source
When it comes to superstitions, everyone has their own opinions towards it and how they define it and it some people can have a negative or positive thinking towards it depending on how they see it. Some traditions or cultures so much believe in it that they build their life activities around it or it controls the way of how they do things or see things. Superstitions come in different forms or how people see it; some believe it to be fate, supernatural force, and unpredictable factors or omens. These have however driving humans to be either rational or irrational when making decisions about their life and choices.
Superstitions like I said earlier have both negative and positive beliefs towards how humans do or see things, although people have made irrational decisions because of it and also they have also made rational decisions. When it comes to irrational decisions, some people have made costly mistakes because they tend to choose beliefs that it’s destiny or what will be, will be over making the right choice that they see in front them and when it comes to rational decisions, because they believe that the superstitious they believe in are real they tend to wear what they call good luck charms, like bracelets, set of colors or anything relating to it that it will help them in times of need and also helps to keep them calm in times of stress or anxiety.
source
I know some of us will say we don’t believe in superstitions but along the line we unconsciously carry the act of superstitions activities for example, when someone sneeze you say bless you because we believe that it will help the person calm or it will avoid something bad, some also find themselves avoiding broken mirrors for some unknown reasons and like me I don’t stare at the mirror at night and that’s because I feel something scary might or maybe that’s because of too many horror movies. Some people are also afraid of the number 13 because they believe it brings bad luck to a certain place or to them.
A vivid example of superstitious belief is that, in my culture, they don’t whistle or sweep at night. They believe that if you whistle at night you might or you will be calling unwanted spirits to your house, while some say snakes. And if you are sweeping outside your house at night, you are also doing something bad and it brings bad luck. They are others such like stopping a dog from digging random holes in the ground because it means that death is on its way or will visit that house or and the most common one is not entering the market place at night because that’s when spirits come out to shop or hunt too.
Superstitions can either be logic or facts or more than that depending on how we see it and it has been rooted down in our subconscious and passed down from generations to generations from our ancestors with both negative and positive ways of how we live our lives. For example;
source
The Number 13: like I explained earlier when people see it as a bad luck and even worse when they comes across a day like Friday the 13th, they would do absolute nothing to avoid it bringing bad luck to them.
Having a black cat: first of all, in Nigeria some cultures hate cats because they see it as an evil animal in sense that witches can easily possess them or turn into them and this has made it an abomination to evil own one not to talk of it being black.
Other practice includes sprinkling of salt to ward off evil, making a wish under the shooting stars etc.
So in summary, superstitious beliefs can be gotten from either the fear of something or the urge to overcome something and its beyond scientific knowledge or judgment. Every culture around the world has the superstitious belief that is gotten or derived from the past or ancestral ways to help them overcome difficult situations like fear, uncertainty or situations that are favorable or unfavorable.
According to
in Three Little-Discussed Psychological Factors that Determine, or Undermine, Success
She said: Our subconscious has selectively stored away things and situations that are dangerous or harmful to us. It is doing its best but since in the 21 century we are rarely confronted by wild animals, the algorithms are not always efficient.
So we develop phobias, fears, resentments, anger, guilt, and other weight.