The two essays: “In the Field of Reason, Lawyers Woo Luck Too,” by Benjamin Weiser and “Embrace the Supernatural,” by Thorin Klosowski have shown the relationship between lawyers and how superstitions and rituals affect them. Superstitions and rituals act like placebos, and can affect anyone, either with positive or negative effects. Even well-educated, distinguished lawyers, Michael Jordan, with six basketball championships, and many others, have “silly” superstitions, for good reason.
Humans’ ability to recognize patterns greatly increases the chance of one developing a superstition. Hudson, a reputable science writer and author, stated that “We’re so good that we see them even when they’re not there” (pg. 14, line 90-91). What he means is that when humans see something happen, they immediately want to know why. So, in coincidences, people connect non-related events to each other. Another example is by the lawyer Benjamin Brafman “I just wear it [a bendel] because since I’ve put it on, I’ve enjoyed good luck both personally and professionally” (page 7, lines 119-120). A bendel is and Israeli bracelet that wards off the evil eye. Although the bendel has no effect whatsoever on his life, he has attributed his luck to the bendel. This serves to further his sense of control.
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The illusion of control is based off of pattern recognition. The illusion of control takes place when one believes that if they do a specific action that has no effect on the outcome, they have more control. This, in turn, releases dopamine, which triggers the reward center in the brain. This causes the placebo effect. The placebo effect is when one believes a specific result will happen, it actually does, such as Vitamin C stopping colds, though no science has proven that. The placebo effect makes one feel good, though what they did had no effect on the