冥冥之中很玄乎 迷信并非一无是处

Reminding people of their good traits makes them more emotionally secure, says Claude Steele, an early researcher into the psychology of self-affirmation and now a dean in Stanford University's graduate school of education. 'If I feel secure that I am a good person, I can be more open to threat in general, and that makes me less needful of being superstitious,' he adds. It isn't that people no longer think their team will lose, or that they'll fail a test, he says. Instead, self-affirmation makes them more psychologically resilient, and helps them realize they can cope even if something bad happens.
斯坦福大学教育研究生院院长斯蒂尔(Claude Steele)对自我肯定进行过早期心理学研究，他说提醒人们牢记自己的优秀品质能够让他们心里更有安全感。如果我确信自己是一个优秀的人，总体而言我可以更加勇敢地面对威胁，进而就更无须靠迷信来帮忙。他补充道，并不是说人们这样就坚信球队获胜或者考试通过。而是说自我肯定能够增强他们的心理抵抗力，帮助他们意识到即便有什么不好的事情发生，自己也能应付得了。

Still, for people under pressure to compete or perform, superstitious behavior can create a placebo effect that can improve the outcome. Since the age of 15, Maria Fabregat Farran, a 20-year-old student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has always worn a red bracelet while taking exams. 'My mom gave it to me and said it was lucky, and wearing it makes me more relaxed,' she says. 'I think it helps me on tests.'
尽管如此，如果人们肩负着竞争或尽力表现的压力，迷信行为可以催生出一种安慰剂效应(placebo effect)，让他们的表现更加出色。巴塞罗那自治大学(Autonomous University of Barcelona)的20岁学生法兰(Maria Fabregat Farran)从15岁开始，每次考试都会带上一个红色的手镯。她说：我妈妈给我这个手镯，告诉我它有福气，戴着它我更放松。我觉得它能帮助我应对考试。

In a 2010 experiment published in Psychological Science, golfers sank 35% more putts when playing with a ball they were told was 'lucky.' Sports teams from Little League to the pros are rife with players who practice a ritual or carry a charm they believe will boost their performance. Michael Jordan, for one, was famous for wearing his lucky college basketball shorts under his NBA ones.
据《心理科学》(Psychological Science)杂志2010年发表的一篇研究报告称，当高尔夫球手在被告知所用之球能带来好运时，他们的击球入洞率上升了35%。无论是职业球手还是美国少年棒球联合会(Little League)的小队员，都流行在比赛前举行祈福仪式或佩带一块护身符，因为相信这会让他们有更好的表现。篮球巨星乔丹(Michael Jordan)也有一个众所周知的习惯，那就是每次比赛都将他的幸运大学篮球短裤穿在NBA队服的里面。

While conditioned superstitions affect personal behavior, cultural ones can impact the market at large. Some 10,000 fewer people fly on Friday the 13th, and U.S. businesses generate less revenue on those days compared with other Fridays, since some people don't want to travel, work or make purchases, says Thomas Kramer, an associate professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business.
“条件性迷信”会影响个人行为，而文化迷信则会更广泛地影响着市场。南卡罗莱纳大学(University of South Carolina)摩尔商学院(Moore School of Business)市场营销副教授克雷默(Thomas Kramer)说，如果13号恰逢星期五，这天的航空出行乘客会减少约10,000人，这一天美国企业的创收也较其它周五要少，因为一些人在这一天不会出远门、工作或者购物。

In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2008, Dr. Kramer asked 95 students to write down their associations with either Friday the 13th or an innocuous day before answering questions about gambling decisions. His finding: After thinking about Friday the 13th, compared with a random day, participants became more risk-averse. 'They were willing to forgo a gamble with a larger payoff in favor of a lower gamble with assured value,' he says.
在2008年《消费者研究》上发表的一篇研究中，克雷默让95名学生参与一场赌博游戏，并在回答问题之前，让一部份人用纸笔把自己与恰逢星期五的13号联想起来，另一部份人则随便写下一个不晦气的日子。他发现：思索过13号周五的受试者比其他受试者的避险倾向更强。他说，相比一个高风险高回报的大赌，他们更倾向于有确定收益的小赌。