Magical thinking: causes, functions and examples

Magical thinking has accompanied humanity since the beginning of time. We have a natural tendency to establish cause and effect relationships without checking them in a logical way; this predisposition is very marked in childhood and it is maintained if the context in which we find ourselves promotes it, as has happened in many cultures.

In this article we will define magical thinking and explain what its causes and functions are, according to the existing literature. Finally, we will present some significant examples and contexts in which this type of reasoning appears regularly.

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What is magical thinking?

The concept "magical thinking" is used in psychology and anthropology to describe illogical attributions of causality that are made without empirical evidence, especially when the person believes that his thoughts can have consequences in the external world, either through his own action or through the intermediation of supernatural forces.

Magical thinking is present in the vast majority of cultures in the world. It is a natural process, probably with a biological basis similar to that of classical conditioning, by which we are based on the similarity or on the temporal or spatial contiguity between elements, for example, to establish a non-demonstrable causal relationship between them.

Thus, a girl who believes that if she misbehaves her bogeyman will kidnap her, she is falling into this logical error. The same happens with the tribes that perform ritual dances to invoke the rain or with people who think their wishes will be fulfilled if they light a candle and entrust themselves to a saint determined.

The belief that the mind has power over matter, as if it constituted a separate entity rather than being a consequence of it, it may be at the base of many cases of magical thinking. However, it is a concept with a very broad meaning, which is why it has been used to refer to very different processes.

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Causes and functions

Magical thinking has been attributed mainly to two facts: the contiguity between events (p. and. "My father died because I wished him death the day before") and associative thinking, which consists of establishing relationships based on similarities. For example, the Mapuche believed that they would obtain the strength of their enemies if they ate their hearts.

Authors such as Claude Lévi-Strauss or Thomas Markle have affirmed that magical thinking has adaptive functions in certain circumstances. However, when it comes to attributing causes, this type of reasoning tends to fail much more frequently than that based on empirical evidence.

One of the main functions of magical thinking is the reduction of anxiety. When people find themselves in a stressful situation that they cannot resolve, it is easier than associate the reduction of anxiety with arbitrary elements in order to obtain a certain feeling of control. For example, in agoraphobia the use of "amulets" is common.

Even in today's world, where we believe logic predominates, magical thinking still has a significant presence and it is even useful at times. A good example is the placebo effect, whereby the very fact of believing that a false remedy will be useful to cure a disease causes an improvement in symptoms.

Examples of magical thinking

We can find samples of magical thinking in a large number of everyday situations, although in some cases this type of Reasoning can be a sign of pathology, particularly when beliefs occur in adulthood and are not shared by the environment.

1. Childish egocentrism

Between 2 and 7 years, during the preoperational stage described by Piaget, children believe that they can modify elements of the world with their mind, either voluntarily or involuntarily. At this age, thinking is characterized by difficulty in understanding abstract concepts and by self-centeredness, or inability to adopt the perspective of others.

These types of ideas appear more commonly when the death of a loved one occurs; in these cases children tend to believe that they have been at fault in some way. However, arbitrary causal attributions and illogical thinking in general, favored by a lack of understanding of the world, are very typical in childhood.

Magical thinking is very common in children because it is inherent to human nature. As cognitive development progresses the frequency of this type of ideas is diminishing, at least if the social context favors rational thought; If this is not the case, magical beliefs can be passed down from generation to generation.

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2. Superstition and supernatural thinking

Superstitions are beliefs without logical foundation or scientific proof. They are a type of magical thinking, although it is difficult to define what exactly constitutes superstition; for example, religions don't tend to be viewed as superstitions despite the fact that the only criterion that distinguishes them is that they are shared by many people.

As with magical thinking in general, superstitions are more common when people are in stressful situations. Thus, it is typical that those who do not firmly believe in the existence of gods but do not rule it out entirely try to communicate with them when they are desperate.

Some superstitions and supernatural ideas are transmitted through culture. This has happened with innumerable myths throughout history, and it is also common for children to believe that there is a Santa Claus, the Three Wise Men or the Tooth Fairy. Construct yourself like fate and karma they are also good examples of magical thinking.

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3. Obsessive compulsive disorder

Sometimes the characteristic rituals of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be classified as magical thinking. This is more frequent in cases in which the person is not aware that he has a disorder or exaggerates the realism of her convictions.

In particular, people with OCD often believe, or at least They're afraid thatmisfortune can happen disproportionately serious if they do not perform the ritual; For example, someone who suffers from this disorder might think that if he dropped a lit cigarette butt on the carpet, the entire floor of it would burn in seconds.

4. Delusions and psychosis

Magical thinking appears frequently in delusions, whether or not they occur in the context of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Although irrational beliefs tend to have a relatively credible structure in delusional disorder, in the case of schizotypal disorder and, especially, paranoid schizophrenia, the beliefs are more bizarre.

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