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Content provided by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
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Why Do Superstitions Feel So Good?

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Manage episode 490890457 series 2468001
Content provided by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Are you like Kurt, stuck wearing a pair of 'lucky socks' every time your team plays, no matter what the outcome of the game turns out to be? In this month's bonus, we explore why we hold onto superstitions, like lucky socks, even when we know they don't work. From BF Skinner's pigeons to social identity theory, we unpack the behavioral science behind our game-day rituals, however irrational, and discuss the sense of agency, control, and belonging that they create.

Topics

[0:00] Intro: Kurt's Lucky Socks

[3:38] The Placebo Effect

[7:27] Mistaking Correlation for Causation

[11:58] Social Identity and Group Belonging

[16:34] The Psychological Benefits of Superstitions

Links

Join our Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

  continue reading

489 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 490890457 series 2468001
Content provided by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan, Kurt Nelson, and Tim Houlihan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Are you like Kurt, stuck wearing a pair of 'lucky socks' every time your team plays, no matter what the outcome of the game turns out to be? In this month's bonus, we explore why we hold onto superstitions, like lucky socks, even when we know they don't work. From BF Skinner's pigeons to social identity theory, we unpack the behavioral science behind our game-day rituals, however irrational, and discuss the sense of agency, control, and belonging that they create.

Topics

[0:00] Intro: Kurt's Lucky Socks

[3:38] The Placebo Effect

[7:27] Mistaking Correlation for Causation

[11:58] Social Identity and Group Belonging

[16:34] The Psychological Benefits of Superstitions

Links

Join our Substack!

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

  continue reading

489 episodes

All episodes

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