Staying Fit
When Bill Steiger was growing up, a boarding school teacher told him that if he passed the salt without the pepper, a sailor would die at sea. Steiger's grandmother warned him not to pick up stray coins that were tails up or risk bad luck, and his mother ate pork and sauerkraut every New Year's Day to bring good fortune in the coming year.
This year, people may be more attuned to superstitions than ever — going out of their way to avoid a black cat, knocking on wood for luck or throwing salt over their shoulder to ward off evil.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
"About a week ago, I was walking the dog and I saw a penny on the ground that was tails up,” says Steiger, 57, of Tampa, Florida. “Even though it's not necessarily a superstition I believe in, I did not pick up the penny."
A tool to manage anxiety
Though most people recognize logically that superstitious behaviors aren't likely to change fate, harboring unfounded beliefs isn't as silly as it sounds. In fact, superstitions are normal and in some cases may help relieve stress in times of crisis, for instance during a global pandemic, says Emily Balcetis, a social psychologist and associate professor of psychology at New York University.
"It's a tool to manage our anxiety,” Balcetis says. “When there's scary stuff happening, our instinctual fight-or-flight mechanisms kick in.”
Superstitions are us choosing the flight path, she says. A fight response would be to accept that something scary is looming and face it. But superstitions allow us to put some distance between ourselves and fear. In fact, most people indulge in magical thinking no matter what's going on in the world. A 2015 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll found that only 24 percent of respondents reported being superstitious, but 60 percent admitted they say “knock on wood.”
As the coronavirus pandemic has surged across the country, Balcetis says she has seen superstitions provide reassurance.
"You can't stamp out COVID, but holding a rabbit's foot in your purse might feel like it brings some control,” she says. “A magical trinket that keeps me safe — it's an illusory sense of control."
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Superstition is actually a survival mechanism for people of all ages. “We can't constantly live with elevated cortisol levels, high blood pressure or fast heart rates,” Balcetis says. Relieving our apprehensions with delusion can actually be a psychological defense tool.
