Superstition: A Very Short Introduction (2024)

Online ISBN:

9780191859854

Print ISBN:

9780198819257

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

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Stuart Vyse

Stuart Vyse

Independent scholar, psychologist, and author

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Oxford Academic

Published:

23 January 2020

Print ISBN:

9780198819257

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

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Vyse, Stuart, Superstition: A Very Short Introduction, Very Short Introductions (Oxford, 2020; online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 Jan. 2020), https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198819257.001.0001, accessed 11 June 2024.

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Abstract

Do you touch wood for luck, or avoid hotel rooms on floor thirteen? Would you cross the path of a black cat, or step under a ladder? Despite the dominance of science in today’s world, superstitious beliefs—both traditional and new—remain surprisingly popular. Where did these superstitions come from, and why do they persist today? Superstition: A Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present. It takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world.

Keywords: James George Frazer, Greek mythology, I Ching, Pliny the Elder, psychology, Carl Sagan

Subject

Customs and Traditions History Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge

Series

Very Short Introductions

Collection: Very Short Introductions

Contents

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