{"id":347837,"date":"2022-09-23T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/?p=347837"},"modified":"2025-09-26T08:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T12:55:13","slug":"athletic-superstitions-explained-and-their-effect-on-the-student-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/2022\/09\/23\/athletic-superstitions-explained-and-their-effect-on-the-student-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletic Superstitions Explained and their Effect On the Student Body"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pace athletes often turn to superstitions – whether that be an object or a routine – to bring them luck during a game. The question is: do these superstitions actually do anything? And why do people use them in the first place? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merriam-Webster defines superstition as \u201ca belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.\u201d While many understand that their \u201cgood-luck charms\u201d won\u2019t have any effect on their actual game play, they continue to abide by them. Why is this? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth Jane Risen explains how people can understand that their superstitions make no sense, but still act on them. Professor Risen calls upon a dual model of thinking advocated by Professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University David Kahneman and Professor of behavioral economics and decision making at Yale School of Management Shane Frederick in 2005. They establish that people think in two ways: \u201cfast\u201d and \u201cslow.\u201d When people think fast, they use their intuition and past experiences to make judgments; however, when people think slow, they use logic to correct their fast thoughts. Professor Risen argues that \u201cpeople can recognize\u2014in the moment\u2014that their belief does not make sense, but act on it nevertheless.\u201d Professor Risen refers to this phenomenon as acquiescence. Many people understand that their superstitions aren\u2019t based on facts, but bypassing \u201cslow\u201d thinking allows them to stand by their superstition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it may seem like a pair of lucky socks or a certain warm-up routine won\u2019t have an impact on a person\u2019s game, upper school students argue that it brings them confidence and security in their ability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes me play better, just because it\u2019s routine,\u201d said junior Libby Jonas. \u201cIf I don\u2019t do it, I\u2019ll fail,\u201d said sophomore Kate Cunningham. A 2010 study on superstitions and their effects on performance posits that \u201cactivating a superstition boosts participants\u2019 confidence in mastering upcoming tasks, which in turn improves performance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, superstitions give a false sense of control, lowering anxiety and boosting the chances of success. \u201cIf it makes them feel better, then it\u2019s probably going to improve their performance,\u201d said sophomore Marco Juarez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as what superstitions people rely on, upper school students had a variety of answers. \u201cI drink a Coke,\u201d said freshman Ford Jordan. \u201cI go through a throwing routine,\u201d said Freshman Dylan Nelson. \u201cIt gets me warmed up.\u201d Junior Uma Graz \u201ctouches her earrings.\u201d \u201cI always rest my headcover on the bag,\u201d said Sophomore Ben Ellner.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Hockey player Patrick Roy defends his goal after his pre-game routine to make it “smaller.” Photo: Sports Illustrated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pace athletes often turn to superstitions – whether that be an object or a routine – to bring them luck during a game. The question is: do these superstitions actually do anything? And why do people use them in the first place?  Merriam-Webster defines superstition as \u201ca belief or practiceContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":486,"featured_media":348273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-julia-goode25paceacademy-org","post-347837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pacenews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/09\/patrickroyRGB.jpg?fit=936%2C702&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1TYqQ-1suh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347837"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348414,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347837\/revisions\/348414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}