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Hold on to your lucky underwear. Your favorite lucky charms might actually work, a new study shows.
In a German study, volunteers gave researchers their good luck charms: a worn stuffed animal, a key chain, a pretty stone or a piece of sentimental jewelry. Only half the participants were given them back while playing a computer memory game, and those with their charmed objects did better at the game than those without.
“Superstition increases people’s confidence,” says Lysann Damisch, one of the study’s co-authors and a social psychologist at Germany’s University of Cologne. “In other words, if you have your lucky charm close by, you feel more confident and secure about the following task, which makes you try harder and perform better.”
So your lucky charm boosts your confidence. Any kid who’s seen “Dumbo” recently can tell you that. (He didn’t need his lucky feather to fly because he believed in himself!) But when you’re facing a scary situation – like a job interview, or a first date – it’s comforting to know that wearing a lucky piece of jewelry might help get you through it.
Professional athletes are famous for their superstitious quirks: Michael Jordan routinely wore his lucky gym shorts from college under his Chicago Bulls uniform, and tennis phenomenon Serena Williams once wore the same pair of socks throughout a tournament. Celebrities are a little weirder: Chris Martin of Coldplay is rumored to never take the stage without first brushing his teeth, and (this one’s really weird) Megan Fox once told Conan O’Brien on “The Tonight Show” that she believes she must listen to Britney Spears for the duration of a flight – otherwise the plane will crash.
Hey, whatever works.
What’s your lucky charm? And has it ever seemed to bring you good luck? Tell us about it in the comments.
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Isn't that how religion got started?
Too bad reality is so intimidating for all the babies out there who simply can't function as adults.
Actually, it may fit in with the way the human mind works.
Check out this Scientific American article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-willpower-paradox
Soon science will come to terms with the fact that mind forms matter. This is part of that discovery. This is the part of the movie wherein they begin to see...
As lovely as that sounds, it certainly isn't science and shouldn't be a part of any valid discussion of scientific results.
It only proves that some conditons would seem to create better conditions for healing. You may or may not think that healing is magic but such a consideration has absolutely no place in a conversation regarding the results of a scientific study based on a particular hypothesis.
In science "may" is a dangerous word. The media uses "may" to put out all sorts of poorly substantiated claims. The words "might" and "could" are equally dangerous. All science reports must be read with extreme care since so much of it is bogus garbage (bad science) paid for by corporations and religious crazies with ulterior motives.
Of course Lucky charms work! After all they are Magically delicious! lol
The title of this article is sensationalistic nonsense. The study in question does NOT demonstrate that "lucky charms work". Lucky charms are intended to alter one's LUCK. The study merely demonstrates what everyone already knows -- that self confidence is important.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with luck or superstition.
This study does not change "luck" but perception.
Correction: This study does not demonstrate changing "luck" but perception.
This study concluded that belief in yourself is what is important? Well DUH! I wonder how much money was wasted on this. They could have given me the money and I would have told them the same exact thing.
And to "chelovek": I don't know if this is how religion got started, but I can tell you it is how prayer "works". At least when praying for something you control (such as landing a job or performing well in a sport). It is not necessary to believe in an external influence, be it a luck charm or god. Belief in yourself and your own abilities (like Dumbo) is paramount.
WmTRiker:
You may or may not be surprised that I agree with you that this is how prayer works. The sad thing is that so many ignorant people think prayer works because their favorite sky god actually has nothing better to do than listen to and grant their silly personal requests. It allows people to attribute virtue where none exists. That's both sad and childishly delusional.
Wasn't there a really bad Brady Bunch episode along these lines involving a lampshade finial? Oh wait, that's right, all episodes of the Brady Bunch were really bad.
This doesn't show lucky charms work, it shows that people THINK they work. Another way this experiment could be done would show people that the lucky charm, in and of itself, does nothing. So here's how that might work.
Split the group in to three groups -- A, B, and C. Have group A take the test without the lucky charm. For Group B and C, give them each a box and tell them it contains their lucky charm, but only Group B's boxes actually contain their lucky charm. Group C's boxes are empty.
My guess is that group B and C will score about the same, and that these will be higher than group A.
Then, all participants should be told the results. Group C's scores, assuming they are higher than Group A, should illuminate that the presence of the lucky charm actually did nothing, and only their false belief that it was present, helped them.
The mind is a powerful tool. People can literally convince themselves of anything through strongly believing something is true. Like religion.
A valid test of "lucky charms" would measure whether the charms exert any influence over external events -- occurrences entirely outside the control of the charm holders. The vapid study described here showed only that a detectable placebo effect can be derived from virtually any superstition, no matter how baseless. If I founded a cult devoted to the worship of the Burger King, within a few years I'd probably have sincere testimonials from burger-believers about how the King had miraculously improved their lives.
It's called placebo effect.
Even though religion is the the Greatest (false) Story Ever Sold.