

Purpose To examine whether admission to bed number 13 on our intensive care unit has any negative impact on the patient's hospital mortality. Materials and methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1568 patients admitted to our ICU over a two-year period. Observed hospital mortality, predicted mortality using the ICNARC and APACHE II scoring systems and standardised mortality ratios were used to compared patients admitted to bed number 13 with those admitted to beds number 14–24. Results Of the 1568 patients admitted to ICU, 110 were placed in bed number 13 and 1458 into bed numbers 14–24. Demographics and ICNARC and APACHE II scores were similar between the two groups. There was no significant difference in the ICNARC predicted hospital mortality (mean 21.0%, median8.5% in bed 13 compared with a mean 17.5%, median 6.4% in beds 14–24, p = 0.33), APACHE II predicted hospital mortality (mean 18.4%, median 9.9% in bed 13 compared with mean 18.7%, median 8.9% in beds 14–24, p = 0.74), or observed hospital mortality (20.2% compared with 15.2%, OR 1.41 (CI 0.87 to 2.30), p = 0.17). Conclusions Admission to bed number 13 was not associated with a significant increase in hospital mortality when compared to admission to other bed numbers.

Objective To explore and describe the link between culture and dementia care with the focus on the influence of the belief in dementia as witchcraft and people with dementia as witches. Background In South Africa, especially in townships and rural areas, dementia is often perceived as connected to witchcraft rather than to disease. Persons labelled as witches – mostly elderly women – may be bullied, ostracised, beaten, stoned, burned, even killed. Method One strand of findings from a larger international study is presented with in-depth qualitative interviews of one close family member and seven nurses caring for patients with severe dementia in nursing homes in Tshwane in South Africa. A hermeneutic analytic approach was used. Results Two main themes are found, namely “Belief in witchcraft causing fear of persons with dementia” and “Need of knowledge and education”. Fear of and violence towards people with dementia are based on the belief that they are witches. Some of the nurses had also held this belief until they started working with patients with dementia. There is a great need for education both among healthcare workers and the populace. Discussion The ‘witch’ belief prevents seeking professional help. As nursing homes tend to be private and expensive, professional dementia care is virtually unattainable for the poor. Dementia needs a more prominent place in nursing curricula. Nurses as educators need to know the local culture and language to be accepted in the various communities. They need to visit families affected by dementia, give awareness talks in churches, schools and clinics and facilitate support groups for carers of people with dementia in the local language. Conclusion Improved nurses’ education in gerontology and geriatric care is needed. Trained specialist nurses may work as mediators, and help eradicate the witchcraft beliefs connected to severe dementia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Problematic patterns of gambling and their harms are known to have culturally specific expressions. For ethnic Chinese people, patterns of superstitious belief in this community appear to be linked to the elevated rates of gambling-related harms; however, little is known about the mediating psychological mechanisms. To address this issue, we surveyed 333 Chinese gamblers residing internationally and used a mediation analysis to explore how gambling-related cognitive biases, gambling frequency and variety of gambling forms ('scope') mediate the association between beliefs in luck and gambling problems. We found that cognitive biases and scope were significant mediators of this link but that the former is a stronger mediator than the latter. The mediating erroneous beliefs were not specific to any particular type of cognitive bias. These results suggest that Chinese beliefs in luck are expressed as gambling cognitive biases that increase the likelihood of gambling problems, and that biases that promote gambling (and its harms) are best understood within their socio-cultural context.

Objective Knowledge about epilepsy and attitudes towards patients with epilepsy can affect measures taken to manage epilepsy and seizures. Support and understanding of mothers is invaluable in enabling children with epilepsy to develop normal life skills in living with epilepsy. In order to identify the educational needs of mothers of children with epilepsy, their knowledge, attitudes, and practices should be assessed. Therefore, we interviewed a group of mothers of children with epilepsy who were referred to a pediatric neurology clinic in a teaching hospital. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices among mothers of children with epilepsy in order to identify their educational needs. Methods In the period of August 2014 to January 2015, mothers whose children were diagnosed with epilepsy for at least six months participated in this cross sectional study, while returning to the neurology clinic of a pediatric hospital for usual follow-up. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, held by trained female general practitioners. The interviewer used questions from a questionnaire. The knowledge section of the questionnaire included questions regarding prevalence and general knowledge about epilepsy, its etiology, symptoms, and seizure provoking factors. The attitudes section included statements regarding the mother's attitudes towards epilepsy and patients with the disease. The practice section included questions about first-aid measures taken by mothers who had witnessed generalized seizures by the time of interview. Results Responses of 206 participants were analyzed. At least 83% of mothers knew that epilepsy is a noncontagious neurological disorder which can be treated by regular drug therapy. In spite of demonstrating good knowledge scores, the majority of mothers felt the need for further training in epilepsy. More than 98% of mothers were against the idea that patients with epilepsy should hide their disease. Though having been referred to physicians, 84% of mothers had provided their children with at least one ineffective treatment, mostly based on superstitions. Conclusion Mothers' level of knowledge of epilepsy was good, and their attitudes towards epilepsy were mainly positive. Regarding the right first-aid measures at time of the last seizure, mothers' practices were acceptable. However, there is still room for improvement regarding avoiding the wrong measures. It is suggested that both practice-related issues and other aspects of epilepsy be taken into account in epilepsy-related education programs.

Identifying potential risk factors for problem gambling (PG) is of primary importance for planning preventive and therapeutic interventions. We illustrate a new approach based on the combination of standard logistic regression and an innovative method of supervised data mining (Logic Learning Machine or LLM). Data were taken from a pilot cross-sectional study to identify subjects with PG behaviour, assessed by two internationally validated scales (SOGS and Lie/Bet). Information was obtained from 251 gamblers recruited in six betting establishments. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and cognitive-related factors, and type, place and frequency of preferred gambling were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. The following variables associated with PG were identified: instant gratification games, alcohol abuse, cognitive distortion, illegal behaviours and having started gambling with a relative or a friend. Furthermore, the combination of LLM and LR indicated the presence of two different types of PG, namely: (a) daily gamblers, more prone to illegal behaviour, with poor money management skills and who started gambling at an early age, and (b) non-daily gamblers, characterised by superstitious beliefs and a higher preference for immediate reward games. Finally, instant gratification games were strongly associated with the number of games usually played. Studies on gamblers habitually frequently betting shops are rare. The finding of different types of PG by habitual gamblers deserves further analysis in larger studies. Advanced data mining algorithms, like LLM, are powerful tools and potentially useful in identifying risk factors for PG.

The present study investigated the relation between paranormal beliefs, illusory control and the self-attribution bias, i.e., the motivated tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself while negative outcomes are externalized. Visitors of a psychic fair played a card guessing game and indicated their perceived control over randomly selected cards as a function of the congruency and valence of the card. A stronger self-attribution bias was observed for paranormal believers compared to skeptics and this bias was specifically related to traditional religious beliefs and belief in superstition. No relation between paranormal beliefs and illusory control was found. Self-report measures indicated that paranormal beliefs were associated to being raised in a spiritual family and to anomalous experiences during childhood. Thereby this study suggests that paranormal beliefs are related to specific cognitive biases that in turn are shaped by socio-cultural factors.

The purpose of the current studies is to identify safety behavior dimensions relevant to test anxiety, to develop a questionnaire to assess those dimensions, and to examine the validity of that questionnaire. Items were generated from interviews with college students ( N = 24). Another sample ( N = 301) completed an initial 33-item measure. Another sample ( N = 151) completed the final 19-item version the Safety Behaviors in Test Anxiety Questionnaire and provided access to their academic records. Interviews and expert evaluations were used to select items for the initial pool. An examination of item distributions and exploratory factor analysis were used to identify dimensions and reduce the item pool. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to validate the factorial structure. Correlational analyses were used to examine criterion validity of the final measure. The Safety Behaviors in Test Anxiety Questionnaire consists of a 9-item “Superstitious Behaviors” scale and a 10-item “Reassurance Seeking.” The measure shows good content validity, factorial validity, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity. Only the Reassurance Seeking scale showed good incremental criterion validity. Overall, these findings suggest that reassurance seeking may be a neglected target for interventions that might increase performance on high stakes tests.

Many practitioners believe in the phenomenon of being labeled either a "black cloud" or "white cloud" while on-call. A "white-cloud" physician is usually defined as one who sees fewer cases while a "black-cloud" is one who often receives more cases. To evaluate these phenomena, a 35-month prospective study was designed to evaluate the number of times apheresis staff was involved with emergent apheresis procedures at a large institution in the off hours between 10 pm and 7 am, since this is the time period when significant resources have to be mobilized to perform the procedure. During the study period, 92 emergent procedures (or "black-cloud" events, 8.6%) occurred. The median time between two consecutive "black-cloud" events was 9 days (range: 1-45 days). We found that there is no statistically significant association between the occurrence of "black-cloud" events and attending physicians (P = .99), nurses who had 56 or more days on-call during the course of the study (P = .28), year (P = .85), day of the week (P = .099), month (P = .57), or season of the year (P = .47). Therefore, the findings from this prospective 35-month confirmation study did not support the common perception that physicians or nurses maybe either "black clouds" or "white clouds." It is important that this meaningful result be shared with apheresis practitioners given that the label of being a "black cloud" may have undesirable psychological implications to the physicians and nurses.

Causal illusion has been proposed as a cognitive mediator of pseudoscientific beliefs. However, previous studies have only tested the association between this cognitive bias and a closely related but different type of unwarranted beliefs, those related to superstition and paranormal phenomena. Participants (n = 225) responded to a novel questionnaire of pseudoscientific beliefs designed for this study. They also completed a contingency learning task in which a possible cause, infusion intake, and a desired effect, headache remission, were actually non-contingent. Volunteers with higher scores on the questionnaire also presented stronger causal illusion effects. These results support the hypothesis that causal illusions might play a fundamental role in the endorsement of pseudoscientific beliefs.

Background and Purpose— The incidence of stroke in Malawi is unknown but major risk factors, including hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus, are highly prevalent. We sought to understand community-level knowledge about stroke. Methods— A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in rural Malawi (2016–2017). Adults aged ≥15 years were randomly selected and interviewed about their knowledge and perceptions of stroke symptoms, risk factors, and prevention. Logistic regression was used to investigate sociodemographic factors associated with stroke knowledge. Results— Of 812 selected, 739 (91% response rate) were seen and consented; 57% were female, and the median age was 52.0 years. Knowledge of stroke was poor: 71% knew no (correct) risk factors. Witchcraft (20.6%) was mentioned as frequently as hypertension (19.8%) as a cause. Knowledge of stroke was greatest in the most educated and wealthy and lowest in men, the never married, and the youngest age group. HIV-positive individuals had higher knowledge of prevention (odds ratio, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.21–7.03) than HIV negative individuals. Conclusions— Knowledge about stroke is very low in this community, particularly among the least educated and poor. Programs to support prevention, early recognition, and timely hospital presentation after a stroke are needed.

Persistence of superstitions in the modern era could be justified by considering them as a by-product of the brain's capacity to detect associations and make assumptions about cause-effect relationships. This ability, which supports predictive behaviour, directly relates to associative learning. We tested whether variability in superstitious behaviour reflects individual variability in the efficiency of mechanisms akin to habit learning. Forty-eight individuals performed a Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) or an Implicit Cuing Task (ICT). In the SRTT, participants were exposed to a hidden sequence and progressively learnt to optimize responses, a process akin to skill learning. In the ICT participants met with a hidden association, which (if detected) provided a benefit (cf. habit learning). An index of superstitious beliefs was also collected. A correlation emerged between susceptibility to personal superstitions and performance at the ICT only. This novel finding is discussed in view of current ideas on how superstitions are instated.

Background This study examined the impact of superstitious beliefs on influenza vaccine uptake and investigated the role of health beliefs as underlying psychological mechanisms. It is hypothesized that superstitious beliefs predict greater perceived risks in influenza and vaccines, which in turn affect influenza vaccine uptake. Methods A cross-sectional survey of Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents aged between 21 and 70 (N = 668) was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews. The survey covered beliefs in superstition, health beliefs in influenza and vaccines, and influenza vaccine uptake intention and behavior using the Health Belief Model. Path analysis was adopted to examine the hypothesized model. Results Approximately 60% of the sample had never obtained influenza vaccination. The path analysis found that superstitious beliefs significantly predicted higher perceived barriers and lower perceived benefits of vaccines, which in turn predicted a lower intention to take influenza vaccine in the next year and/or a lower probability of ever taking influenza vaccine. In contrast, superstitious beliefs predicted higher perceived susceptibility and severity of influenza that in turn predicted higher influenza vaccine uptake intention and/or probability. Examining demographic variables and past experience on influenza as control and confounding factors did not significantly affect the results. Conclusion The findings imply that beliefs in superstitions can have mixed effects on vaccine uptake and intention through shaping beliefs of the disease and vaccines. Significant implications in health education and persuasion on vaccine uptake are discussed.

Skinner's (1948) 'Superstition' in the Pigeon paper proposed that accidental response-reward contingencies, via adventitious reinforcement, could operantly condition the behaviors of pigeons under fixed-time (response-independent) schedules of food delivery. Skinner likened the behavior of pigeons under these fixed-time schedules to the superstitious behavior of humans and proposed that both response patterns were the result of contiguous pairings of rewards following some response. Alternative explanations of superstitious behavior have included Staddon and Simmelhag's (1971) stimulus substitution account and Timberlake and Lucas's (1985) elicited species-typical appetitive behavior account. Under both these alternative explanations of superstitious behavior, observations of pigeons under fixed-time schedules revealed a lack of idiosyncratic responding, which is a critical element in Skinner's explanation of superstitious behavior via adventitious reinforcement. The following study implemented 4 fixed-time schedule experiments to further study superstition. In Experiment 1, male and female pigeons were compared, which provided support for the disparity in response patterns observed in previous studies. Experiments 2-4 examined the behavior of roller pigeons, ring-necked doves, and bantam chickens. In all the above studies, a lack of idiosyncratic responding and emergence of species-typical foraging behavior was observed. The results provide additional evidence that the 'superstitious' behavior that emerges in pigeons and other organisms under response-independent food schedules is the result of elicited species-typical food getting behaviors, and that these behaviors emerge as a result of frequent food deliveries in environments that support such foraging repertoires.

Individuals native to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, the abc islands of the former Netherlands Antilles, often attribute their complaints to brua, although they seldom discuss this with health professionals. This may have a negative influence on the therapeutic relationship and diagnostic processes.br /AIM: To explore the role of brua in the illness perception of psychiatric patients in the Netherlands who were originally from the abc islands.br /METHOD: A random sample of patients under treatment at Parnassia Psychiatric Institute in The Hague were interviewed with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire.br /RESULTS: Of the 18 psychiatric patients interviewed, 10 (56%) believed in brua, and 3 (17%) considered it the cause of their disease. Although none of the interviewees admitted to an active involvement in brua, 8 (44%) had been in touch with a traditional healer and 9 (50%) possessed artifacts meant to provide protection against evil. Regarding the usefulness of discussing brua with health professionals, opinions were divided.br /CONCLUSION: Psychiatric patients in the Netherlands native to the abc islands are all knowledgeable of brua, with more than half of them believing in it. Despite the fear and shame that people often experience, making brua fit for discussion in clinical practice would improve the relationship between health professional and patient, yielding further opportunities for diagnosis and treatment.

Superstitions are common, yet we have little understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that bring them about. This study used a laboratory-based analogue for superstitious beliefs that involved people monitoring the relationship between undertaking an action (pressing a button) and an outcome occurring (a light illuminating). The task was arranged such that there was no objective contingency between pressing the button and the light illuminating - the light was just as likely to illuminate whether the button was pressed or not. Nevertheless, most people rated the causal relationship between the button press and the light illuminating to be moderately positive, demonstrating an illusion of causality. This study found that the magnitude of this illusion was predicted by people's level of endorsement of common superstitious beliefs (measured using a novel Superstitious Beliefs Questionnaire), but was not associated with mood variables or their self-rated locus of control. This observation is consistent with a more general individual difference or bias to overweight conjunctive events over disjunctive events during causal reasoning in those with a propensity for superstitious beliefs.

Ritualistic child sexual abuse (RCSA) is a critical and under-recognised form of child maltreatment prevailing in developing countries. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), children from specific communities suffer complex forms of RCSA perpetrated with extreme brutality by various individuals and groups of conspirators. Although the DRC has achieved significant milestones towards combatting war-related sexual abuse of women and children, disturbing forms of RCSA, notably child kidnapping, rape, child defilement for fetish and superstitious beliefs, child sexual exploitation, and cult-based child marriage persist and affect many victims. This study examines the factors associated with the resurgence of RCSA in post-conflict eastern DRC. The article also discusses the implications of such forms of abuse for social work practice and education in a post-war context.

We determine the impact of an educational awareness campaign on the level of knowledge and the attitude of the Saudi population in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in an attempt to improve the awareness and reduce the social stigma associated with epilepsy.The Saudi Epilepsy Society organized a citywide awareness campaign in 2013. A survey consisting of 11 questions pertaining to epilepsy awareness was distributed to Saudi citizens living in Riyadh, aged 15 years and above, in malls, health clubs, mosques, universities, and schools during that campaign. The same questionnaire was administered before and after the awareness campaign to the same individuals on the same day to assess the impact of the campaign (n=2118).The epilepsy awareness campaign significantly raised the general knowledge about epilepsy: 1519 before vs. 1944 after (P0.001) would allow their children to interact with an individual who had epilepsy; 1567 before vs. 688 after (P0.001) would not want their children to marry an individual with epilepsy. Eight hundred twenty six before vs. 47 after (P0.001) thought that epilepsy is untreatable. Regarding the causes of epilepsy, 1663 before vs. 896 after (P0.001) believed that epilepsy is caused by supernatural powers, and 1224 before vs. 1874 after (P0.001) chose brain disease as a cause of epilepsy.These findings suggest that epilepsy awareness campaigns can close knowledge gaps. A long-term reevaluation may be needed to assess awareness sustainability.

The aim of this article is to examine whether the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), are able to differentiate between nonpathological religious possession and dissociative identity disorder (DID). We use the case study of an individual who leads an Afro-Brazilian religious group (Umbanda), focusing on her personal development and possession experiences from early childhood to the present, spanning a period of more than 40 years, and examine these data following DSM-5 criteria for DID (300.14). Her experiences of possession can be broken into 2 distinct stages. In the 1st stage (childhood and early adulthood), she displayed intrusive thoughts and a lack of control over possession states, which were associated with a heightened state of anxiety, loneliness, amnesia, and family conflict (meeting all 5 criteria for DID). In the 2nd stage (late 20s up to the present), she regularly experienced possession states but felt in control of their onset and found them religiously meaningful. In this 2nd stage, she only fulfilled 3 criteria for DID. We question the accuracy of diagnosing this individual with DID in her earlier life and suggest that the DSM-5 criteria fail to address the ambiguity of affect surrounding possession experiences (positive at the individual level, negative at the interpersonal level) and lack a clearer acknowledgment of the prevalence of possession and other unusual experiences in general populations.

The current study examines cultural explanations regarding sleep paralysis (SP) in Italy. The study explores (1) whether the phenomenology of SP generates culturally specific interpretations and causal explanations and (2) what are the beliefs and local traditions associated with such cultural explanations. The participants were Italian nationals from the general population (n = 68) recruited in the region of Abruzzo, Italy. All participants had experienced at least one lifetime episode of SP. The sleep paralysis experiences and phenomenology questionnaire were orally administered to participants. We found a multilayered cultural interpretation of SP, namely the Pandafeche attack, associated with various supernatural beliefs. Thirty-eight percent of participants believed that this supernatural being, the Pandafeche-often referred to as an evil witch, sometimes as a ghost-like spirit or a terrifying humanoid cat-might have caused their SP. Twenty-four percent of all participants sensed the Pandafeche was present during their SP. Strategies to prevent Pandafeche attack included sleeping in supine position, placing a broom by the bedroom door, or putting a pile of sand by the bed. Case studies are presented to illustrate the study findings. The Pandafeche attack thus constitutes a culturally specific, supernatural interpretation of the phenomenology of SP in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

A Latvian version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) was completed by 229 Latvian university students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed six relatively independent factors labeled Magical Abilities, Psychokinesis, Traditional Religious Belief, Superstition, Spirit Travel, and Extraordinary Life Forms. Based on the motivational-control model, it was hypothesized that the societal stressors affecting Latvian society during the last 50 yr. have led to a reduced sense of personal control which, in turn, has resulted in increased endorsement of paranormal beliefs to re-establish a sense of control. The motivational-control hypothesis was not supported. Results indicated that (except for Traditional Religious Belief in women), the majority of these students were disbelievers in paranormal phenomena. As hypothesized, Latvian women reported significantly greater paranormal belief than men.

People often resort to superstitious behavior to facilitate goal achievement. We examined whether the specific type of achievement goal pursued influences the propensity to engage in superstitious behavior. Across six studies, we found that performance goals were more likely than learning goals to elicit superstitious behavior. Participants were more likely to engage in superstitious behavior at high than at low levels of chronic performance orientation, but superstitious behavior was not influenced by chronic learning orientation (Studies 1 and 2). Similarly, participants exhibited stronger preferences for lucky items when primed to pursue performance goals rather than learning goals (Studies 3 and 4). As uncertainty of goal achievement increased, superstitious behavior increased when participants pursued performance goals but not learning goals (Study 5). Finally, assignment to use a lucky (vs. unlucky) item resulted in greater confidence of achieving performance goals but not learning goals (Study 6).

The current research tested the hypothesis that the abilities for understanding other people’s minds give rise to the cognitive biases that underlie supernatural beliefs. We used structural equation modeling (N = 2789) to determine the roles of various mentalizing tendencies, namely self-reported affective and cognitive empathy (i.e., mind reading), actual cognitive and affective empathic abilities, hyper-empathizing, and two cognitive biases (core ontological confusions and promiscuous teleology) in giving rise to supernatural beliefs. Support for a path from mentalizing abilities through cognitive biases to supernatural beliefs was weak. The relationships of mentalizing abilities with supernatural beliefs were also weak, and these relationships were not substantially mediated by cognitive biases. Core ontological confusions emerged as the best predictor, while promiscuous teleology predicted only a small proportion of variance. The results were similar for religious beliefs, paranormal beliefs, and for belief in supernatural purpose.

Objective The present study examined the relation between deja vu experiences and paranormal beliefs in schizophrenic patients. Methods A total of 522 participants (54.5% female; mean age = 33.3, SD = 16.02) were recruited, including 422 healthy adults (60.9% female; mean age = 29.48, SD = 15.07) and 100 medicated adult schizophrenic patients (27.3% female; mean age = 48.98, SD = 8.57). The Chinese version of the Inventory of Deja-vu Experiences Assessment was created via back translation. Chinese versions of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (CRPB), Beck Anxiety Inventory (CBAI), and Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were also used. Results and Conclusion After controlling for age, gender, education, and anxiety, the results supported the following three hypotheses. Schizophrenic persons have fewer deja vu experiences than normal persons. These experiences are positively related to paranormal beliefs in healthy adults but not in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenic patients have higher scores than healthy adults on the psi and superstitious subscales of the CRPB.

Background: Understanding of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa has remained under-researched in spite of the high and increasing neuropsychiatric burden of disease in the region. Aims: This study investigated the causal beliefs that the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria hold about schizophrenia, with a view to establishing the extent to which the population makes psychosocial, biological and supernatural attributions. Method: Multi-stage sampling was used to select participants ( N = 200) to which questionnaires were administered. Results: Mean comparison of the three causal models revealed a significant endorsement of supernatural causation. Logistic regressions revealed significant contributions of old age and female gender to supernatural attribution; old age, high education and Catholic religious denomination to psychosocial attributions; and high education to biological attributions. Conclusions: It is hoped that the findings would enlighten, augment literature and enhance mental health care service delivery.

Dual-process theories have been proposed to explain normative and heuristic responses to reasoning and decision-making problems. Standard unitary and dual-process theories predict that normative responses should increase with age. However, research has focused recently on exceptions to this standard pattern, including developmental increases in heuristic or intuitive responses. Developmental trends for normative and heuristic responses were investigated for two kinds of causal reasoning (if-only and covariation) problems in two experiments. To investigate the role of superstitious thinking in these developmental trends, in both experiments a superstitious element was added to the problem solved by half the participants. In the first experiment, 90 fifth graders, 99 seventh graders, and 153 adults responded to an if-only problem. Children performed better than adults, with normative responses decreasing and heuristic responses increasing with age. A superstitious jinx intended to reduce heuristic responses had little effect for all age groups. In the second experiment, 276 fifth graders, 344 seventh graders, and 90 adults responded to a covariation-detection problem. When win-loss ratios were equal, adults performed better than children, with normative responses increasing and heuristic responses decreasing with age. When win-loss ratios were strikingly different, however, even the youngest children were able to solve the problems correctly; participants of all ages responded about equally well. When the normative response required recognizing that a good-luck ritual led to better team performance, participants in all age groups responded skeptically that the ritual had no effect, illustrating belief bias. These results are discussed in terms of dual process theories and the development of heuristic (or intuitive) and analytical processes.

The article deals with child branding cases that were researched over a period of two years. Child branding practice is a common occurrence in the rural areas of the Kashmir valley where it is often practiced by faith healers [quacks] having no knowledge of underlying disease processes or the possible differentials of the same; leaving treatment protocols a distant possibility for the same. These illiterate so called healers possibly relieve the initial stigmata of the disease process that is pain by many procedures including burning the affected population with hot coals; embers; and various other pain inducing processes. In this way cutting a painful condition by stimulating another painful condition by possible intervention of body's “pain gating mechanisms” bring a somewhat temporary relief to the sufferer. This undiagnosed and mistreated underlying disease condition meanwhile continues to linger on with increasing severity often causing morbid relapses and ultimately resulting in a highly mortal course when the patient is actually brought for tertiary hospitalization. The present study aims to establish a pattern between child branding and its medical; social and economic correlations .Among these correlations the study will focus on disease related morbidity and mortality; role of community based faith healers [“quacks”]; poverty and illiteracy. The study will also reveal how bits and pieces of scientific information have been used to misdiagnose and mistreat a significant population belonging to pediatric age group. It will further try to evaluate the role of “pain gating” mechanisms as a means of pain relief and the partial success in motivating a significant population by these healers to be part of such practices. A positive outcome of this study is educating a significant part of affected population to shun such practices and follow proper treatment regimens.

This article examines whether belief in superstitions and folklore differs by age and degree of modernization specifically. This study investigated regional and generational differences in attitudes toward "Luck Resource Belief," a notion regarding luck. The 500 Japanese participants in our sample were stratified by place of residence, age, and income. The results reflected gender differences, but not regional or generational differences with regard to the "Luck Resource Belief" scale scores. Based on these results, the hypothesis that the mass media plays a major role in the dissemination of information about superstitions and folklore is discussed in this context.

Superstitious behaviors have been studied extensively in adults and non-human species, but have not been systematically assessed in children. The purpose of the study is to develop and validate a method of measuring superstitious tendencies in young children based on an established learning paradigm. In two studies, 3–5-year-olds tapped a computer to make a target image appear. On half the trials, a sensory stimulus appeared at a random time before the target. Superstitious tendencies were measured by change in tapping during the presence of the sensory stimulus. Children's proportion of tapping increased during the presence of the sensory stimulus, indicating that children associated the sensory stimulus with the appearance of the target image, even though the two stimuli were not causally related. Implications for the development of superstitious tendencies and children's causal knowledge are discussed.

We develop a simple cultural dynamics model to dicuss the spread of the hinoeuma superstition in Japan. A large drop in the number of newborn babies observed in 1966 was attributed mainly to parents' avoiding having a child born in a hinoeuma year. Presumably, Japanese parents were afraid that a daughter born in 1966 (a hinoeuma year) might later have difficulty finding a mate. We construct mathematical models to examine whether the hinoeuma superstition would likely become extinct or be stably maintained in the population. We classify members of a population according to whether they believed the hinoeuma superstition (believer or nonbeliever), their gender (male or female), and their year of birth (born in a hinoeuma year or not). We compare several cases that differ according to (1) whether the belief in the superstition was transmitted to children by matrilineal, patrilineal, or Mendelian inheritance; (2) which parent controlled the timing of pregnancy and childbirth (maternal or paternal birth control); and (3) the probability of birth control failure. Our results show that the hinoeuma superstition is likely to spread if the mother has a strong influence on birth control and on the belief of their children. In contrast, if birth control is paternal and the belief is passed down from father to child, the hinoeuma superstition is likely to become extinct. In between these extremes, whether the superstition becomes extinct or fixed in the population depends on the initial frequency of believers in the population.

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the risk of Friday the 13th on hospital admission rates and emergency department (ED) visits. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of all ED visits on Friday the 13th from November 13, 2002, to December 13, 2009, from 6 hospital-based EDs. Thirteen unlikely conditions were evaluated as well as total ED volumes. As a control, the Friday before and after and the month before and after were used. χ2 Analysis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used for each variable, as appropriate. Results A total of 49 094 patient encounters were evaluated. Average ED visits for Friday the 13th were not increased compared with the Friday before and after and the month before. However, compared with the month after, there were fewer ED visits on Friday the 13th (150.1 vs 134.7, P = .011). Of the 13 categories evaluated, only penetrating trauma was noted to have an increase risk associated with Friday the 13th (odds ratio, 1.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.61). No other category was noted to have an increase risk on Friday the 13th compared with the control dates. Conclusions Although the fear of Friday the 13th may exist, there is no worry that an increase in volume occurs on Friday the 13th compared with the other days studies. Of 13 different conditions evaluated, only penetrating traumas were seen more often on Friday the 13th. For those providers who work in the ED, working on Friday the 13th should not be any different than any other day.

Rituals pose a cognitive paradox: although widely used to treat problems, rituals are causally opaque (i.e., they lack a causal explanation for their effects). How is the efficacy of ritual action evaluated in the absence of causal information? To examine this question using ecologically valid content, three studies (N=162) were conducted in Brazil, a cultural context in which rituals called simpatias are used to treat a great variety of problems ranging from asthma to infidelity. Using content from existing simpatias, experimental simpatias were designed to manipulate the kinds of information that influences perceptions of efficacy. A fourth study (N=68) with identical stimuli was conducted with a US sample to assess the generalizability of the findings across two different cultural contexts. The results provide evidence that information reflecting intuitive causal principles (i.e., repetition of procedures, number of procedural steps) and transcendental influence (i.e., presence of religious icons) affects how people evaluate ritual efficacy.

Background: The perceived control of intrusive thoughts is important in our understanding of a variety of psychological disorders, but particularly in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Little research has explored thought control strategies in younger populations, despite the frequent onset of OCD in childhood. Aims: This study examined thought control strategies and meta-cognitive beliefs in relation to Obsessive Compulsive (OC) interference scores in an adolescent sample. Method: A non-referred sample of 151 adolescents aged 13–16 completed the Thought Control Questionnaire, the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire – Adolescent version, and the Leyton Obsessional Inventory – Child Version. Results: Adolescents reported using distraction and worry as thought control strategies as much as adults, but social control and reappraisal less frequently, with adolescent males also reporting less use of punishment as a strategy. The strategies of worry and punishment, and positive beliefs about worry, uncontrollability and danger beliefs (UCD) and superstition punishment and responsibility beliefs (SPR) predicted OC interference scores. Furthermore, these meta-cognitive beliefs mediated the relationships between punishment and worry and OC interference scores. Conclusions: Given the similarities between our results and those from research exploring these variables in adults, it is proposed that cognitive behavioural models of OCD that have been developed in adult populations may be relevant to adolescents, but that meta-cognitive beliefs about superstition, punishment and responsibility may be important in adolescence.

The objective of this first literature review, in this area, is to unveil the current status of knowledge on superstition in sport. Its outcome reveals that superstitious behaviors vary with the type of sport, athletic level, as well as athletic role. In agreement with past theories, they increase with the level of challenge, as reflected by the importance of the competition, as well as with the level of uncertainty. Cultural factors, in conjunction with the education level, as well as gender, have a strong influence on superstitious behaviors in sports. Based on current thoughts, religiosity and superstition are different psychological constructs used as psychological aids by several athletes. Personality factors appear to mediate the manifestation of the behavior. Elite athletes are clearly more superstitious than non-elite athletes, An interaction between athletic skill and task-difficulty emerges to be another strong predictor of superstition in sport. It is evident that a set of complex personal and situational factors interact in the manifestation of superstitious behavior in sport that is used for the regulation of emotions in a quest for optimal performance. It is concluded that the objective benefits (i.e., success) of superstition in sport may be ascribed to the placebo effect that yields an increased sense of control and mental reassurance in unpredictable contest situations.

OBJECTIVE: The persecution of children as witches has received widespread reportage in the international mass media. In recent years, hundreds of children have been killed, maimed and abandoned across Africa based on individual and village-level accusations of witchcraft. Despite the media focus, to date, very little systematic study has investigated the phenomenon. In this case study, the persecution of child witches in Ghana is studied to explore the nature and patterns of witch hunts against children in the West African nation. METHODS: There are no reliable national data on child abuse related to witchcraft accusations in Ghana. For this study, 13 cases of child witch hunts appearing in the local media during 1994-2009 were analyzed. Case summaries were constructed for each incident to help identify the socio-demographic characteristics of assailants and victims, victim-offender relationships, the methods of attacks, the spatial characteristics, as well as the motivations for the attacks. RESULTS: Children branded as witches ranged in age from 1-month-old to 17-years-old, were primarily from poor backgrounds, and lived in rural areas of the country. Accusations of witchcraft and witch assaults were lodged by close family members often through the encouragement of, or in concert with Christian clergymen and fetish priests. Accused witches were physically brutalized, tortured, neglected, and in two cases, murdered. For school-aged children, imputations of witchcraft contributed to stigmatization in both the community and at school, resulting in dropping out. The most frequently expressed reason for persecution of the child was suspicion that the child had used witchcraft to cause the death or illness of family relations or someone in the community. Another reason was suspicion that the child was responsible for the business failure or financial difficulties of a perceived victim. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this research are consistent with findings in the witchcraft literature suggesting that seemingly inexplicable illnesses, untimely deaths, and financial hardships tend to be the major causal forces generating witch hunts. Additional research is necessary to further shed light on child witch hunts in Ghana and other countries. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: To reduce the incidence of such abuse, there is a need for increased advocacy and protections for children in the society. The government must also increase the penalties for child abuse. This will serve as a deterrent to potential offenders. Additionally, through public service campaigns, educating citizens about the causes and trajectories of diseases, will lead to a significant diminution of witchcraft accusations and the associated violence. Language: en

To clarify the role of perceived job insecurity and perceived employability in relation to psychological symptoms among permanent and temporary employees in two samples. Sample 1 was representative of the Finnish working population in 2008 (n = 4,330; Study 1). Sample 2 was collected among Finnish university personnel and in two waves (n = 1,212; Study 2).Perceived job insecurity, perceived employability, and psychological symptoms were measured by questionnaires in both studies. Hypotheses were tested with regression analyses.The pattern of results was similar in the two samples. Perceived job insecurity was positively associated with psychological symptoms among permanent workers but not among temporary workers. No such differential relationships were observed for perceived employability, instead perceived employability was negatively associated with psychological symptoms among all respondents. Furthermore, perceived employability did not buffer the positive relation between perceived job insecurity and psychological symptoms.Knowledge about the relationship between contract type and workers' well-being can be enhanced when the combined effects of contract type and job conditions are accounted for.