Topic
Sympathetic magic
About: Sympathetic magic is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 48 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1987 citations. The topic is also known as: imitative magic & bewitchment.
Papers
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that people are less accurate at throwing darts at pictures of the faces of people they like than those of people who liked or neutral people when faced with pictures of pictures of dangerous, disgusting, or valued objects.
Abstract: Two laws of sympathetic magic were described by Frazer and Mauss at the beginning of this century to account for magical belief systems in traditional cultures. In this study, we show that these laws fit well with a variety of behaviors in American culture, in responses to disgusting, dangerous, or valued objects. The first law, contagion, holds that "once in contact, always in contact." That is, there can be a permanent transfer of properties from one object (usually animate) to another by brief contact. For example, in this study we show that drinks that have briefly contacted a sterilized, dead cockroach become undesirable, or that laundered shirts previously worn by a disliked person are less desirable than those previously worn by a liked or neutral person. The second law, similarity, holds that "the image equals the object," and that action taken on an object affects similar objects. In this study, we demonstrate this law by showing, for example, that people reject acceptable foods (e.g., fudge) shaped into a form that represents a disgusting object (dog feces), or that people are less accurate at throwing darts at pictures of the faces of people they like. With these and other measures, we found a great deal of evidence for the operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in all 50 of the subjects we studied. The laws of sympathetic magic correspond to the two basic laws of association (contiguity and similarity}. We discuss the parallel and report a disgust conditioning study to develop this parallel.
1,091 citations
1 Jan 1990
363 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors expand Langer's illusion of control model to include perceptions of personal luck as a potential source of misperceived skillful influence over non-controllable events.
Abstract: In three studies, the authors expand on Langer’s (1975) illusion of control model to include perceptions of personal luck as a potential source of misperceived skillful influence over non-controllable events. In an initial study, it was predicted and found that having choice in a game of chance heightened both perceived personal luck and perceived chance of winning. In additional studies, hypotheses were tested based on the proposition that luck perceived as a personal quality follows the laws of sympathetic magic. The results showed that participants acted as though luck could be transmitted from themselves to a wheel of fortune and thereby positively affect their perceived chance of winning. Results are discussed both in terms of the previously unexamined connection between illusory control and beliefs in sympathetic magic and as an extension of the illusory control model.
164 citations
TL;DR: The so-called Cyrenean foundation Decree as discussed by the authors describes and paraphrases what appears to be the oath of the seventh-century Theran colonists who founded the city of Cyrene in Libya.
Abstract: The so-called ‘Cyrenean Foundation Decree’ describes and paraphrases what appears to be the oath of the seventh-century Theran colonists who founded the city of Cyrene in Libya. This oath contains a conditional self-imprecation, a common enough feature of many Greek oaths, but one which in this case involves wax effigies in what can best be described as a ritual employing ‘sympathetic magic’:
96 citations
TL;DR: Three studies examined the potential interactions of the experiential system and positive affect in predicting superstitious beliefs and sympathetic magic, and results are interpreted as indicating that PA promotes Experiential processing.
Abstract: Three studies examined the potential interactions of the experiential system and positive affect (PA) in predicting superstitious beliefs and sympathetic magic. In Study 1, experientiality and induced positive mood interacted to predict the emergence of belief in videos purporting to show unidentified flying objects or ghosts. In Study 2, naturally occurring PA interacted with experientiality to predict susceptibility to sympathetic magic, specifically difficulty in throwing darts at a picture of a baby (demonstrating the law of similarity). In Study 3, induced mood interacted with experientiality to predict sitting farther away from, and expressing less liking for, a partner who had stepped in excrement (demonstrating the law of contagion). Results are interpreted as indicating that PA promotes experiential processing. Implications for the psychology of nonrational beliefs and behaviors are discussed.
95 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2015 | 4 |
| 2014 | 1 |