Superstitions can be explained with behavioural ideas / learning theory and by the evolutionary approach - the link between the two (sometimes seen as opposites, as they sit on opposite sides of the nature / nurture debate) is explained by Richard Dawkins in this video about superstistious pigeons:
Superstitions are often associated with situations in which people feel out of control, and where this is stressful. Superstitious behaviour may serve a function of helping people to deal with this stress. This link describes superstitious behaviour of soldiers in Afghanistan.
Make sure you can explain this statement:
Assuming that a ‘coincidence’ (two events occurring close together in time) means that the two are causally related may have had adaptive value for our ancestors. At least, the consequences of assuming false causal links would have usually been much better than missing real causal links.'Magical thinking' is new to the specification this year so not in most textbooks. Make sure you can define it, give examples and link to the explanations for superstitious behaviours. A key idea is that superstitions and paranormal beliefs arise from modes of thinking which are generally adaptive - that is they aid survival, at least in a world where actually understanding connections between events was usually impossible.
Here is a link to more information on Cargo Cults - a good example of magical thinking, and this site has the video clip we watched in our lesson.
Magical Thinking
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