Good Luck Charms
     Scientifically speaking, luck, as a supernatural force affecting our lives, doesn’t hold water. Events are random and can’t be controlled by charms, rituals, or superstitions. However, the belief in luck can significantly influence our perceptions and behavior. Research shows that believing in good luck can boost optimism, leading to better moods and increasing perseverance, ultimately fostering success. It is not the existence of luck, but our perception of it that makes the difference.
In order to understand the power of good luck charms, we first delve into the psychology of luck. Studies suggest that the belief in luck is not merely a product of superstition, but can actually influence perception, behavior, and outcomes. Feeling lucky can bolster confidence, improving performance in tasks ranging from sports to cognitive tests. Renowned psychologist Richard Wiseman found that people who consider themselves lucky tend to be more open to new experiences, more optimistic, and more attentive to opportunities. Essentially, by expecting good fortune, they’re more likely to notice and seize upon opportunities that others might overlook.
Psychologists suggest that lucky charms might work through a psychological phenomenon known as the “placebo effect”. In essence, if we believe that a particular object brings good luck, our belief can subconsciously influence our actions and attitudes in a positive way. For instance, Psychological Science found that participants who brought their good luck charms to a memory test significantly outperformed those who didn’t. The key was not the charm itself, but the boosted self-confidence and decreased anxiety the charm provided. When we believe we’re lucky or have a lucky charm, we’re more likely to notice positive outcomes. We tend to focus on information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs while overlooking information that doesn’t. Therefore, when something good happens, we attribute it to our good luck charms, reinforcing our belief in their power.
Furthermore, the belief in good luck charms can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, where our expectations subtly change our behavior to make the expected outcome more likely. For example, believing we’re lucky might make us more willing to take risks, leading to new opportunities that we perceive as “good luck”. Lucky charms, rituals, and beliefs can influence our attitudes, behavior, and perceptions, leading to positive outcomes in life. In this sense, good luck charms do work. They function as tools of self-belief, confidence boosters, and psychological supports, and that’s where their true magic lies.
Psychologist Lysann Damisch of the University of Koln, Germany, is the one who believes that good luck charms may indeed be effective. She decided to test this idea in a series of experiments. The first two experiments were similar. In one, Damisch had a group of volunteers to put golf balls about four feet into the hole. But before they attempted this, she told about half of them that they were playing with a “lucky” ball, while the others just got a regular golf ball. Similarly, in the second experiment, the volunteers attempted a difficult game; but before they did, half were told: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.” In other words, in each study, only some of the volunteers had their superstitious thinking sparked, while the others simply performed the task. And the results were the same in both tests. Those “feeling lucky” did much better than those who did not have magic on their side. So, good luck charms really improve performance. Damisch ran a couple of more experiments to test her ideas about confidence, expectations and persistence. She again had volunteers to perform difficult tasks. And again, she made only some of the volunteers “lucky”. She also measured the volunteers’ confidence and effectiveness; their expectations for their performance; and how long they persevered before giving up.
The results were positive. Those with their personal lucky charms in their possession were much more confident in their performance. This confidence in turn caused the people to set higher personal goals and expectations and to persist longer at the task. However, in fact, nothing is magical about it. It is belief that makes people have more luck. Good luck charms do have “magical” powers if we put our faith to them. The point is, we believe they always work throughout our whole lives.