Monday, February 23, 2015

The Statistics!

        Why do we commit acts of superstitions? Is it because of how our parents taught us deal with anxiety? Or maybe its simply something we have accustomed too. Whatever the fact, we can see that superstition is an important factor that plays in achieving something. Superstition can just be simply be a hope for an upcoming event or outcome, but it has to do with how you perceive things. Superstition has a big impact on the way the way you perform in sports, due to a placebo effect.
        According to an article from the Atlantic, "How Superstition Works" says that superstition is seen and analyzed a lot in the sports industry. Even the famous NBA stars have the history of superstition, an example is Chuck Persons whom used to eat two candy bars before each game or Jim Kelly who forced himself to throw up prior to playing in a game. This was in all types of atmospheres and as seen even in the pros.
        Another good aspect to explore is the different types of sports that show the amount of players with a belief in superstition.  Weather its in the local school gym or at the stadium in Denver, there is a wide range of sports players that show a strong belief in superstitious behavior. A group of studies done by a Canadian students, Maxwell Zaug and Hans Buhrmann showed that the better players in a team were much more superstitious then nonstarters. They also found that teams that reported higher superstition rates had a much better win-loss record.  Out of all these sports you can see above that, superstition is big in the sports world.
        According to "WebMD.Com" the award of most superstition goes to females, as children we are all taught of a variety of superstitions, but women tend to use superstition the most among both groups and we can definitely see how that relates to the chart above. According to Stuart Vice a psychologist, women tend to be much more anxious, and along with anxiety come the desire for superstitions in social situations. The graph definitely shows that women use a little bit more superstition then men, even if it is a few numbers above if they are added it up it ends up being much more.

Citation:

Albert, Sarah. "The Psychology of Superstition." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015

Vyse, Stuart. "How Superstition Works." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

1 comment:

  1. I like the way you explain your statistics, it is good information.

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