Construction and behavioral validation of superstition scale

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to create an instrument for assessing tendency towards superstition-related beliefs and behavior and validate it in real life situations. Superstition was considered and analyzed as an attitude toward specific objects of the superstition. In the first part of the study, a sample of superstitious beliefs and behaviors was collected, after which the former list was reduced to 44 descriptions, based on the average familiarity. A preliminary version of the instrument was administered to 266 participants. The factor analysis suggested a presence of one main factor and three highly correlated sub-factors. In the last part of the study, in order to validate the instrument through behavioral variables, the final version of the instrument was administered to a different sample and subjects were put in two situations that challenged their potential superstitious behavior (passing below or going around a ladder in a computer laboratory; forward a chain e-mail for good luck). Group of participants that exhibited at least one superstitious behavior and the group of participants that did not, differed significantly in the average superstition score.

Keywords

• superstitious beliefs and behavior
• superstition scale
• attitude behavior relation
• predicting superstitious acts