Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World

Abstract

Although magical beliefs (such as belief in luck and precognition) are presumably universal, the extent to which such beliefs are embraced likely varies across cultures. We assessed the effect of culture on luck and precognition beliefs in two large-scale multinational studies (Study 1: k = 16, N = 17,664; Study 2: k = 25, N = 4,024). Over and above the effects of demographic factors, culture was a significant predictor of luck and precognition beliefs in both studies. Indeed, when culture was added to demographic models, the variance accounted for in luck and precognition beliefs approximately doubled. Belief in luck and precognition was highest in Latvia and Russia (Study 1) and South Asia (Study 2), and lowest in Protestant Europe (Studies 1 and 2). Thus, beyond the effects of age, gender, education, and religiosity, culture is a significant factor in explaining variance in people’s belief in luck and precognition. Follow-up analyses found a relatively consistent effect of socio-economic development, such that belief in luck and precognition were more prevalent in countries with lower scores on the Human Development Index. There was also some evidence that these beliefs were stronger in more collectivist cultures, but this effect was inconsistent. We discuss the possibility that there are culturally specific historical factors that contribute to relative openness to such beliefs in Russia, Latvia, and South Asia.

Exploring the effects of paranormal belief and gender on precognition task: An application of the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework on parapsychological research

“…However, recall and interpretation of dreams toward perceived precognition are subjected to biases (Watt et al, 2014). Culture is a major influencing factor on beliefs in precognition (Harris et al, 2022), which is intuitive since religious beliefs are often deep-rooted in the collective mindset, typically seen in the cultural evolution of East and Southeast Asian countries (Vuong et al, 2018). On the relationship between paranormal beliefs and precognition tasks, a study suggests that those with a higher level of belief in precognitive dreams may perform worse in predicting lottery results, probably due to the illusion of having influence over their luck interfering with probabilistic reasoning (Blagrove et al, 2006).…”