Ever heard that most pedestrian crossing buttons don’t actually do anything? I’m guessing that even if you have heard that, you still press them anyway – and if you’re anxious to get where you’re going, you give that button a real workout. Why do we do this?
All animals – even us humans with huge brains capable of reasoning – are wired to detect patterns. Pigeons can become superstitious. They develop their own rituals when food is delivered regardless of whether those rituals have any effect. I’ve even seen mice develop superstitions when they really were in control, like turning in a circle before pushing a lever that delivers food, or only pushing it with their back feet. When they can’t be sure what exactly they did right to deliver a result, sometimes they add extra steps.
The more unexpected the outcome of an event, the more information our brains encode about what led up to that event. This means that when events happen randomly, we tend to repeat pointless behaviours hoping to get a reward or avoid a disaster. Pigeon superstitions show that human superstition is not the product of our intelligence, or some philosophical or religious attempt to understand the universe. Our brain structure evolved to help us survive in an unpredictable world.
Superstitions are a by-product of your brain trying to protect you from predators.
Your brain simply refuses to accept that you can’t control or predict everything. In fact, some researchers have argued that it’s psychologically healthy to believe that you have more control than you really do. Researchers have found that in a game where participants have no control over the outcome, healthy people falsely believe their actions are affecting the game, but depressed people rightly understand that they have no control. This phenomenon is known as ‘depressive realism’. It seems that what gets you through the day is a sort of self-inflicted placebo effect. (Hopefully, reading this article doesn’t ruin that placebo for you).
The less control you have, the more likely you are to see patterns where they don’t exist. It’s no surprise then that feelings of powerlessness and uncertainty are connected to beliefs in conspiracies; even believing in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy gives people a sense of control. How anyone came to the conclusion that Dan Brown is the one with the master plan, I don’t know.
The less control you have, the more likely you are to see patterns where they don’t exist.
Superstitions are a by-product of your brain trying to protect you from predators. Thinking that your jacket hanging up in the dark is a serial killer and beating your own clothes with a broom will make you feel stupid, but it won’t get you killed. Mistaking a murderer for your jacket hanging up is a much bigger mistake.
You keep pushing crosswalk buttons because your lizard brain did the math and thinks you’ll get more utility from pushing them if they’re just placebos than not pushing them if they actually work.
