Superstitions In Athletes, Their Effects, And Not Letting Them Break The Game
Abstract
Athletes are well known for their superstitious rituals ranging from the clothes they wear to what they eat or drink. Magical thinking forms the basis of this predisposition. A wealth of research in neuroscience and psychology points out that these learned behaviors are an inevitable result of how our brains are wired. There are four major psychological theories of magic: psychosis, bad science, symbolic action, and anxiety relief, which aim to explain why magical thinking persists. However, understanding these behaviors in the specific context of sports is interesting since it allows not only for understanding the basis of such behavior but more importantly, to implement strategies and activities to alter such behavior. This may be important in cases where a behavior becomes so ingrained that it becomes a compulsion and interferes with an athlete’s ability to perform. A plethora of research in psychiatry and behavioral science has demonstrated magical thinking to be a fundamental feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It forms the basis of both thought-action fusion and superstition, both of which are central features of OCD. Associations between rituals, superstition, and eating disorders are also well established. Athlete personalities seem to greatly influence whether a superstitious behavior is carried out. Those with an external locus of control seem to participate more in such rituals. Moreover, studies have also shown that “ritual commitment” is greater when uncertainty and the importance of the game are high, just as in other aspects of life, when there is more uncertainty. Many argue that if superstitious actions improve athletic performance, where is the harm? This notion is based on some earlier studies that suggested that superstition improves performance.
However, many newer studies have failed to reproduce the same results. Instead, they propose that an improvement in performance is associated with increased self-efficacy and task persistence. In other words, superstitious beliefs work only for individuals who are not already ‘on top of their game’. An athlete who is already performing at the highest levels shows no significant improvement upon initiation of superstitious beliefs or actions. The easiest theoretical way to remove superstition is to empower an athlete in their abilities and to enable them to perform at their potential. Formal treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy may be an additional option.
Abstract will change with changes to main topic
Rituals in sport can be defined as behaviors or actions undertaken with the belief that they have the power to influence their performance or outcome (Damisch, 2010). These rituals can range from the clothes an athlete wears, to what they eat or drink, to the warm up they perform, or even the music they listen to. On the other hand, a superstition can be defined, as “something that is initially developed in hindsight, almost by accident and then becomes required in future events’” (Damisch, 2010). A superstition arises when a sports person has a particularly good or bad performance and then tries to establish the “cause and effect” by reviewing the facts of the day (Damisch, 2010).
Why are you writing this manuscript? Put it up front. Is it you think physicians are unaware of sports superstitions?Examples of such behaviors abound. For instance, Tiger Woods sports a red polo shirt at golf tournaments on Sundays. Legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff used to slap his goalkeeper in the stomach before each match. Tennis ace Serena Williams always bounces her ball five times before her first serve. In baseball, Wade Boggs claimed he hit better if he ate chicken the night before (Stafford, 2012). It is not just athletes who have these rituals or habits. The general population may have what are called “morning rituals. ” People generally do things in a certain way each morning – whether it is brushing teeth, how to get ready for work, when coffee is drunk, and everything in between.
Background
A great deal of interest in the topic and reading went in to this section. If it is to be a review for physicians would change. But lay press or sports press I would just shorten by a paragraph or two. In the iconic “Evolution of Modern Medicine,” Sir William Osler stated that, according to modern anthropologists, both religion and medicine took origin in magic (Osler, 1913). By “magic,” the anthropologists did not intend to conjure images of a rabbit being pulled out of a hat; that is an illusion, which relies on trickery and deception (Stein, 2005). Instead, anthropologists’ use of the term magic referred to activities, usually rituals, by which a person could compel the supernatural to behave in certain ways (Stein, 2005). These invocations have specific functions, such as rituals for rain if one were a farmer, rituals for health if one were ill, or rituals for better performance and victory if one were an athlete. Interestingly, whenever there is certainty and control, there is hardly ever a ritual. However, whenever the element of uncertainty or danger exists, magic and rituals abound (Stein, 2005).
Anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski worked extensively in the Trobriand Islands, an archipelago in Papua, New Guinea, and discovered that the islanders did not use magic in lagoon fishing because it is neither dangerous nor unpredictable. However, open-sea fishing, due to its unpredictability, is dangerous, and accompanied by extensive rituals designed to assure safety and success (Stein, 2005). A big part of why magic works relates to the perception by the human mind is that coincidence is often misinterpreted as evidence of causation (Stein, 2005). Evolution wired humans to recognize patterns. This wiring serves a useful purpose, in that, if a certain hunting technique worked (event “A’”), that pattern of activity was instinctively reinforced by the reward of food and its subsequent release of endorphins (outcome “B”). When ingestion of a certain food (event “A”) lead to nausea and vomiting (outcome “B”), an association was stored in the brain, such that subsequent encounters with the same entity triggered the memory. Thus, the paradigm to assume “A” caused “B” served an essential biological function. “Patternicity,” a term coined by scientific writer Michael Shermer, is defined as the tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise (Shermer, 2008). This capacity of the human brain is also known as “apophenia. ” It is because of this hard-wired neural tendency that we see faces, people, or animals in nature (such as the constellations in the sky or animal shapes in the clouds).
A wealth of research in both psychology and neuroscience indicates that pattern-processing forms the fundamental basis of all things human (Mattson, 2014). Populations that more rapidly develop superior pattern processing (SPP) capabilities experience accelerated accrual of resources and prosperity (Mattson, 2014). Examples of major SPP abilities include intelligence, language, imagination, invention, and the belief in imaginary entities, such as ghosts and gods (Mattson, 2014). So vital is pattern recognition to human cognition that its impairment or dysregulation underlies many cognitive and psychiatric disorders (Mattson, 2014). However, with its many advantages, SPP has also had the unfortunate consequence of biasing the human mind with the ability to make false associations and confuse correlation for causation, i. e. magical thinking. For instance, if a certain action or set of actions precede a glorious performance or victory in a game, it is instinctively (although erroneously) reinforced as a cause-and-effect. Moving away from causation, another interesting fact is that the human mind-design forces the belief of agenticity. To understand this, let us consider a simple event involving the collision of two objects. If adults are shown a clip of a white ball striking a red ball, as in a game of billiards, a sequence of events is witnessed: the first (white) ball hits the second (red) ball and causes it to move. It is the same for infants; they see the first ball causing the second ball to move. However, if the clip were played in reverse, both adults and infants will assume the red ball caused the white ball to move (Leslie, 1984).
In fact, this is an illusion. This perception may seem to represent reality, especially without prior knowledge that the clip had been reversed. The Scottish philosopher David Hume said that such intuitions were an illusion because one could not directly see cause (Hood, 2009). It is interesting that when a cartoon animation is seen of one ball striking another, the same causal force is inferred. In reality however, there is none. An animation is nothing but a set of drawings. Therefore, the brain does not only force viewers to see patterns, it also forces them to think that something caused those patterns to form (Leslie, 1984) (Hood, 2009). This tendency is especially true when the outcome is less predictable (rare). When something unusual happens, the brain instinctively looks for what might have caused it to happen. This forms the basis of superstitious belief. Many athletes are notorious for their superstitious rituals. For instance, Michael Jordan never hits the court without his lucky shorts from University of North Carolina (UNC). He always wore them under his Bulls uniform (Damisch, 2010). In fact, to effectively hide his college gear, Jordan wore longer shorts than most players and is credited with starting the change in basketball shorts style that persists until today (Damisch, 2010).
Roots of Magical Thinking
Edward Tylor in his 1871 book “Primitive Cultures” writes, “Magic is a logical way of thinking,” explaining the propensity for humans to employ it. However, he argues, “The problem is that the logic [of magic] is based on bad premises” (Stein, 2005). Interestingly, psychological theories of magic treat it as a personal phenomenon intended to meet individual needs. There are four major psychological theories of magic: psychosis, bad science, symbolic action, and anxiety relief. The earliest theory, proposed by Sigmund Freud, is the psychosis theory. According to this theory, “primitive man” is an irrational being and, thus, believes in magic. Because elements of magical thinking manifest themselves in neuroses, Freud deduced that belief in magic was psychosis (Freud, 1960). In contrast, the “bad science” model claims that magical beliefs came into existence as primitive man tried to explain puzzling phenomena.
According to this theory, the magician was an early form of scientist who merely lacked adequate data to accurately explain the world (Evans-Pritchard, 1977). The theory of symbolic action states that magic is a course of action undertaken when there is an emotional need for undertaking that action, but no practical option exists (Evans-Pritchard, 1977). In other words, magic arose out of helplessness. Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss expanded upon this theory, positing that magic can serve as a form of psychotherapy or New Age science. It accomplishes results by what amounts to a placebo effect (Lévi-Strauss, 1963). Lastly, the anxiety relief theory expands upon the previous theory to state that people turn to magical beliefs when there exists a sense of uncertainty and potential danger. This insecurity is beyond individual governance and, thus, magic seems to restore a sense of control. Athletes, like all the rest, are no exception to this manner of thinking.
Effects in Sports
Even pigeons can develop “superstitious” habits, as psychologist B. F. Skinner famously showed in an experiment. Skinner would begin a lecture by placing a pigeon in a cage with an automatic feeder that delivered a food pellet every 15 seconds. At the start of the lecture, Skinner would let the audience observe the ordinary, passive behavior of the pigeon, before covering the box. After fifty minutes, he would uncover the box and show that different pigeons developed different behaviors. One bird would be turning counter clockwise three times before looking in the food basket, another would be thrusting its head into the top left corner. In other words, all pigeons struck upon some particular ritual that they would do over and over again, in the “belief” that it would lead to food. Schippers and Van Lange (2006) discuss the concept of ‘ritual commitment’ in their research regarding the psychological benefits of superstitions and rituals in sport. In this study, they investigated circumstances prior to a game, in which athletes are most likely to engage and enact rituals. They refer to this tendency as ‘ritual commitment. ’ Their results suggested that ritual commitment is greater when uncertainty and the importance of the game are high. Comparatively, ritual commitment is low when the uncertainty and importance of a game is low.
In addition, player’s personalities also appeared to have an effect. In personality psychology, locus of control is defined as the degree to which an individual believes to have control over an outcome of an event in their life (Rotter, 1966). Locus is theorized as either internal, i. e. those who believe they control their life, or external, i. e. those who believe their decisions and life are controlled by factors beyond their control. It follows therefore, that athletes with an external locus of control exhibit greater levels of “ritual commitment” compared to athletes with an internal locus of control (Schippers & Lange, 2006). But all of this begs the question, can superstitions actually improve performance? A famous study conducted by Damisch, Stoberock, and Mussweiler (2010) reported a striking experiment in which manipulating superstitious feelings markedly increased golfing ability. In the study, participants attempted 10 putts, each from a distance of 1 meter. Some participants were primed for superstition prior to the task by being told ‘‘Here is the ball. So far it has turned out to be a lucky ball. ’’ Controls were simply told, ‘‘This is the ball everyone has used so far. ’’ Remarkably, as their results demonstrate, this manipulation produced a substantial increase in golf performance: Controls made 48% of putts while superstition-primed participants made 65% of putts (d = 0. 83, 95% CI [0. 05, 1. 60]). In support of their findings, Damisch et al. (2010) reported five successful conceptual replications.
However, many other replication studies demonstrate mixed results. For instance, a study conducted by Calin-Jageman and Caldwell demonstrated a statistically insignificant (p = 0. 77) 2% performance difference between the control and experimental groups (Calin-Jageman & Caldwell, 2014). It is notable, though, that performance gains in the superstition group were associated with increased self-efficacy and task persistence (Calin-Jageman & Caldwell, 2014). This suggests that strong effects of superstition perhaps only emerge when control participants are not confident or motivated enough to perform near their ability, providing ‘‘room’’ for superstition to boost performance through these factors (Calin-Jageman & Caldwell, 2014).
When Superstitions need to be Modified or Discouraged
Given the fact that superstition can range from clothing, diet, to other behaviors; the permutation and combination of superstitious actions or beliefs that can exist is theoretically infinite. Consequently, there is just as many ways in which such behavior can backfire on an athlete. For instance, determined to augment athletic performance, many athletes endure strict diets and eating habits. Many individuals are known to believe in New Age miracle or ‘Superfoods’. Studies have demonstrated that such behaviors could lead to eating disorders (EDs) or Orthorexia Nervosa (ON), a psychopathological condition characterized by the obsession for high quality food (Segura-García, 2012). By using multivariate logistic regression analysis, the study by Segura et al. demonstrated that, amongst other things, dietary preoccupations and rituals act as independent predictors to developing EDs and ON (Segura-García, 2012). Interestingly, because ON shares features with both EDs and Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum, it highlights how such behaviors compromise the health of an athlete (Segura-García, 2012). Team physicians, coaches and trainers must therefore acquaint themselves to this possibility.
A plethora of research in psychiatry and behavioral science has demonstrated magical thinking to be a fundamental feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (Yorulmaz, Inozu, & Gültepe, 2011). It forms the basis of both thought-action fusion (TAF) and superstition, both of which are central features of OCD (Einstein & Menzies, 2004). The construct of TAF has two constituent beliefs; firstly, that contemplation about an unacceptable event makes it more likely to happen, and secondly, that having an unacceptable thought is the moral equivalent of carrying out the unacceptable action (Shafran, Rachman, & Thordarson, 1996). Furthermore, several studies have demonstrated a positive linear relationship between superstitious beliefs and anxiety (Futrell, 2011). This is in line with the aforementioned theories of magic that attribute such actions to uncertainty, distress, aversive events, or when individuals feel unprepared for life’s events, be it a game, an interview, or an exam; they will attempt to gain control through superstitious behaviors. Indeed, several studies have shown that superstitious behaviors increase when difficulty increases, preparation decreases, and stakes increases in scenarios, such as taking exams or athletic competitions (Futrell, 2011).
Therefore by deduction, one of the easiest ways to decrease superstitions is to ensure that an athlete is performing at or close to their potential. More formally, treatment of superstitions may follow the track of obsessive-compulsive disorder via cognitive behavioral therapy.
Conclusion
When facing distressing situations that appear to be out of an individuals’ control, a person will rely on superstitious behaviors to create an illusion of control. This coping mechanism is considered the primary and fundamental force in human life and one of the most important variables governing psychological well-being and physical health. The real value of superstitions may not be readily objectively observed. Such behaviors may provide psychological relief and coping mechanisms for athletes. Creating the illusion of control may provide temporary comfort, however, this false sense of control may lead to debilitating psychological disorders in the long-term. Understanding the significance of the maladaptive coping mechanisms of superstitious behaviors could aid in the prevention or reduction of psychological disorders and increase psychological well-being and physical health. Because superstition arises out of helplessness uncertainty, the easiest theoretical way to remove them is to empower an athlete in their abilities and to enable them to perform at their potential. Formal treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy may be an additional option.
