(More on Cognitive Bias cont. 1)

Superstition as Part of Cognitive Bias

Introduction

Some behaviours, habits, etc in organisations can be regarded as having a basis in superstition. During a change process, this needs to be recognised and handled as some superstitions will help, and others hinder, the change process.

Superstition is about doing something to prevent bad luck or encourage good luck; it has links with the natural world.

It would have been thought that scientific learning would have decreased the amount of superstition. However, there is evidence that this is not the case.

NB
"...Context counts. We let these cognitive quirks out to play once in a while, when there is not much riding on it. Your answer to whether you are in any way superstitious may hinge on who is asking - the more familiar we are with somebody, the more likely we'll hear irrational thoughts..."
James Hughes, 2022

In some ways superstition is an interesting human trait.

Superstition and conspiracy theories are linked as they
"...both trade in white lies, medium-sized fabrications, stratospheric whoppers for special occasions. Both play on anxiety......there's similar mystery why some catch on. Both have been used to make a handy buck. Both are on land where anybody is free to pitch in - and judging by some of the conspiracies online, just about anybody does. Both, at their wildest, sound as if their material was dreamed up with the help of hallucinogenic mushrooms..."
James Hughes, 2022

However, conspiracy theories do make an attempt to look at cause-and-effect; peddlers of superstition do not.