![]() ![]() By age 3, most know the difference between fantasy and reality, though they usually still believe (with adult encouragement) in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. In an e-mail message, he said such thinking was “only one domain where a relevant interpretation that connects all the dots, so to speak, is preferred to a rational one.”Ĭhildren exhibit a form of magical thinking by about 18 months, when they begin to create imaginary worlds while playing. The brain seems to have networks that are specialized to produce an explicit, magical explanation in some circumstances, said Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. This emerging portrait of magical thinking helps explain why people who fashion themselves skeptics cling to odd rituals that seem to make no sense, and how apparently harmless superstition may become disabling. In excess, it can lead to compulsive or delusional behavior. The sense of having special powers buoys people in threatening situations, and helps soothe everyday fears and ward off mental distress. ![]() The appetite for such beliefs appears to be rooted in the circuitry of the brain, and for good reason. But magical thinking underlies a vast, often unseen universe of small rituals that accompany people through every waking hour of a day. These habits have little to do with religious faith, which is much more complex because it involves large questions of morality, community and history. New research demonstrates that habits of so-called magical thinking - the belief, for instance, that wishing harm on a loathed colleague or relative might make him sick - are far more common than people acknowledge. Yet they could just as well have examined their own neighbors, lab assistants or even some fellow scientists. Psychologists and anthropologists have typically turned to faith healers, tribal cultures or New Age spiritualists to study the underpinnings of belief in superstition or magical powers. ![]()
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