Why superstition never disappears: from Skinner's pigeon experiment to an evolutionary model
Superstition survives because our learning machinery produces it: chance coincidences become rituals, and false beliefs may cost less than missed causes.
Results for "Skinner"
Why Humans See Patterns Where None Exist: From Faces in Clouds to Repeating Numbers in Life
Apophenia explains why the brain sees faces in clouds, repeating numbers and patterns in random data, plus where the line to delusion lies.
The Forer Experiment: A Whole Class Received the Same Personality Description and Everyone Felt It Was Accurate, Plus How to Test It Yourself in Ten Minutes
In his 1949 paper, Bertram Forer reports giving 39 students one identical personality sketch from an astrology book; the class still rated it accurate.
Illusory correlation: why two events happening close together make the brain think one causes the other
Illusory correlation is the brain seeing a link between two events when none exists, because rare and striking events grab attention and stick in memory.