Buyology - Martin Lindstrom [39]
Indeed, when Giora Keinan, a professor at Tel Aviv University, sent questionnaires to 174 Israelis following the Iraqi Scud missile attacks of 1991, he found that those soldiers who reported the greatest level of stress were also the ones most likely to endorse magical beliefs. “I have the feeling that the chances of being hit during a missile attack are greater if a person whose house was attacked is present in the sealed room,” one soldier reported, while another believed he was less likely to be hit if he had “stepped into the sealed room right foot first.”4 Rationally, of course, none of this makes the slightest bit of sense. But as Hood explains, even the most rational, analytically minded of us can fall prey to this kind of thinking.
Hood went on to prove his point during an address at the British Association Festival of Science in Norwich. In front of a roomful of scientists, Hood held up a blue sweater and offered ten pounds to anyone who agreed to try it on. Hands flew up all over the room. Hood then told the audience that the sweater once belonged to Fred West, a serial killer who was believed to have brutally murdered twelve young women, as well as his own wife. All but a handful of those same hands shot down.5 And when the few remaining volunteers did try on the sweater, Hood observed that their fellow audience members edged away from them. Hood then confessed that the piece of clothing didn’t actually belong to Fred West, but that was irrelevant. The mere suggestion that the sweater had been worn by the killer was enough to make the scientists shy away. It was “as if evil, a moral stance defined by culture, has become physically manifest inside the clothing,” said Hood. Rationally or not, we unwittingly ascribe similar power to objects such as “lucky” coins, wedding rings, and so on.
But are superstitions and rituals necessarily bad for us? Interestingly, some rituals have actually been shown to be beneficial to our mental and physical well-being. According to a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology, “In families with predictable routines, children had fewer respiratory illnesses and better overall health, and they performed better in elementary school.” The article added that rituals have a greater effect on emotional health, and that in families with strong rituals adolescents “reported a stronger sense of self, couples reported happier marriages and children had greater interaction with their grandparents.”6
A 2007 study carried out by global advertising giant BBDO Worldwide showed that across twenty-six countries around the world, most of us perform a common, predictable series of rituals from the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we pull down our covers at night. The first is one the company labels “preparing for battle,” when we rise up from our cocoons of sleep and prepare to face the day. Preparing for battle can include everything from brushing our teeth, to taking a bath or shower, to checking our e-mail, to shaving, to scanning the headlines of the morning paper—whatever helps us feel a sense of control over whatever the upcoming day may bring.
A second ritual is what’s known as “feasting,” which involves eating meals with others. It might be a sushi dinner with a group of friends at a familiar restaurant, or a family eating breakfast together. Whatever our exact ritual, the social act of eating together is important; it “reunites us with our tribe,” transforming us from solitary beings to members of a group.
“Sexing up” is third on the list. It’s self-explanatory—a pleasant and indulgent series of rituals that transform us from our workaday selves to our best-looking, most confident beings. Our sexing up rituals involve all manners of primping and grooming, as well as asking