Men are more likely to bet more money after positive divination, even if they don’t believe it

A new study finds that men who receive positive predictions about their future are more likely to bet more money, even if they don’t believe in fortune-telling. However, there seems to be no such reaction among women.

This study highlights an interesting aspect of human behavior. People tend to follow superstitions, whether they believe them or not.

Psychologists say this may be because they want to maintain the illusion of control that superstition gives them, or because they want to impose a sense of order as a psychological defense against random events that to the observer equates to adherence to superstition. I don’t think so. .

This study suggests that seemingly irrational superstitions can influence decision-making. Xiaoyue Tan, a researcher and psychologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, believes that even relatively important economic decisions, which many expect to be dominated by hard-headed analysis, are often suggests that it may affect

“The superstition that good luck comes first may increase expectations that men will ‘overcome adversity’, reduce anxiety, justify risky choices, and consequently increase risk-taking behavior in men. ‘ she said in an email.

Tan is the lead author of the study Published in the journal PLOS One on Wednesday Reported the results of the investigation.

The researchers used a smartphone divination app. It was supposedly based on the user’s date of birth, favorite color, etc., but in reality it was purely random. The experiment was conducted with over 600 participants.

They found that men who received positive fortune were more likely to take financial risks and gamble more after completing another task that “distracted” them from the divination phase of the app in subsequent questions. I found what you said. Most of them claimed not to believe in fortune-telling.

Tan wants to do more research to see if the findings hold true when real money is at stake.

The researchers saw no sign of such a striking association among women. .Previous studies have shown that men are more likely to

“In general, men are more likely to take risks in the financial field than women,” she said in an email, perhaps gaining resources, social status, or a quality spouse.

But researchers didn’t expect such a strong correlation between men and women.

They also found that men in the study were more likely than women to say they believed in superstitions.

Psychologist and author Stuart Vice, author of Believe in Magic: The Psychology of Superstitions and a former professor at Connecticut College in New London, says that people are superstitious even when they claim to disbelieve in superstitions. I explained that I was likely to act.

Whether such non-believers gain the illusion of following a superstition or seek to impose order on random events depends largely on the type of superstition involved and the task they are performing, the study says. Vyse said he was not involved in

“People in situations like this often say, ‘I know this is silly, but you’ll feel better if you follow this superstition anyway,'” he said. They have two thoughts on it.”

He also noted that divination is somewhat different from other types of superstition. Fortune-telling occurs before the event it is supposed to predict (in this case gambling). He spilled salt on his shoulder.

Tan acknowledged that this was a weakness of the study that could be resolved with further experimentation.

“Divination is just a form of superstition,” she said. “We cannot confidently conclude whether our findings apply to other forms of superstition.”

Vyse added that he was not too surprised that men were more likely than women to gamble after receiving positive divination. Because research shows that men are generally risk takers. This is seen when the final task of such experiments is female-specific.

“I think more research needs to be done to find out how powerful and influential this behavior is,” he said. I was also impressed with their approach.