Has Superstition Evolved To Help Mankind Survive?

Pickens writes "The tendency to falsely link cause to effect — a superstition — is occasionally beneficial, says Kevin Foster, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University. For example, a prehistoric human might associate rustling grass with the approach of a predator and hide. Most of the time, the wind will have caused the sound, but 'if a group of lions is coming there's a huge benefit to not being around.' Foster worked with mathematical language and a simple definition for superstition to determine exactly when such potentially false connections pay off and found as long as the cost of believing a superstition is less than the cost of missing a real association, superstitious beliefs will be favored. In modern times, superstitions turn up as a belief in alternative and homeopathic remedies. 'The chances are that most of them don't do anything, but some of them do,' Foster says. Wolfgang Forstmeier argues that by linking cause and effect — often falsely — science is simply a dogmatic form of superstition. 'You have to find the trade off between being superstitious and being ignorant,' Forstmeier says. By ignoring building evidence that contradicts their long-held ideas, 'quite a lot of scientists tend to be ignorant quite often.'"

Comments

First

[Philotic]

I heard getting first post increases your life expectancy.

Re:First

[NoobixCube]

Trolls are notoriously hard to kill, so I'd say you're right :P.

Not so sure

[CaptainPatent]

I hope they knocked three times on their desk and spun around in a circle before they did this study...
Otherwise the results are completely wrong.

Re:Not so sure

[BountyX]

In ancient times, knocking on wood was essential to survival. Slaves would often "knock" on wood after moving large stockpiles of wood. The "knocking" would help shake off many bugs after each handled load. Since many died from ticks or suffered from fleas, knocking on wood quickly caught on and became a superstition. Haha, just kidding the above was all just bs.

Re:Not so sure

[JuzzFunky]

Probably not... it is bad luck to believe in superstition.

Re:Fist

[Ethanol-fueled]

Fist -- apply directly to your forehead!
Fist -- apply directly to your forehead!
Fist -- apply directly to your forehead!

Because homeopathy is superstition.

Re:not the same

[squidfood]

you can either do science and test if it happens every time you touch it or just coincidence, or you can just be superstitious about not touching fire.

Obligatory xkcd.

Re:Superstition prevents congitive failures

[plover]

So we don't spend all day trying to answer questions about, say, how we came to be, as opposed to trying to figure out why our bow and arrow doesn't shoot as straight as we'd like.

VEG-e-tar-i-an - Native American for 'bad hunter with crooked arrow.'

Re:not the same

[tehcyder]

Likewise wasn't it already suspected that vampire myths kept people away from rabid bats?

And, of course, zombie myths kept people away from having sex with corpses.

Re:Superstition can also cause great harm.

[shma]

You are committing a logical fallacy. By the same logic: Reagan ate breakfast each morning. Therefore breakfast prevents nuclear war.

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