Superstitious behavior
A superstitious behavior usually arises due to the improper assigning of cause and effect or when the delivery of a punisher or reinforcer happens close together in time with a self-determining behavior. Therefore, this behavior is unintentionally reinforced, increasing the chances of the behavior happening at any another time. The behaviors have gotten significant attention from psychologists and popular culture. Associations are made relating to the behavior and a consequence (positive or negative) for that behavior. A superstition is a belief that results from ignorance, fear of the unknown, or a false notion of causation. It can also be defined as a notion that is retained without evidence to the contrary. Now that superstitions deal with the belief as a result of fear of the unknown, a conditioned stimulus develops and then leads to a conditioned response in reaction to the initial periods when the conditioned stimulus is made known to an individual. The conditioned stimulus gets a response after being reinforced repeatedly up to when it is the belief required for it to be a superstition. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
An example of a superstition is that of black cats or birds associated with lousy luck. Black cats have always had a bad rap, particularly when met in the morning, given their received allegiance to witches. The named poor creatures are avoided at any given day when one encounters them, and it a common superstition that a black cat that crosses your way in the morning is associated with bad luck. When a black cat crosses your way in the morning, and a minute later you strip and fall, it is most likely to attribute your accident to bad luck and the black cat. The reason as to why it is quite easy to build up an association between the bad luck (tripping and falling) and the black cat is because the cultural belief that a black cat crossing your way in the morning is positively reinforced by your fall that happened later. The incident can only be strengthened when it occurs several times. Therefore, the association becomes a robust proof to individual’s minds that it must be so.
When an individual witnesses a person fall for no apparent reason, the individual would likely believe from the very moment that when you strip and fall in the morning, a black cat must have crossed your way. At any other time, when somebody strips in the morning, the individual does not need to see a black cat. He or she concludes that when a person trips and falls in the morning, a black cat crossed his or her way somewhere. People begin to fear black cats to avoid stripping, and for that reason, this belief is conceivably maintained in people’s minds.
When an individual witnesses a person fall for no apparent reason, the individual would likely believe from the very moment that when you strip and fall in the morning, a black cat must have crossed your way. At any other time, when somebody strips in the morning, the individual does not need to see a black cat. He or she concludes that when a person trips and falls in the morning, a black cat crossed his or her way somewhere. People begin to fear black cats to avoid stripping, and for that reason, this belief is conceivably maintained in people’s minds.
When an individual witnesses a person fall for no apparent reason, the individual would likely believe from the very moment that when you strip and fall in the morning, a black cat must have crossed your way. At any other time, when somebody strips in the morning, the individual does not need to see a black cat. He or she concludes that when a person trips and falls in the morning, a black cat crossed his or her way somewhere. People begin to fear black cats to avoid stripping, and for that reason, this belief is conceivably maintained in people’s minds.
When an individual witnesses a person fall for no apparent reason, the individual would likely believe from the very moment that when you strip and fall in the morning, a black cat must have crossed your way. At any other time, when somebody strips in the morning, the individual does not need to see a black cat. He or she concludes that when a person trips and falls in the morning, a black cat crossed his or her way somewhere. People begin to fear black cats to avoid stripping, and for that reason, this belief is conceivably maintained in people’s minds.