The Importance Of Superstitions

The texts, “In a Field of Reason: Lawyers Woo Luck Too” and “Embrace the Supernatural,” discuss how superstitions and rituals impact people’s behaviors and mindsets. A superstition is a belief or behavior thought to change the outcome of an event. Both superstitions and rituals have psychological benefits. Lawyers are trained to be logical, yet they engage in superstition. It is a universal desire to control what is out of their hands, even when there is no real way to control the situation. Superstitions are one just one way to exhibit this desire. The lawyers are human, and their instincts overcome reasoning. The most common reason lawyers engage in superstition is because of survival instincts. Their inclination to control an outcome

Their mental wellness is dependant on their feeling of control. In the text, it talks about a concept known as the “illusion of control.” The illusion of control is a feeling of control that comes from something unreasonable and unjustifiable. Even if the rituals performed can’t really affect the outcome, the feeling of control is present, which is better than nothing. Pattern recognition plays a significant role as well. People find simple coincidences, and have a need to make sense of them. Then, they turn to mystical forces (page 14, lines 87-91). “Maybe you made this thing happen or the universe made this thing happen as a sign to you to improve your life” (page 15, lines 97-100). Furthermore, renowned biologist Kevin Foster suggests, in the article New Scientist, that people learned superstitious practices based on survival needs. “In general, an animal must balance the cost of being right with the cost of being wrong” (page 15, lines 107-109). Making sense of things is another main reason the lawyers believe in

Ruhnke agrees that lawyers, seemly driven by reason, who participate in superstitions are illogical, yet he believes in superstition himself. He believes that black is a color associated particularly with death and mourning, so will not write with black ink. He also sends emails with blue letters, uses blue and green binders, and avoids red. Perhaps the color black, which is associated with death, will bring bad luck, and have one of his clients accused guilty. Mr. Ruhnke doesn’t plan to alter his ways. In sixteen capital trials, in attempts to save the clients’ lives, he’s only had two clients sentenced to death, and none of them have been executed. This superstitious ritual was formed off of pattern recognition. It appears when he continues this practice solely because it has in the past been effective. Despite his good fortune, this superstition can be detrimental to his health. He goes out of his way to avoid black, and on the occasion that he has nothing but black, this will cause unnecessary