The Indian superstition scale: creating a measure to assess Indian superstitions

An, Sieun; Kapoor, Navya; Setia, Aanchal; Agiwal, Smriti; Ray, Ishika

doi:10.1080/13617672.2019.1570452

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The demographic information of the sample households is also recorded. These selected 24 items are factor analysed by using principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation and Kaiser Normalisation (An et al, 2019). After selecting 18 items from 24, the respondents are asked to specify if he or she believed the statement, and if yes then to what extent.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nexus Between Poverty and Superstitious Beliefs among Tribal Communities of Assam: A Case Study of Rabha Tribe

Bora

Das²

2022

Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India

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Superstitious beliefs are found to be widely prevalent among all cultures and communities across the globe. Despite the progress of science and technology, superstitious beliefs still exist in our society. As such, superstitions are often perpetuated due to illiteracy and ignorance. With this backdrop, the present study tries to analyse the status of poverty and its impact on superstitious beliefs among tribal communities with special focus on the Rabha community, one of the scheduled tribes in the plain districts of Assam, India. A total of 24 statements expressing superstitious beliefs have been collected with the help of review of relevant literature, consulting with social scientists, and a few local people in the study area. These 24 statements have been factor analysed by using principal component analysis and finally 18 statements have been selected for constructing a superstitious index at household level. Poverty status has been measured by applying the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The findings show the presence of poverty among the Rabha Community of Goalpara district. Regression results show that poverty has a positive impact on superstitious beliefs and there exist a high correlation between the two variables.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nexus Between Poverty and Superstitious Beliefs among Tribal Communities of Assam: A Case Study of Rabha Tribe

Bora

Das²

2022

Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India

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“…After giving informed consent, participants provided demographic information and completed a superstition questionnaire of 18 items (Indian Superstition Scale: An et al 2019). Participants responded to these 18 items on a seven -point Likert scale (0 = Not at all) to (6 = Very much scale) in response to the question, 'Please read the following statements and rate how relevant they are to Indian Cultural Superstitions for you.'…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Superstitions affect various personal as well as professional aspects of human life (Darke and Freedman 1997). The degree to which superstition is held varies across several factors such as culture, age, religiosity, gender, education levels, intelligence, income groups, employment status and marital status (An et al 2019). Superstition can also affect how people cope with stressful events (Dudley 1999).…”

Section: Superstition In Everyday Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Superstition is defined as beliefs and practices that are not procured from scientific or religious ideas and concepts (Campbell 1996). Superstitions appear frivolous, but are pervasive in our everyday lives (Damisch et al2010;An et al 2019). Research shows that people tend to engage in superstitious beliefs when they face stress, uncertainty or lack of control in a given situation (Faiza 2018).While superstition accounts for an important part of our lives (An et al 2019), there is little information about how it affects humans and their behaviours beyond the superstitious practice itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Superstitions appear frivolous, but are pervasive in our everyday lives (Damisch et al2010;An et al 2019). Research shows that people tend to engage in superstitious beliefs when they face stress, uncertainty or lack of control in a given situation (Faiza 2018).While superstition accounts for an important part of our lives (An et al 2019), there is little information about how it affects humans and their behaviours beyond the superstitious practice itself. Campbell (1996) suggested that superstition influences human thought and action and thus is a powerful tool for the human belief system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of superstition in the placebo effect on memory performance

Malani

Setia

2021

Cogn Process

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Superstitions and the placebo effect have each been found to influence human behaviour. The present study aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between superstition and the placebo effect, and whether this relationship affects human cognition and behaviour. We hypothesized that more superstitious people would be more prone to the placebo effect and that it would improve their performance on cognitive tasks. Results showed that in the placebo condition, more superstitious people memorized more words than less superstitious people. However, in the control condition, less superstitious people memorized more words than more superstitious people. Overall, the findings supported our hypothesis. The findings of the study are important, as they draw a link between the placebo effect and superstition, and further show that these two elements impact human performance in cognitive ability tasks.

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