Operant conditioning entails learning relationships between behavior and its consequences of reinforcement or punishment. Operant responses are usually voluntary, such as verbal behavior, thinking and/or physical actions. In operant conditioning experiments, the researcher associates a particular response by closely following correspondences to that response with reinforcement or punishment (Ettinger, 2018). 

Superstition may be defined as an irrational belief that can lead to the practice of various rituals, where a random occurrence is related with a positive outcome. The practice of the ritual is then thought to increase the positive outcome by again repeating the behavior. Some may see superstition as rooted in a mismatched correlation between cause and effect, where there is a tendency to interpret outcomes in line with our pre-existing beliefs. We often see this behavior in sporting activities, where a chance action or inaction, could lead to a point or goal for a particular percentage of the time. For example, actions of a baseball batter tapping home plate with their bat, loosening, and retightening their gloves and then hitting a homerun, are likely to be repeated. Not that these actions actually have any effect, but simply because of the coincidental reinforcement (What Is the Evolutionary Reason for Superstitious Behaviour? 2021).

Behavior learned through reinforcement usually involves a straightforward process linking cause to effect.  However, with superstitious behavior, we perform an irrelevant action that happens to accompany the behavior that is being reinforced. Now that irrelevant action or the superstitious behavior, itself becomes reinforced (Krauss Whitbourne, 2014).

I think this cause-and-effect superstitious behavior can be often seen in many other common rituals that we often execute without much engaged thought. Ironically, some superstitions actually have some logical explanation or history behind them. An example would be not walking under a ladder because it could be potentially dangerous if something fell off of the ladder and onto someone’s head. Or not opening an umbrella indoors, because it was designed to be open outdoors and clear from hitting potential objects upon opening (Kolitz, 2020).

References:

Ettinger, R. H. (2018). Psychology: The Science of Behavior (6th ed.). BVT Publishing.

Kolitz, D. (2020, March 30). Which Superstitions Are Based on Facts? Gizmodo. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://gizmodo.com/which-superstitions-are-based-on-fact-1841261680

Krauss Whitbourne, S. (2014, October 14). Why We’re So Superstitious. Psychology Today. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201410/why-were-so-superstitious

What is the Evolut3ionary Reason for Superstitious Behaviour? (2021, August 18). New Scientist. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/mg25133482-900-what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-superstitious-behaviour/#:%7E:text=A%20superstition%20is%20an%20irrational,likelihood%20of%20repeating%20the%20behaviour.

What is the evolutionary reason for superstitious behaviour? (2021, August 18). New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/mg25133482-900-what-is-the-evolutionary-reason-for-superstitious-behaviour/

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