The role of superstition in the placebo effect on memory performance

Abstract

Superstitions and the placebo effect have been found to influence human behavior. The present study aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between superstition and the placebo effect, and whether it affects human cognition and behavior. We hypothesized that more superstitious people would be more prone to the placebo effect and that it would improve their performance on cognitive tasks. We employed a fully between participants design, with placebo and control conditions and superstition as a constructive measure. The 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.