NOTES
Introduction: We’re All Believers
3 “three human impulses”: Russell, B., Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957), 44.
5 overestimate heights: Jackson, R. E., and L. K. Cormack, “Evolved Navigation Theory and the Descent Illusion,” Perception and Psychophysics 69 (2007): 353–62.
5 overestimate sexual interest: Haselton, M. G., and D. M. Buss, “Error Management Theory: A New Perspective on Biases in Cross-Sex Mind Reading,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78 (2000): 81–91.
5 “predictably irrational”: Ariely, D., Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (New York: HarperCollins, 2008).
5 “adaptively rational”: Haselton, M. G., et al., “Adaptive Rationality: An Evolutionary Perspective on Cognitive Bias,” Social Cognition 27 (2009): 737.
5 rational system . . . intuitive system: Epstein, S., “Integration of the Cognitive and the Psychodynamic Unconscious,” American Psychologist 49 (1994): 709–24.
5 we run largely on autopilot: Bargh, J. A., and T. L. Chartrand, “The Unbearable Automaticity of Being,” American Psychologist 54 (1994): 462–79.
6 disconnects emotional brain centers: Bechara, A. D., et al., “Failure to Respond Autonomically to Anticipated Future Outcomes following Damage to Prefrontal Cortex,” Cerebral Cortex 6 (1996): 215–25.
6 rationality or intelligence: King, L. A., et al., “Ghosts, UFOs, and Magic: Positive Affect and the Experiential System,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92 (2007): 905–19; Irwin, H. J., The Psychology of Paranormal Belief: A Researcher’s Handbook (Hatfi eld, UK: Univ. of Hertfordshire Press, 2009).
6 “Magic—the very word”: Malinowski, B., Magic, Science, Religion and Other Essays (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1948), 50–51.
7 “Although the word ‘magic’ ”: Nemeroff, C., and P. Rozin, “The Makings of the Magical Mind,” in K. Rosengren, C. Johnson, and P. Harris (eds.), Imagining the Impossible: Magical, Scientific, and Religious Thinking in Children (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000), 1.
7 “confusion of subjectivity and objectivity”: Shweder, R., “The Illusions of ‘Magical Thinking’: Whose Chimera, Ours or Theirs?” (unpublished, 1994).
7 “the anthropomorphism of nature”: Lévi-Strauss, C., The Savage Mind (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1966), 221.
8 “category mistakes”: Lindeman, M, and K. Aarnio, “Superstitious, Magical, and Paranormal Beliefs: An Integrative Model,” Journal of Research in Personality 41 (2007): 734.
Chapter 1: Objects Carry Essences
14 “copying machine”: Hood, B. M., and P. Bloom, “Children Prefer Certain Original Objects over Perfect Duplicates,” Cognition 106 (2008): 455–62.
15 “when a thing has history in it”: Dick, P. K., The Man in the High Castle (New York: Vintage, 1992; original work published 1962), 63–64.
15 authentic objects: Frazier, B. N., et al., “Picasso Paintings, Moon Rocks, and Hand-Written Beatles Lyrics: Adults’ Evaluations of Authentic Objects,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 9 (2009): 1–14.
16 rubber ducky: Frazier, B. N., and S. A. Gelman, “Developmental Changes in Judgments of Authentic Objects,” Cognitive Development 24 (2009): 284–92.
16 essentialism: Gelman, S. A., The Essential Child: Origins of Essentialism in Everyday Thought (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003).
16 Mr. Rogers: Johnson, C. N., and M. G. Jacobs, “Enchanted Objects: How Positive Connections Transform Thinking about the Very Nature of Things” (poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, April 2001).
16 Richard Dawkins: Barnes, R., and D. Hillman (producers), The Genius of Charles Darwin (London: IWC Media, 2008).
17 Jimmy Carter: Turpin, C. (executive producer), All Things Considered [radio broadcast] (Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio, November 5, 2006).
19 “secret sympathy”: Frazer, J. G., The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: Touchstone, 1995; original work published 1890), 14.
19 rate various experiences: Rozin, P., et al., “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in the Interpersonal Domain in American Culture,” Bulletin of the Psycho-nomic Society 27 (1989): 367–70.
20 disease, misfortune, and evil: Rozin, P., M. Markwith, and C. McCauley, “Sen-sitivit y to Indirect Contacts with Other Persons: AIDS Aversion as a Composite of Aversion to Strangers, Infection, Moral Taint, and Misfortune,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 103 (1994): 495–505.
20 “offensive to the taste”: Darwin, C., The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1965; original work published 1872), 256. Cited in Rozin, P., and A. E. Fallon, “A Perspective on Disgust,” Psychological Review 94 (1987): 23–41.
20 waste products: Angyal, A., “Disgust and Related Aversions,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 36 (1941): 393–412.
20 mechanism has been co-opted: Rozin, P., J. Haidt, and C. R. McCauley, “Disgust,” in M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, and L. F. Barrett (eds.), Handbook of Emotions, 3rd ed. (New York: Guilford Press, 2008), 757–76.
21 disgusting film clip: Horberg, E. J., et al., “Disgust and the Moralization of Purity,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97 (2009): 963–76.
21 possibly through a bad is gross metaphor: Royzman, E., and R. Kurzban, “Minding the Metaphor: The Elusive Character of Moral Disgust,” Emotion Review 3 (2011): 269–71.
21 sweater worn by their favorite celebrity: Newman, G. E., G. Diesendruck, and P. Bloom, “Celebrity Contagion and the Value of Objects,” Journal of Consumer Research (in press).
21 evolutionary psychology: Confer, J. C., et al., “Evolutionary Psychology: Controversies, Questions, Prospects, and Limitations,” American Psychologist 65 (2010): 110–26.
22 “Adolf Hitler”: Rozin et al., “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in the Interpersonal Domain in American Culture,” 369.
23 symbolism: Nemeroff, C., and P. Rozin, “The Contagion Concept in Adult Thinking in the United States: Transmission of Germs and of Interpersonal Influence,” Ethos 22 (1994): 158–86.
23 eating fast-growing plants: Meigs, A., Food, Sex, and Pollution: A New Guinea Religion (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1984).
23 eaten the hearts: Frazer, The Golden Bough.
23 wild boars and marine turtles: Nemeroff, C., and P. Rozin, “ ‘You Are What You Eat’: Applying the Demand-Free ‘Impressions’ Technique to an Unacknowledged Belief,” Ethos 17 (1989): 50–69.
23 vegetarianism: Lindeman, M., P. Keskivaara, and M. Roschier, “Assessment of Magical Beliefs about Food and Health,” Journal of Health Psychology 5 (2000): 195–209.
24 Armin Meiwes: Fager, J. (producer), 60 Minutes (New York: CBS, March 16, 2008).
24 “dying for a beer”: Sylvia, C., and C. Novak, A Change of Heart: A Memoir (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1998), 110.
25 Israeli study: Yoram, I., D. David, and I. Kutz, “Another Person’s Heart: Magical and Rational Thinking in the Psychological Adaptation to Heart Transplantation,” Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences 41 (2004): 161–73.
25 receiving tissue from a nonhuman: Coffman, K., et al., “Survey Results of Transplant Patients’ Attitudes on Xenografting,” Psychosomatics 39 (1998): 379–83.
25 donor of the same sex; essence: Sanner, M. A., “Transplant Recipients’ Conceptions of Three Key Phenomena in Transplantation: The Organ Donation, the Organ Donor, and the Organ Transplant,” Clinical Transplantation 293 (2003): 391–400.
25 “backward causation”: Rozin et al., “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in the Interpersonal Domain,” 369.
26 strings attached: Truog, R. D., “The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors,” New England Journal of Medicine 353 (2005): 444–46.
26 consubstantiation: Miller, L. F., P. Rozin, and A. P. Fiske, “Food Sharing and Feeding Another Person Suggest Intimacy: A Study of American College Students,” European Journal for Social Psychology 28 (1998): 423–36.
27 Israeli soil: Rozin, P., and S. Wolf, “Attachment to Land: The Case of the Land of Israel for American and Israeli Jews and the Role of Contagion,” Judgment and Decision Making 3 (2008): 325–34.
28 T-shirt: Argo, J. J., D. W. Dahl, and A. C. Morales, “Positive Consumer Contamination: Responses to Attractive Others in a Retail Context,” Journal of Marketing Research 45 (2008): 690–701.
28 pictures of germs: Nemeroff, C., “Magical Thinking about Illness Virulence: Conceptions of Germs from ‘Safe’ Versus ‘Dangerous’ Others,” Health Psychology 14 (1995): 147–51.
29 Scarlett Johansson: Leno, J. (producer), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (New York: NBC, December 17, 2008).
29 infected with an STD: Comer, L. K., and C. Nemeroff, “Blurring Emotional Safety with Physical Safety in AIDS and STD Risk Estimations: The Casual/ Regular Partner Distinction,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 30 (2000): 2467–90.
29 sexual violation: Fairbrother, N., and S. Rachman, “Feelings of Mental Pollution Subsequent to Sexual Assault,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 42 (2004): 173–89.
30 changes in the way a victim thinks about the perpetrator: Rachman, S., Fear of Contamination: Illusions of Vulnerability (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2006).
30 Lady Macbeth effect: Zhong, C., and K. Liljenquist, “Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing,” Science 313 (2006): 145–46.
30 Gamblers who washed their hands: Xu, A. J., R. Zwick, and N. Schwarz, “Washing Away Your (Good or Bad) Luck: Superstition, Embodiment, and Gambling Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (in press).
30 “soak through all things”: James, W., The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (New York: Touchstone, 1997; original work published 1902), 61.
31 Fecal-Vision glasses: Michaels, L. (producer), Saturday Night Live (New York: NBC, March 16, 1996).
31 kashrut: Nemeroff and Rozin, “The Makings of the Magical Mind.”
31 stepping through someone’s shadow: C. Nemeroff, personal communication, August 14, 2007.
32 Capgras delusion: Ellis, H. D., and M. B. Lewis, “Capgras Delusion: A Window on Face Recognition,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5 (2001): 149–56.
32 buildings and household items: A nderson, D. N., “The Delusion of Inanimate Doubles: Implications for Understanding the Capgras Syndrome,” British Journal of Psychiatry 153 (1988): 694–99.
32 SuperSense: Hood, B. M., SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2009).
32 spiritual-mystical states: d’Aquili, E. G,. and A. B. Newberg, “The Neuropsychology of Aesthetic, Spiritual and Mystical States,” Zygon 35 (2000): 39–52.
32 Cotard delusion: Ramachandran, V. S., The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human (New York: Random House, 2011). Also see McKay, R., and L. Cipolotti, “Attributional Style in a Case of Cotard Delusion,” Consciousness and Cognition 16 (2007): 349–59.
33 mana: Stevens, P., “Mana,” in Encyclopedia of Anthropology (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006), 1525–26.
33 energy can have biological or mental attributes: Svedholm, A. M., M. Lindeman, and J. Lipsanen, “Believing in the Purpose of Events: Why Does It Occur, and Is It Supernatural?” Applied Cognitive Psychology 24 (2010): 252–65.
33 homeopathic remedies: Stevens, P., “Magical Thinking in Complementary and Alternative Medicine,” Skeptical Inquirer 25 (2001): 32–37.
33
Energy healing: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, “What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine?” (April 1, 2011), retrieved from
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/.
36 golf putts: Lee, C., et al., “Putting Like a Pro: The Role of Positive Contagion in Golf Performance and Perception” (manuscript submitted for publication, 2010).
Chapter 2: Symbols Have Power
38 Curse of the Bambino: Shaughnessy, D., The Curse of the Bambino (New York: Penguin, 2004).
38 David Ortiz: Shaughnessy, D., Reversing the Curse (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005).
38
Ortiz jersey: Associated Press, “Yankees Unearth Hidden Red Sox Jersey from New Stadium” (April 14, 2008), retrieved from
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3344825; Guarneri, B., M. Nestel, and A. Montefinise, “Yankees’ Hole of Fame,”
New York Post (May 3, 2009), retrieved from
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/yankees_hole_of_fame_oVS9S58wE6FCZcJ2eAP0fL; Montefi nise, A., et al., “Hammering the Hex,”
New York Post (April 13, 2008), retrieved from
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_iUPZZD0uk9z-kV9ugSUsjXI.
39 Hank Steinbrenner: Montefinise et al., “Hammering the Hex.”
40 “The magician infers”: Frazer, The Golden Bough, 12.
41 “The principal key”: Tylor, E. B., Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom, 6th ed., vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1920; original work published 1874), 136.
41 JFK . . . darts: Rozin, P., L. Millman, and C. Nemeroff, “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in Disgust and Other Domains, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50 (1986): 703–12.
41 darts thrown at a photo of a baby: King et al., “Ghosts, UFOs, and Magic: Positive Affect and the Experiential System,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92 (2007): 905–19.
41 photography into parts of Africa: Behrend, H., “Photo-Magic: Photographs in Practices of Healing and Harming in Kenya and Uganda,” Journal of Religion in Africa 33 (2003): 129–45.
42 distinctions between appearances and reality: Flavell, J. H., “The Development of Children’s Knowledge about the Appearance-Reality Distinction,” American Psychologist 41 (1986): 418–25.
42 Infants try to grasp pictures: DeLeoache, J., et al., “Grasping the Nature of Pictures,” Psychological Science 9 (1998): 205–10.
42 picture of ice cream: Beilin, H., and E. G. Pearlman, “Children’s Iconic Realism: Object versus Property Realism,” in H. W. Reese (ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, vol. 23. (New York: Academic Press, 1991), 73–111.
42 watching TV: Derrick, J. L., S. Gabriel, and K. Hugenberg, “Social Surrogacy: How Favored Television Programs Provide the Experience of Belonging,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45 (2009): 352–62.
42 fake turd and fake vomit: Rozin et al., “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in Disgust and Other Domains.”
42 alief: Gendler, T., “Alief and Belief,” Journal of Philosophy 105 (2008): 634–63.
43 cutting up recognizable photos: Hood, B. M., et al., “Implicit Voodoo: Electrodermal Activity Reveals a Susceptibility to Sympathetic Magic,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 10 (2010): 391–99.
43 rags for cleaning: Haidt, J., S. Koller, and M. Dias, “Affect, Culture, and Morality, or Is It Wrong to Eat Your Dog?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65 (1993): 613–28.
44 1976 presidential election: Carroll, J. S., “The Effect of Imagining an Event on Expectations for the Event: An Interpretation in Terms of the Availability Heuristic, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 14 (1978): 88–96.
44 heuristics: Tversk y, A., and D. Kahneman, “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases,” Science 185 (1974): 1124–31.
44 overestimate the danger: Lichtenstein, S., et al., “Judged Frequency of Lethal Events,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 4 (1978): 551–78.
44 Craps and Magic: Henslin, J. M., “Craps and Magic,” American Journal of Sociology 73 (1967): 316–30.
45 “natural prejudice”: Mill, J. S., A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive (Honolulu: Univ. Press of the Pacific, 2002; original work published 1843), 533–34. Also see White, P. A., “Property Transmission: An Explanatory Account of the Role of Similarity Information in Causal Inference,” Psychological Bulletin 135 (2009): 774–93.
45 pour water: Frazer, The Golden Bough.
45 “Like Goes with Like”: Gilovich, T., and K. Savitsky, “Like Goes with Like: The Role of Representativeness in Erroneous and Pseudo-Scientific Beliefs,” in T. Gilovich, D. W. Griffin, and D. Kahneman (eds.), Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002), 617–24.
46 graphology: King, R. N., and D. J. Koehler, “Illusory Correlation in Grapho-logical Inference,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 6 (2000): 336–48.
46 yellow fever: Nisbett, R. E., and L. Ross, Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980).
46 Doctrine of Signatures: Pearce, J. M. S., “The Doctrine of Signatures,” European Neurology 60 (2008): 51–52.
46 pill color: de Craen, A. J. M., et al., “Effect of Colour of Drugs: Systematic Review of Perceived Effect of Drugs and of Their Effectiveness,” British Medical Journal 313 (1996): 1624–26.
47 Azzurri: Moerman, D. E., Meaning, Medicine, and the “Placebo” Effect (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002).
48 metaphor therapy: Li, X., L. Wei, and D. Soman, “Sealing the Emotions Genie: The Effects of Physical Enclosure on Psychological Closure,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 1047–50.
48 Secular rituals: Bell, C.M., Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997).
50 embodied cognition: Barsalou, L. W., “Grounded Cognition,” Annual Review of Psychology 59 (2008): 617–45.
50 hot coffee: Williams, L. E., and J. A. Bargh, “Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth,” Science 322 (2008): 606–7.
50–51 clipboards . . . puzzle pieces: Ackerman, J. M., C. C. Nocera, and J. A. Bargh, “Incidental Haptic Sensations Influence Social Judgments and Decisions,” Science 328 (2010): 1712–15.
51 complex metaphors: Lakoff, G., and M. Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (New York: Basic Books, 1999).
51 guitar players: Fernandez, K. V., and J. L. Lastovicka, “Making Magic: Fetishes in Contemporary Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research (in press).
52 other fetish objects: Ellen, R., “Fetishism,” Man 23 (1988): 213–35.
52 devotional images . . . Qur’anic verses: Behrend, “Photo-Magic.”
52 nominal realism : Piaget, J., The Child’s Conception of the World, J. Tomlinson and A. Tomlinson, trans. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007; original work published 1929).
52 CYANIDE: Rozin et al., “Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in Disgust and Other Domains.”
53 lick, pick, and kick: Hauk, O., I. Johnsrude, and F. Pulvermuller, “Somatotopic Representation of Action Words in Human Motor and Premotor Cortex,” Neuron 41 (2004): 301–7.
53 NOT POISON: Rozin, P., M. Markwith, and B. Ross, “The Sympathetic Magical Law of Similarity, Nominal Realism and Neglect of Negatives in Response to Negative Labels,” Psychological Science 1 (1990): 383–84.
53 “symbolic contamination of names”: Lieberson, S., A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2000), 131.
53 share our . . . initials: Pelham, B. W., M. Carvallo, and J. T. Jones, “Implicit Egotism,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 14 (2005): 106–10.
54 among employees: Pilette, W. L., “Magical Thinking by Inpatient Staff Members,” Psychiatric Quarterly 55 (1983): 272–74.
54 “dirty words”: A llan, K., and K. Burridge, Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006), 242.
54 thirteen: Lachenmeyer, N., 13: The Story of the World’s Most Notorious Superstition (New York: Plume, 2004).
55 “I do”: Austin, J. L., How to Do Things with Words, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1975; original work published 1962), 5.
56 “induce motion in things”: Burke, K., A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1969; original work published 1950), 42.
57 “In records of anthropologists”: Cannon, W. B., “ ‘Voodoo’ Death,” American Anthropologist 44 (1942): 169.
57 A 2002 retrospective: Sternberg, E. M., “Walter B. Cannon and ‘ “Voodoo” Death’: A Perspective from 60 Years On,” American Journal of Public Health 92 (2002): 1564–66.
57 “Billy Goat”: Gatto, S., Da Curse of the Billy Goat: The Chicago Cubs, Pennant Races, and Curses (Lansing, MI: Protar House, 2004).
58 stereotype threat: For an overview, see Schmader, T., M. Johns, and C. Forbes, “A n Integrated Process Model of Stereotype Threat Effects on Performance,” Psychological Review 115 (2008): 336–56.
Chapter 3: Actions Have Distant Consequences
63 social transmission: Higgins, S. T., E. K. Morris, and L. M. Johnson, “Social Transmission of Superstitious Behavior in Preschool Children, Psychological Record 39 (1989): 307–23.
63 hungry pigeons: Skinner, B. F., “ ‘Superstition’ in the Pigeon,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 38 (1948): 168–72.
64 foraging routines: Timberlake, W., and G. A. Lucas, “The Basis of Superstitious Behavior: Chance Contingency, Stimulus Substitution, or Appetitive Behavior?” Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior 44 (1985): 279–99.
64 “About 5 min into the session”: Ono, K., “Superstitious Behavior in Humans,” Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 47 (1987): 265.
66 illusory correlation: Shweder, R., “Likeness and Likelihood in Everyday Thought: Magical Thinking in Judgments about Personality,” Current Anthropology 18 (1977): 637–48.
66 near-hits: Gilovich, T., “Biased Evaluation and Persistence in Gambling,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44 (1983): 1110–26.
67 astrological personality profile: Glick, P., and M. Snyder, “Self-Fulfi lling Prophecy: The Psychology of Belief in Astrology,” Humanist 50 (1986): 20–25.
67 existence of ESP: Russell, D., and W. H. Jones, “When Superstition Fails: Reactions to Disconfirmation of Paranormal Beliefs,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 6 (1980): 83–88.
67 confirmation bias: Nickerson, R. S., “Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises,” Review of General Psychology 2 (1998): 175–220.
67 Albert Michotte: Michotte, A., The Perception of Causality, T. R. Miles and E. Miles, trans. (New York: Basic Books, 1963; original work published in 1945).
67 consistency . . . not strictly required: Woolley, J. D., C. A. Browne, and E. A. Boerger, “Constraints on Children’s Judgments of Magical Causality,” Journal of Cognition and Development 7 (2006): 253–77.
68 illusion of control: Langer, E., “The Illusion of Control,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32 (1975): 311–28.
68 state lotteries: Vyse, S. A., Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997).
69 “ ‘Either God is, or he is not’ ”: Pascal, B., Pensées, A. J. Krailsheimer, trans. (New York: Penguin, 1995; original work published 1669), 122.
69 overestimate the romantic interest of women: Haselton, M. G., and D. M. Buss, “Error Management Theory: A New Perspective on Biases in Cross-Sex Mind Reading,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78 (2000): 81–91.
69 overestimate men’s caddishness: Geher, G., “Accuracy and Oversexualization in Cross-Sex Mind-Reading: An Adaptationist Approach,” Evolutionary Psychology 7 (2009): 331–47.
69 “paranoid optimists”: Haselton, M. G., and D. Nettle, “The Paranoid Optimist: An Integrative Evolutionary Model of Cognitive Biases,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 10 (2006): 47–66.
69 error management theory: Haselton and Buss, “Error Management Theory.”
69 inflated self-esteem: Taylor, S. E., and J. D. Brown, “Illusion and Well-being: A Social Psychological Perspective on Mental Health,” Psychological Bulletin 103 (1988): 193–210.
70 “whole system of principles”: Malinowski, B., Magic, Science, Religion and Other Essays (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1948), 13.
71 New England fishermen: Poggie, J. J., and R. B. Pollnac, “Danger and Rituals of Avoidance among New England Fishermen,” Maritime Anthropological Studies 1 (1988): 66–78.
71 Gulf War: Keinan, G., “Effects of Stress and Tolerance of Ambiguity on Magical Thinking,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67 (1994): 48–58.
72 “Malinowski Goes to College”: Rudski, J. M., and A. Edwards, “Malinowski Goes to College: Factors Influencing Students’ Use of Ritual and Superstition,” Journal of General Psychology 134 (2007): 389–403.
72 “This is nonrational behavior”: Albas, D., and C. Albas, “Modern Magic: The Case of Examinations,” Sociological Quarterly 30 (1989): 604.
73 “As I listened to my professor”: Gmelch, G., “Baseball Magic,” rev. ed., in E. Angeloni (ed.), Annual Editions: Anthropology 11/12 (McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning Series, 2010; essay originally published 1971), 150.
73 “In professional baseball, fielding”: Ibid., 154.
73 nursing home residents: Langer, E. J., and J. Rodin, “The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged: A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34 (1976): 191–98; Rodin, J., and E. J. Langer, “Long-Term Effects of a Control-Relevant Intervention with the Institutionalized Aged,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35 (1977): 897–902.
74 survival “depended on one’s ability”: Bettelheim, B., The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1960), 147.
75 order of the tests: Stotland, E., and A. Blumenthal, “The Reduction of Anxiety as a Result of the Expectation of Making a Choice,” Canadian Journal of Psychology 18 (1964): 139–45.
75 self-administered electric shocks: Staub, E., B. Tursky, and G. E. Schwartz, “Self-Control and Predictability: Their Effects on Reactions to Aversive Stimulation,” Learning and Motivation 18 (1971): 157–62.
75 “even atheists may turn toward ritual practice”: Sosis, R., “Psalms for Safety: Magico-Religious Responses to Threats of Terror,” Current Anthropology 48 (2007): 910.
76 depressive realism: Alloy, L. B., and L. Y. Abramson, “Judgment of Contingency in Depressed and Nondepressed Students: Sadder but Wiser?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 108 (1979): 441–85; Msetfi, R. M., et al., “Depressive Realism and Outcome Density Bias in Contingency Judgments: The Effect of the Context and Intertrial Interval,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 134 (2005): 10–22.
76 learned helplessness: Abramson, L. Y., M. E. P. Seligman, and J. D. Teasdale, “Learned Helplessness in Humans: Critique and Reformulation,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 87 (1978): 49–74.
77 withholding negative feedback: Matute, H., “Learned Helplessness and Superstitious Behavior as Opposite Effects of Uncontrollable Reinforcement in Humans,” Learning and Motivation 25 (1994): 216–32.
78 luck . . . as . . . attribute or a force: Maltby, J., et al., “Beliefs around Luck: Confirming the Empirical Conceptualization of Beliefs around Luck and the Development of the Darke and Freedman Beliefs around Luck Scale,” Personality and Individual Differences 45 (2008): 655–60; Wagenaar, W. A., and Keren, G. B., “Chance and Luck Are Not the Same,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 1 (1988): 65–75.
78 Maia Young: Young, M. J., N. Chen, and M. W. Morris, “Belief in Stable and Fleeting Luck and Achievement Motivation,” Personality and Individual Differences 47 (July 2009): 150–54.
78 Michael Wohl and Michael Enzle: Wohl, M. J. A., and M. E. Enzle, “The Deployment of Personal Luck: Illusory Control in Games of Pure Chance,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002): 1388–97.
79 Lysann Damisch: Damisch, L., B. Stoberock, and T. Mussweiler, “Keep Your Fingers Crossed!: How Superstition Improves Performance,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 1014–20.
81 “embed superstitions in everyone’s life”: Damisch, L., “Keep Your Fingers Crossed!: The Influence of Superstition on Subsequent Task Performance and Its Mediating Mechanism” (Univ. of Cologne: unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2008), 85.
81 30 Rock: Wigfield, T., and J. Haller (writers), and D. Scardino (director), “Future Husband” [television series episode], in T. Fey (creator), 30 Rock (New York: NBC, March 11, 2010).
81 multiple-choice test: Darke, P. R., and J. L. Freedman, “Lucky Events and Beliefs in Luck: Paradoxical Effects on Confidence and Risk-Taking,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23 (1997): 378–88.
81 London banks: Fenton-O’Creevy, M., et al., “Trading on Illusions: Unrealistic Perceptions of Control and Trading Performance,” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 76 (2003): 53–68.
82
eclipses: Lepori, G. M., “Dark Omens in the Sky: Do Superstitious Beliefs Affect Investment Decisions?” (2009), retrieved from
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1428792.
82 “Don’t be a fool”: Tambiah, S. J., Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990), 54.
83 children . . . magic rituals: Evans, D. W., et al., “Magical Beliefs and Rituals in Young Children,” Child Psychiatry and Human Development 33 (2002): 43–58.
83 British boy: Robertson, M. M., and A. E. Cavanna, “The Disaster Was My Fault!” Neurocase 13 (2007): 446–51.
83 OCD: Einstein, D. A., and R. G. Menzies, “The Presence of Magical Thinking in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 42 (2004): 539–49.
84 exam takers: Albas and Albas, “Modern Magic.”
85 exchanging a lottery ticket: Risen, J. L., and T. Gilovich, “Another Look at Why People Are Reluctant to Exchange Lottery Tickets,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93 (2007): 12–22.
86 applying to Stanford: Risen, J. L., and T. Gilovich, “Why People Are Reluctant to Tempt Fate,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95 (2008): 293–307.
86 negative scenarios: Baumeister, R. F., et al., “Bad Is Stronger Than Good,” Review of General Psychology 5 (2001): 323–70.
87 get them called on: Risen and Gilovich, “Why People Are Reluctant to Tempt Fate.”
87 newspaper articles: Ibid.
87 Anthrax: Grove, L., “The Reliable Source,” Washington Post (October 10, 2001), C3.
87 “The universe seems interested”: Risen and Gilovich, “Why People Are Reluctant to Tempt Fate,” 304.
88 medical residents: Naidech, A., N. K. Parek, and M. J. Kahn, “Superstitions of House Officers,” Resident and Staff Physician 50 (2004): 47–49.
88 Azerbaijan seclude infants: Patterson, J., and A. Aghayeva, “The Evil Eye: Staving off Harm—with a Visit to the Open Market,” Azerbaijan International 8 (2000): 55–57.
88 gambling game: Kruger, J., et al., “Why Does Calling Attention to Success Seem to Invite Failure?” (paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, San Francisco, CA, November 2008).
89 knocked on wood: Keinan, G., “The Effects of Stress and Desire for Control on Superstitious Behavior,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002): 102–8.
89 “Refusing the added coverage”: Tykocinski, O. E., “Insurance, Risk, and Magical Thinking,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34 (2008): 1355.
90 “flouting conventional wisdom”: Risen and Gilovich, “Why People Are Reluctant to Tempt Fate,” 303.
90 anticipated regret: Miller, D. T., and B. R. Taylor, “Counterfactual Thought, Regret, and Superstition: How to Avoid Kicking Yourself,” in N. J. Roese and J. M. Olson (eds.), What Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995), 305–32.
Chapter 4: The Mind Knows No Bounds
93 the home crowd: Moskowitz, T. J., and L. J. Wertheim, Sportscasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won (New York: Crown Archetype, 2011).
94
induced nail-biting: Arnold, M, “Plight of 3 Apollo 13 Crewmen Stirs World Interest,”
New York Times (April 15, 1970), retrieved from
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/nasa/041570sci-nasa-arnold.html; Woodfill, J., “Apollo 13: ‘Houston, We’ve Got a Problem,’” National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1970), retrieved from
http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/SEH/13index.htm; Woodfill, J., “What Really Happened to Apollo 13” (August 19, 2009), retrieved from
http://www.spaceacts.com/tract13.html.
95 made a wish: Woolley, J. D., et al., “Where Theories of Mind Meet Magic: The Development of Children’s Beliefs about Wishing,” Child Development 70 (1999): 571–87.
95 Resisted certain thoughts: Shafran, R., D. S. Thordarson, and S. Rachman, “Thought-Action Fusion in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” Journal of Anxiety Disorders 10 (1996): 379–91.
95 Emily Pronin: Pronin, E., et al., “Everyday Magical Powers: The Role of Apparent Mental Causation in the Overestimation of Personal Influence,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91 (2006): 218–31.
98 “magnetically attract”: Byrne, R., The Secret (New York: Atria Books/Beyond Words), 10.
98 “like placing an order”: Ibid., 48.
99 “primary cause of everything”: Byrne, The Secret, 33.
99 “the things you can think . . . unlimited”: Ibid., 148.
99 “events in history”: Ibid., 28.
99 extraneous scientific-sounding information: Weisberg, D. S., et al., “The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20 (2008): 470–77.
100 Core to the scientific method: Popper, K., The Logic of Scientific Discovery, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2002; original work published 1935).
101 influence how we perceive: Balcetis, E., and D. Dunning, “See What You Want to See: Motivational Influences on Visual Perception,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91 (2006): 612–25.
101 look at a puzzle: Wiseman, R., The Luck Factor: Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles (New York: Hyperion, 2003).
102 Expecting kindness: Stinson, D. A., et al., “Deconstructing the ‘Reign of Error’: Interpersonal Warmth Explains the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Anticipated Acceptance,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35 (2009): 1165–78.
102 the severity of several illnesses: Richman, L. S., et al., “Positive Emotion and Health: Going Beyond the Negative,” Health Psychology 24 (2005): 422–29.
102 optimism . . . boosts the immune system: Segerstrom, S. C., and S. E. Sephton, “Optimistic Expectancies and Cell-Mediated Immunity: The Role of Positive Affect,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 448–55.
102 health-enhancing behavior: Mulkana, S. S., and B. J. Hailey, “The Role of Optimism in Health-Enhancing Behavior,” American Journal of Health Behavior 25 (2001): 388–95.
104 “union of soul with body”: Hume, D., An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008; original work published 1748), 48.
104 used an EEG: Libet, B., et al., “Time of Conscious Intention to Act in Relation to Onset of Cerebral Activity (Readiness-Potential): The Unconscious Initiation of a Freely Voluntary Act,” Brain 106 (1983): 623–42.
105 electrodes in people’s brains: Fried, I., R. Mukamel, and G. Kreiman, “Internally Generated Preactivation of Single Neurons in Human Medial Frontal Cortex Predicts Volition,” Neuron 69 (2011): 548–62.
105 fMRI scanner: Soon, C. S., et al., “Unconscious Determinants of Free Decisions in the Human Brain,” Nature Neuroscience 11 (2008): 543–45.
106 “We are enchanted by”: Wegner, D. M., “Self Is Magic,” in J. Baer, J. C. Kaufman, and R. F. Baumeister (eds.), Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008), 226.
106 “I’m a case in point”: Ibid., 237.
107 “hard” problem of consciousness: Chalmers, D. J., “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness,” Journal of Consciousness Studies 2 (1995): 200–219.
108 they were cheating: Vohs, K. D., and J. Schooler, “The Value of Believing in Free Will: Encouraging a Belief in Scientific Determinism Increases Cheating,” Psychological Science 19 (2008): 49–54.
108 less willing to help: Baumeister, R. F., E. J. Masicampo, and C. N. DeWall, “Prosocial Benefits of Feeling Free: Disbelief in Free Will Increases Aggression and Reduces Helpfulness,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35 (2009): 260–68.
109 day labor: Stillman, T. F., et al., “Personal Philosophy and Personnel Achievement: Belief in Free Will Predicts Better Job Performance,” Social Psychological and Personality Science 1 (2010): 43–50.
109 watch . . . Coffee and Cigarettes: Nordgren, L. F., et al., “The Restraint Bias: How Illusions of Restraint Promote Impulsive Behavior,” Psychological Science 20 (2009): 1523–28.
110 cup of coffee: Williams and Bargh, “Experiencing Physical Warmth.”
111 “understand my enemy”: Card, O. S., Ender’s Game, rev. ed. (New York: Tor, 1994; original work published 1985), 238.
112 deciding appropriate prison sentences: Carlsmith, K. M., J. M. Darley, and P. H. Robinson, “Why Do We Punish? Deterrence and Just Deserts as Motives for Punishment,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002): 284–99.
112 “proportionate to their internal wickedness”: Kant, I., The Science of Right, (Charleston, SC: BibioBazaar, 2009; original work published 1790), 136.
112 Shaun Nichols and Joshua Knobe: Nichols, S., and J. Knobe, “Moral Responsibility and Determinism: The Cognitive Science of Folk Intuitions,” Noûs 41 (2007): 663–85.
112 “If retributivism runs that deep”: Greene, J. D., and J. D. Cohen, “For the Law, Neuroscience Changes Nothing and Everything,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 359 (2004): 1784.
113–14 Apollo 14 . . . ESP experiment: Mitchell, E., The Way of the Explorer, rev. ed. (Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2008; original work published 1996).
114 Scientific studies endorsing . . . phenomena: E.g., Bem, D. J., “Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100 (2011): 1–19.
115 “with a large enough sample”: Diaconis, P., and F. Mosteller, “Methods for Studying Coincidences,” Journal of the American Statistical Association 84 (1989): 859.
116 dreams foretell the future: Morewedge, C. K, and M. I. Norton, “When Dreaming Is Believing: The (Motivated) Interpretation of Dreams,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96 (2009): 249–64.
116 fortune cookie: Lee, J.8, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese food (New York: Twelve, 2008).
116 orchestrated . . . coincidences: Falk, R., “Judgment of Coincidences: Mine versus Yours,” American Journal of Psychology 102 (1989): 477–93.
117 “the skeptic asks”: Gilovich, T., How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life (New York: Free Press, 1991), 180.
117 Bruce Hood asked: Hood, B. M., SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2009).
119 “I was overwhelmed”: Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer, 75.
119 “Songs, symphonies, movies”: Keltner, D., and J. Haidt, “Approaching Awe, a Moral, Spiritual, and Aesthetic Emotion,” Cognition and Emotion 17 (2003): 310.
120 “‘oceanic’”: Freud, S., Civilization and Its Discontents, J. Strachey, trans. (New York: Norton, 1989; original work published 1930), 11.
120 “The impulses to awe”: Dawkins, R., Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), 17.
120 “supernatural” . . . “numinous”: Hitchens, C., God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (New York: Twelve, 2009), 286. Cited in Bloom, P., How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like (New York: Norton, 2010).
120 transcendence . . . magical thinking: Neher, A., The Psychology of Transcendence (Mineola, NY: Dover, 1990; original work published 1980).
120 nature . . . tyrannosaurus: Shiota, M. N., D. Keltner, and A. Mossman, “The Nature of Awe: Elicitors, Appraisals, and Effects on Self-Concept,” Cognition and Emotion 21 (2007): 944–63.
121–21 purpose . . . committed and connected: Saroglou, V., C. Buxant, and J. Tilquin, “Positive Emotions as Leading to Religion and Spirituality,” Journal of Positive Psychology 3 (2008): 165–73.
121 “The two religions”: Maslow, A. H., Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences (New York: Penguin, 1994; original work published 1964), 29.
121 Apollo pilots: Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer.
121 [astronaut] memoirs: Suedfeld, P., K. Legkaia, and J. Brcic, “Changes in the Hierarchy of Value References Associated with Flying in Space,” Journal of Personality 78 (2010): 1411–46.
121 “It is my strong suspicion”: Maslow, Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences, 75–76.
Chapter 5: The Soul Lives On
128 electrical stimulation: Selimbeyoglu, A., and J. Parvizi, “Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain: Perceptual and Behavioral Phenomena Reported in the Old and New Literature,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 4 (2010): 1–11.
128 imagined cookie: Wellman, H. M., and D. Estes, “Early Understanding of Mental Entities: A Reexamination of Childhood Realism,” Child Development 57 (1986): 910–23.
129 Descartes’ Baby: Bloom, P., Descartes’ Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human (New York: Basic Books, 2004).
130 “Baby Mouse”: Bering, J. M., and D. F. Bjorklund, “The Natural Emergence of Reasoning about the Afterlife as a Developmental Regularity,” Developmental Psychology 40 (2004): 217–33.
131 “James Brown, move over”: Preston, J., K. Gray, and D. M. Wegner, “The Godfather of Soul,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (2006): 483.
132 “Whenever we attempt to do so”: Cited in Lifton, R. J., The Broken Connection: On Death and the Continuity of Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), 13.
132 “Try, reader, to imagine”: de Unamuno, M., Tragic Sense of Life, J. E. C. Fitch, trans. (New York: Dover, 1954; original work published 1913), 71.
133 Richard Waverly: Bering, J. M., “Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Agents’ Minds: The Natural Foundations of Afterlife Beliefs as Phenomenological Boundary,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 2 (2002): 263–308.
133 “One particularly vehement extinctivist”: Bering, J. M., The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life (New York: Norton, 2011), 118.
134 Shaun Nichols: Nichols, S., “Imagination and Immortality: Thinking of Me,” Synthese 159 (2007): 215–33.
134 Thomas Nagel: Nagel, T., The View from Nowhere (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989).
134 Derek Parfit: Parfit, D., Reasons and Persons (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986).
135 “we see death all around us”: Nichols, “Imagination and Immortality,” 230.
136 Lord Horatio Nelson: Hibbert, C., Nelson: A Personal History (Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 1994).
136 “direct proof”: Ramachandran, V. S., and W. Hirstein, “The Perception of Phantom Limbs: The D. O. Hebb Lecture,” Brain 121 (1998): 1604.
136 “Often, at night, I would try”: Mitchell, S. W., “The Case of George Dedlow,” Atlantic Monthly 18 (July 1866): 7.
136 “UNITED STATES ARMY”: Ibid., 11.
136 donations and visitors: Goler, R. I., “Loss and the Persistence of Memory: ‘The Case of George Dedlow’ and Disabled Civil War Veterans,” Literature and Medicine 23 (2004): 160–83.
137 “nearly every man who loses a limb”: Mitchell, S. W., Injuries of Nerves and Their Consequences (Charleston, SC: BibioBazaar, 2009; original work published 1872), 348.
137 somatosensory cortex: Ramachandran and Hirstein, “The Perception of Phantom Limbs.”
137 “I stopped at the door to the room”: Didion, J., The Year of Magical Thinking (New York: Knopf, 2005), 37.
138 “a person-file system”: Boyer, P., Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (New York: Basic Books, 2001), 219.
138 “It keeps producing inferences”: Ibid., 223.
138 “offline social reasoning”: Bering, J. M., “The Folk Psychology of Souls,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (2006): 453–62.
138 Even infants expect to find a person: Jackson, E., J. J. Campos, and K. W. Fischer, “The Question of Decalage between Object Permanence and Person Permanence,” Developmental Psychology 14 (1978): 1–10.
138 “Out-of-sight, out-of-mind”: Hodge, K. M., “On Imagining the Afterlife,” Journal of Cognition and Culture (in press).
139 “We should not be surprised”: Boyer, Religion Explained, 227.
139 “Just then, the wind chimes”: Bering, J. M., “The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural,” American Scientist 94 (2006): 148.
139 “really in touch”: GSS data, cited in MacDonald, W. L., “Idionecrophanies: The Social Construction of Perceived Contact with the Dead,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 31 (1992): 215–23.
139 Most ghost stories: McCue, P. A., “Theories of Hauntings: A Critical Overview,” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 66 (2002): 1–21.
140 (debunked) five stages of grief: Maciejewski, P. K., et al., “An Empirical Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief,” Journal of the American Medical Association 297 (2007): 716–23.
140 NDEs: Blackmore, S., Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences (Amherst, MA: Prometheus Books, 1993); Blanke, O., and S. Dieguez, “Leaving Body and Life Behind: Out-of-Body and Near-Death Experiences,” in S. Laureys and G. Tononi (eds.), The Neurology of Consciousness (London: Academic Press, 2009), 303–25; Moody, R., Life after Life (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001; original work published 1975); Nelson, K. R., et al., “Does the Arousal System Contribute to Near Death Experience?” Neurology 66 (2006): 1003–9.
141 OBEs: Blanke and Dieguez, “Leaving Body and Life Behind”; Blanke, O., and G. Thut, “Inducing Out-of-Body Experiences,” in S. D. Salla (ed.), Tall Tales about the Mind and Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007), 424–39; Lenggenhager, B., et al., “Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-Consciousness,” Science 317 (2007): 1096–99.
142 “seat of the soul”: Descartes, R., The Passions of the Soul, S. Voss, trans. (Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Company, 1989; original work published 1649), 36.
142 push the argument: Wilson, N. L., and R. W. Gibbs, “Real and Imagined Movement Primes Metaphor Comprehension,” Cognitive Science 31 (2007): 721–31.
143 this man’s soul weighed: MacDougall, D., “Hypothesis concerning Soul Substance Together with Experimental Evidence of the Existence of Such Substance,” Journal of the American Society of Psychical Research 1 (1907): 231–44.
143 iconography: Hodge, K. M., “Descartes’ Mistake: How Afterlife Beliefs Challenge the Assumption That Humans Are Intuitive Cartesian Substance Dualists,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 8 (2008): 387–415.
143 cremains: Kearl, M. C., “Cremation: Purification, Desecration, or Convenience?” Generations 28 (2004): 15–20.
144 Jon Stewart recounted: Stewart, J. (host), The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (New York: Comedy Central, August 11, 2010).
144 “I found to my horror”: Mitchell, “The Case of George Dedlow,” 8.
146 “Mankind’s common instinct”: James, W., The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (New York: Touchstone, 1997; original work published 1902), 288.
147 “It doesn’t matter”: Becker, E., The Denial of Death (New York: Free Press, 1973), 5.
147 three early-career researchers: Solomon, S., J. Greenberg, and T. Pyszczynski, “The Cultural Animal: Twenty Years of Terror Management Theory and Research,” in J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, and T. Pyszczynski (eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (New York: The Guilford Press, 2004), 13–34.
148 Most TMT experiments: Burke, B. L., A. Martens, and E. H. Faucher, “Two Decades of Terror Management Theory: A Meta-Analysis of Mortality Salience Research,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14 (2010): 155–95.
148 worldview defense: For a review, see Solomon et al., “The Cultural Animal.”
148 “immortality formula”: Becker, The Denial of Death, 255.
149 self-esteem: For a review, see Pyszczynski, T., et al., “Why Do People Need Self-Esteem? A Theoretical and Empirical Review,” Psychological Bulletin 130 (2004): 435–68.
149 abstract modern art: Landau, M. J., et al., “Windows into Nothingness: Terror Management, Meaninglessness, and Negative Reactions to Modern Art,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90 (2006): 879–92.
149 commitment to a romantic relationship: Florian, V., M. Mikulincer, and G. Hirschberger, “The Anxiety Buffering Function of Close Relationships: Evidence That Relationship Commitment Acts as a Terror Management Mechanism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82 (2002): 527–42.
149 identification with their favorite brands: Rindfleisch, A., J. E. Burroughs, and N. Wong, “The Safety of Objects: Materialism, Existential Insecurity, and Brand Connection,” Journal of Consumer Research 35 (2009): 1–16.
150 biosocial and creative: Lifton, The Broken Connection.
150 desire to have kids: Fritsche, I., et al., “Mortality Salience and the Desire for Offspring,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43 (2007): 753–62.
150 optimism about the football team: Dechesne, M., et al., “Terror Management and the Vicissitudes of Sports Fan Affiliation: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Optimism and Fan Identification,” European Journal of Social Psychology 30 (2150): 813–35.
150 Famous people: Kesebir, P., and C.-Y. Chiu, “The Stuff That Immortality Is Made Of: Existential Functions of Fame” (poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM, 2008).
151 “Every group”: Rank, O., Art and Artist: Creative Urge and Personality Development, C. F. Atkinson, trans. (New York: Norton, 1989; original work published 1932), 411.
151 “These issues are germane”: Lifton, The Broken Connection, 22.
152 bequests: Sargeant A., W. Wymer, and T. Hilton, “Marketing Bequest Club Membership: An Exploratory Study of Legacy Pledgers,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 35 (2006): 384–404.
152 “Even existential philosophers”: Lifton, The Broken Connection, 8.
152 the most direct evidence: Florian, V., and M. Mikulincer, “Symbolic Immortality and the Management of the Terror of Death: The Moderating Role of Attachment Style,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74 (1998): 725–34. Also see Dechesne, M., et al., “Literal and Symbolic Immortality: The Effect of Evidence of Literal Immortality on Self-Esteem Striving in Response to Mortality Salience,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003): 722–37.
153 Quentin Tarantino: A Columbine Site, “Basement Tapes.”
154 sacrifice their individual selves: Routledge, C., and J. Arndt, “Self-Sacrifice as Self-Defense: Mortality Salience Increases Efforts to Affirm a Symbolic Immortal Self at the Expense of the Physical Self,” European Journal of Social Psychology 38 (2008): 531–41.
154 optimal distinctiveness: Simon, L., et al., “Perceived Consensus, Uniqueness and Terror Management: Compensatory Responses to Threats to Inclusion and Distinctiveness Following Mortality Salience,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23 (1997): 1055–65.
154 “we’re gonna have followers”: A Columbine Site, “Basement Tapes.”
155 “mankind’s real threat”: Becker, The Denial of Death, 227.
155 “gods with anuses”: Ibid., 51.
155 “Excreting is the curse”: Ibid., 33–34.
156 bodily effluvia: Cox, C. R., et al., “Disgust, Creatureliness, and the Accessibility of Death-Related Thoughts,” European Journal of Social Psychology 37 (2007): 494–507.
157 physical aspects of sex: Goldenberg, J. L., et al., “Understanding Human Ambivalence about Sex: The Effects of Stripping Sex of Its Meaning,” Journal of Sex Research 39 (2002): 310–20.
157 foot binding and lip plates and neck rings: Goldenberg, J. L., et al., “I Am NOT an Animal: Mortality Salience, Disgust, and the Denial of Human Creatureliness,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 130 (2001): 427–35.
157 “A woman is rendered”: de Beauvior, S., The Second Sex, H. M. Parshley, trans. (New York: Vintage, 1989; original work published 1949), 159.
158 “The fetish takes ‘species meat’”: Becker, The Denial of Death, 236.
158 “unmitigated testimonial”: Ibid., 237.
158 “genital curses”: Stevens, P. “Women’s Aggressive Use of Genital Power in Africa,” Transcultural Psychiatry 43 (2006): 592–99.
158 Jesus “ate and drank”: Dunderberg, I. O., Beyond Gnosticism: Myth, Lifestyle, and Society in the School of Valentinus (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2008), 22.
158 “I was once emptying”: Mather, C., Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681–1724 (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1911), 357.
159 “The God-like figure of Stalin”: Subbotsky, E., Magic and the Mind: Mechanisms, Functions, and Development of Magical Thinking and Behavior (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010), 112.
160 unhealthy ideals of beauty . . . : For a review, see Goldenberg, J. L., “The Body Stripped Down: An Existential Account of Ambivalence Toward the Physical Body,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 14 (2005): 224–28.
160 not at the same time: Although, Google “blumpkin.”
160 A Christmas Carol: Dickens, C., A Christmas Carol (New York: Bantam, 1986; original work published 1843).
161 the Scrooge effect: Jonas, E., et al., “The Scrooge Effect: Evidence That Mortality Salience Increases Prosocial Attitudes and Behavior,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002): 1342–53.
161 Life’s but a walking shadow: Shakespeare, W., Macbeth (New York: Washington Square Press, 2003; original work published n.d.), 179.
161 Fight Club: Bell, R. G., C. Chaffin, and A. Linson (producers), Fincher, D. (director), Fight Club [motion picture] (United States: Regency Enterprises, 1999).
161 “Although the physicality of death”: Yalom, I. D., Existential Psychotherapy (New York: Basic Books, 1980), 30.
161 word-search puzzle: King, L. A., J. A. Hicks, and J. Abdelkhalik, “Death, Life, Scarcity, and Value: An Alternative Approach to the Meaning of Death,” Psychological Science 20 (2009): 1459–62.
162 brushes with death: Martin, L. L., W. K. Campbell, and C. D. Henry, “The Roar of Awakening: Mortality Acknowledgment as a Call to Authentic Living,” in J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, and T. Pyszczynski (eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (New York: Guilford Press, 2004), 431–38.
162 “roar of awakening”: Kuhl, D., What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom for the End of Life (New York: PublicAffairs, 2003), 227.
Chapter 6: The World Is Alive
165 “We find human faces”: Hume, D., Dialogues and Natural History of Religion (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2009; original works published 1779, 1757), 141.
165 “Hence the frequency and beauty”: Ibid., 141.
165 Faces in the Clouds: Guthrie, S. E., Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993).
165 “the selecting power of nature”: Cited in ibid., 173.
165 Piaget: Piaget, J., The Child’s Conception of the World, J. Tomlinson and A. Tomlinson, trans. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007; original work published 1929).
166 At the top of my field of vision: Cited in Baron-Cohen, S., Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), 4–5.
167 “echolocation”: Cited in ibid., 4.
167 SEEK: Epley, N., et al., “On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism,” Psychological Review 114 (2008): 864–86.
167 follow another’s gaze: Hood, B. M., J. D. Willen, and J. Driver, “Adult’s Eyes Trigger Shifts of Visual Attention in Human Infants,” Psychological Science 9 (1998): 131–34.
168 communicative gestures: Carpenter, M., K. Nagell, and M. Tomasello, “Social Cognition, Joint Attention, and Communicative Competence from 9 to 15 Months of Age,” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 63 (1998).
168 recognize people’s preferences: Repacholi, B. M., and A. Gopnik, “Early Reasoning about Desires: Evidence from 14- and 18-Month-Olds,” Developmental Psychology 33 (1997): 12–21.
168 acknowledge goals: Meltzoff, A. N., “Understanding the Intentions of Others: Re-enactment of Intended Acts by 18-Month-Old Children,” Developmental Psychology 31 (1995): 838–50.
168 discussing feelings: Dunn, J., I. Bretherto, and P. Munn, “Conversations about Feeling States between Mothers and Their Young Children,” Developmental Psychology 23 (1987): 132–39.
168 false beliefs: Baillargeon, R., R. M. Scott, and Z. He, “False-Belief Understanding in Infants,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 14 (2010): 110–18; Kovács, Á. M., E. Téglás, and A. D. Endress, “The Social Sense: Susceptibly to Others’ Beliefs in Human Infants and Adults,” Science 330 (2010): 1830–34.
168 mirror neurons . . . emotions: Carr, L., et al., “Neural Mechanisms of Empathy in Humans: A Relay from Neural Systems for Imitation to Limbic Areas,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 100 (2003): 5497–5502.
168 physical sensations: Cheng, Y., et al., “The Perception of Pain in Others Suppresses Somatosensory Oscillations: A Magnetoencephalography Study,” NeuroImage 40 (2008): 1833–40.
168 intentions: Iacoboni, M., et al., “Grasping the Intentions of Others with One’s Own Mirror Neuron System,” PLoS Biology 3 (2005): 529–35.
169 egocentrism: Epley, N., et al, “Perspective Taking as Egocentric Anchoring and Adjustment,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (2004): 327–39.
170 “personality” in dogs: Gosling, S. D., V. S. Y. Kwan, and O. P. John, “A Dog’s Got Personality: A Cross-Species Comparative Approach to Evaluating Personality Judgments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85 (2003): 1161–69.
170 “Paro has internal states”: Wada, K., and T. Shibata, “Living with Seal Robots: Its Sociopsychological and Physiological Influences on the Elderly at a Care House,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics 23 (2007): 974.
171 primary emotions; Secondary emotions: Demoulin, S., et al., “Dimensions of Uniquely and Non-uniquely Human Emotions,” Cognition and Emotion 18 (2004): 71–96.
171 “What the guilty look may be”: Horowitz, A., “Disambiguating the ‘Guilty Look’: Salient Prompts to a Familiar Dog Behaviour,” Behavioural Processes 81 (2009): 451.
171 74 percent of pet owners: Morris, P., C. Coe, and E. Godsell, “Secondary Emotions in Non-primate Species? Behavioral Reports and Subjective Claims by Animal Owners,” Cognition and Emotion 22 (2008): 3–20.
172 mirror test: For an overview, see de Waal, F. B. M., “The Thief in the Mirror,” PLoS Biology 6 (2008): e201.
172 episodic memory: Episodic-like memory has been demonstrated in birds and rats. For a review, see Roberts, W. A., and M. C. Feeney, “The Comparative Study of Mental Time Travel,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13 (2009): 271–77.
172 “That tiger ain’t go crazy”: Gallen, J., C. Rock, and M. Rotenberg (executive producers), Chris Rock: Never Scared [television broadcast] ( New York: HBO, 2004).
173 “Can they suffer?”: Bentham, J., An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1995; original work published 1789), 283.
173 natural environment: Schultz, P. W., “Empathizing with Nature: The Effects of Perspective-Taking on Concern for Environmental Issues,” Journal of Social Issues 56 (2000): 391–406.
173 “If trees could scream”: Handey, J., Deep Thoughts (New York: Berkeley, 1992), 5.
174 twenty sessions with AIBO: Kanamori, M., M. Suzuki, and M. Tanaka, “Maintenance and Improvement of Quality of Life among Elderly Patients Using a Pet-Type Robot,” Japanese Journal of Geriatrics 39 (2002): 214–18.
174 chat rooms . . . AIBO’s mental states: Friedman, B., P. H. Kahn Jr., and J. Hag-man, “Hardware Companions? What Online AIBO Discussion Forums Reveal about the Human-Robotic Relationship,” CHI Letters 5 (2003): 273–80.
174 survey of Roomba owners: Sung, J.-A., et al., “Housewives or Technophiles? Understanding Domestic Robot Owners,” HRI 2008 (2008): 129–36.
174 thirty Roomba owners: Sung, J.-A., et al., “‘My Roomba Is Rambo’: Intimate Home Appliances,” UbiComp 2007 (2007): 145–62.
174 “when in Star Wars”: Gazzola, V., et al., “The Anthropomorphic Brain: The Mirror Neuron System Responds to Human and Robotic Actions,” NeuroImage 35 (2007): 1683.
174 human-computer interaction: For a review, see Nass, C., and Y. Moon, “Machines and Mindlessness: Social Responses to Computers,” Journal of Social Issues 56 (2000): 81–103.
175 “Ethiopians say that their gods”: Lesher, J. H., Xenophanes of Colophon: Fragments (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1992), 25.
175 intuitions don’t always stick to scripture: Barrett, J. L., and F. C. Keil, “Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity: Anthropomorphism in God Concepts,” Cognitive Psychology 31 (1996): 219–47.
176 “divine agents who can be influenced”: Badcock, C., The Imprinted Brain: How Genes Set the Balance of the Mind between Autism and Psychosis (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009), 120.
176 we read God’s mind: Epley, N., et al., “Believers’ Estimates of God’s Beliefs Are More Egocentric Than Estimates of Other People’s Beliefs,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (2009): 21533–38.
177 “That land that I live in”: Dylan, B., “With God on Our Side,” on The Times They Are a-Changing’ [album] (New York: Columbia, 1964).
177 “The denial of determinate”: Cited in Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds, 183.
178 two dimensions: Gray, H. M., K. Gray, and D. M. Wegner, “Dimensions of Mind Perception,” Science 315 (2007): 619.
178 black-and-white animation: Heider, F., and M. Simmel, “An Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior,” American Journal of Psychology 57 (1944): 243–59.
179 movement cues: For reviews, see Rakison, D. H., and D. Poulin-Dubois, “Developmental Origin of the Animate-Inanimate Distinction,” Psychological Bulletin 127 (2001): 209–28; Scholl, B. J., and P. D. Tremoulet, “Perceptual Causality and Animacy,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4 (2000): 299–309.
179 “Banging our eye”: Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds, 47.
179 Infants as young as twelve months: Kuhlmeier, V., K. Wynn, and P. Bloom, “Attribution of Dispositional States by 12-Month-Olds,” Psychological Science 14 (2003): 402–8.
180 Neuroimaging: Castelli, F., et al., “Movement and Mind: A Functional Imaging Study of Perception and Interpretation of Complex Intentional Movement Patterns,” NeuroImage 12 (2000): 314–25.
180 “haunted scrotum”: Harding, J. R., “The Case of the Haunted Scrotum,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 89 (1996): 600.
180 facelike objects: Hadjikhani, N., et al., “Early (N170) Activation of Face-Specific Cortex by Face-Like Objects,” NeuroReport 20 (2009): 403–7.
181 robotic faces: Dubal, S., et al., “Human Brain Spots Emotion in Non Humanoid Robots,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 6 (2011): 90–97.
181 smiley faces: Eger, E., et al., “Rapid Extraction of Emotional Expression: Evidence from Evoked Potential Fields during Brief Presentation of Face Stimuli,” Neuropsychologia 41 (2003): 808–17.
181 brown furry lump: Johnson, S., V. Slaughter, and S. Carey, “Whose Gaze Will Infants Follow? The Elicitation of Gaze Following in 12-Month-Olds,” Developmental Science 1 (1998): 233–38.
181 “uncanny valley”: MacDorman, K. F., et al., “Too Real for Comfort: Uncanny Responses to Computer Generated Faces,” Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009): 695–710.
181 dog and cat prototypes: Shibata, T., and K. Wada, “Robot Therapy: A New Approach for Mental Healthcare of the Elderly,” Gerontology 57 (2011): 378–86.
182 statue of the athlete Nikon: Evans, E. P., The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals (London: William Heinemann, 1906).
183 dyadic template of morality: Gray, K., and D. M. Wegner, “Blaming God for Our Pain: Human Suffering and the Divine Mind,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14 (2010): 7–16.
183 predators and prey: New, J., L. Cosmides, and J. Tooby, “Category-Specific Attention for Animals Reflects Ancestral Priorities, Not Expertise,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2007): 16593–16603.
184 “It is better for a hiker”: Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds, 6.
184 Fear further biases: Epley, N., et al., “Creating Social Connection through Inferential Reproduction: Loneliness and Perceived Agency in Gadgets, Gods, and Greyhounds,” Psychological Science 19 (2008): 114–20.
184 predominant view: E.g., Boyer, P., Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (New York: Basic Books, 2011).
184 Jesse Bering, Dominic Johnson: E.g., Bering, J. M., and D. D. P. Johnson, “‘O Lord . . . You Perceive My Thoughts from Afar’: Recursiveness in the Cognitive Evolution of Supernatural Agency,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 5 (2005): 118–42.
184 a bit like feathers: Gould, S. J., “Exaptation: A Crucial Tool for Evolutionary Psychology,” Journal of Social Issues 47 (1991): 43–65.
185 subtle reminder of God: Shariff, A. F., and A. Norenzayan, “God Is Watching You: Supernatural Agent Concepts Increase Prosocial Behavior in an Anonymous Economic Game,” Psychological Science 18 (2007): 803–9.
185 “Our character is what we do”: Brown, H. J., Jr., P.S. I Love You: When Mom Wrote She Always Saved the Best for Last (Nashville: Routledge Hill Press, 1990), 125.
185 “Conscience is the inner voice”: Mencken, H. L., A Mencken Chrestomathy (New York: Vintage, 1982; original work published 1949), 617.
185 exposure to . . . “police” and “jury”: Shariff and Norenzayan, “God Is Watching You.”
185 honesty box: Bateson, M., D. Nettle, and G. Roberts, “Cues of Being Watched Enhance Cooperation in a Real-World Setting,” Biology Letters 2 (2006): 412–14.
186 internalize social norms: Gintis, H., “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Altruism: Gene-Culture Coevolution and the Internalization of Norms,” Journal of Theoretical Biology 220 (2003): 407–18.
186 the world is just: Lerner, M. J., “The Justice Motive: Some Hypotheses as to Its Origins and Forms,” Journal of Personality 45 (1977): 1−32.
186 capacity for empathy: Zak, P. J., A. A. Stanton, and S. Ahmadi, “Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans,” PLoS ONE 2 (2007): e1128.
186 “the jackpot”: Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds, 45.
187 effectance motivation: White, R. W., “Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence,” Psychological Review 66 (1959): 297–332.
187 “If everywhere in nature”: Freud, S., The Future of an Illusion, J. Strachey, trans. (New York: Norton, 1989; original work published 1927), 20–21.
187 unpredictable dog: Epley, N., et al., “When We Need a Human: Motivational Determinants of Anthropomorphism,” Social Cognition 26 (2008): 143–55.
187 series of experiments: Waytz, A., et al., “Making Sense by Making Sentient: Unpredictability Increases Anthropomorphism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99 (2010): 410–35.
188 “not be mere metaphor”: Ibid., 419.
188 intentional stance: Dennett, D. C., The Intentional Stance (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987).
189 ancient navigators: Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds.
189 loneliness: Epley et al., “Creating Social Connection through Inferential Reproduction.”
190 [pets’ and] Paro’s therapeutic value: For a review, see Shibata and Wada, “Robot Therapy.”
191 everything anyone does as intentional: Rosset, E., “It’s No Accident: Our Bias for Intentional Explanations,” Cognition 108 (2008): 771–80; Bègue, L., et al., “There Is No Such Thing as an Accident, Especially When People Are Drunk,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36 (2010): 1301–4.
192 legally required to undergo an ultrasound: Sanger, C., “Seeing and Believing: Mandatory Ultrasound and the Path to a Protected Choice,” UCLA Law Review 56 (2008): 351–408.
193 “the same rights”: Waytz, A., N. Epley, and J. T. Cacioppo, “Social Cognition Unbound: Psychological Insights into Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 19 (2010): 61.
Chapter 7: Everything Happens for a Reason
197 “I don’t see why”: Hemingway, E., The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, (New York: Scribner, 1995; original work published 1961; story first published 1936), 6.
198 “That it should collapse”: Evans-Pritchard, E. E., Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963; original work published 1937), 69–70.
198 intervening through natural means: Legare, C. H., and S. A. Gelman, “Bewitchment, Biology, or Both: The Co-existence of Natural and Supernatural Explanatory Frameworks across Development,” Cognitive Science 32 (2008): 607–42.
198 Midwestern college students: Weeks, M., and M. B. Lupfer, “Religious Attributions and Proximity of Influence: An Investigation of Direct Interventions and Distal Explanations,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39 (2000): 348–62.
199
creation myth: Corey, M. A.,
God and the New Cosmology: The Anthropic Design Argument (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1993);
http://xkcd.com/10.
199 “a globe or a clock”: Cicero, M. T., The Nature of the Gods, H. C. P. McGregor, trans. (London: Penguin, 1972; original work published 45 BC), 163.
199 “We are entirely accustomed”: Dawkins, R., The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design (New York: Norton, 1996; original work published 1987), xvi.
200 “It is almost as if”: Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, xv.
200 “artificialists”: Piaget, J., The Child’s Conception of the World, J. Tomlinson and A. Tomlinson, trans. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007; original work published 1929).
200 three in four preschoolers: Kelemen, D., “The Scope of Teleological Thinking in Preschool Children,” Cognition 70 (1999): 241–72.
200 fourth graders: Kelemen, D., “Why Are Rocks Pointy?: Children’s Preference for Teleological Explanations of the Natural World,” Developmental Psychology 35 (1999): 1440–53.
200 “intuitive theists”: Kelemen, D., “Are Children ‘Intuitive Theists’?: Reasoning about Purpose and Design in Nature,” Psychological Science 15 (2004): 295–301.
200 adults . . . teleology: Kelemen, D., and E. Rosset, “The Human Function Compunction: Teleological Explanation in Adults,” Cognition 111 (2009): 138–43.
202 surprising and significant event: Weiner, B. “‘Spontaneous’ Causal Thinking,” Psychological Bulletin 97 (1985): 74–84.
202 motor vehicle crash: Lehman, D. R., C. B. Wortman, and A. F. Williams, “Long-Term Effects of Losing a Spouse or Child in a Motor Vehicle Crash,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52 (1985): 218–31.
204 Even atheists: Heywood, B. T., “‘Meant to Be’: How Religious Beliefs, Cultural Religiosity, and Impaired Theory of Mind Affect the Implicit Bias to Think Tele-ologically” (Queen’s Univ. Belfast: unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2010).
205 V-1 Buzz Bombs: Gilovich, T., How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life (New York: Free Press, 1991); Saunders, H. S. G., “The Flying Bomb,” LIFE 17 (November 20, 1944): 90–99.
205 British statistician: Clarke, R. D., “An Application of the Poisson Distribution,” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries 72 (1946): 481.
206 shuffle feature: Levy, S., The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006).
206 bad at recognizing and producing randomness: Nickerson, R. S., “The Production and Perception of Randomness,” Psychological Review 109 (2002): 330–57.
206 hot hand: Caruso, E. M., A. Waytz, and N. Epley, “The Intentional Mind and the Hot Hand: Perceiving Intentions Makes Streaks Seem Likely to Continue,” Cognition 116 (2010): 149–53; Gilovich, T., R. Vallone, and A. Tversky, “The Hot Hand in Basketball: On the Misperception of Random Sequences,” Cognitive Psychology 17 (1985): 295–314.
207 “by at least 12 months”: Newman, G. E., et al., “Early Understandings of the Link between Agents and Order,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (2010): 17144.
208 synchronicity: Beitman, B. D. (ed.), “Synchronicity, Weird Coincidences, and Psychotherapy” [special issue], Psychiatric Annals 39(5) (2010).
208 Mark David Chapman: Jones, J., Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon (New York: Villard Books, 1992).
210 “Every single thing”: Brundage, B. E., “First Person Account: What I Wanted to Know but Was Afraid to Ask,” Schizophrenia Bulletin 9 (1983): 584.
210 images and strings of letters: Krummenacher, P., et al., “Dopamine, Paranormal Belief, and the Detection of Meaningful Stimuli,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 22 (2010): 1670–81.
210 unrelated words: Gianotti, L. R., et al., “Associative Processing and Paranormal Belief,” Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 55 (2001): 595–603.
211 “Again and again, adoptive parents”: Howell, S., The Kinning of Foreigners: Transnational Adoption in Global Perspective (Berghahn Books, 2006), 73.
212 mere ownership effect: Beggan, J. K., “On the Social Nature of Nonsocial Perception: The Mere Ownership Effect,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 62 (1992): 229–37.
212 existence bias: Eidelman, S., C. S. Crandall, and J. Pattershall, “The Existence Bias,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97 (2009): 765–75.
212 optimizing processes: Taylor, S. E., and J. D. Brown, “Illusion and Well-being: A Social Psychological Perspective on Mental Health,” Psychological Bulletin 103 (1988): 193–210.
212 “Technically speaking”: Gilbert, D. T., et al., “The Illusion of External Agency,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79 (2000): 698.
213 weather simulations: Lorenz, E. N., “Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow,” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 20 (1963): 130–41.
213 counterfactual thinking: Epstude, K., and N. Roese, “The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 12 (2008): 168–92.
214 mighta-been musings: Kray L. J., et al., “From What Might Have Been to What Must Have Been: Counterfactual Thinking Creates Meaning,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98 (2010): 106–18.
214
Bockscar: The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, “The Nagasaki Mission—Timeline” (August 3, 2005), retrieved from
http://www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07m1.htm; Rhodes, R.,
The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986).
215 “Two additional runs”: Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 740.
215 German motorcyclist: Teigen, K. H., “When a Small Difference Makes a Big Difference: Counterfactual Thinking and Luck,” in D. R. Mandel, D. J. Hilton, and P. Catellani (eds.), The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking (London: Routledge, 2005), 129–46.
215 Karl Teigen: For an overview, see ibid.
216 “the typical lucky person”: Ibid., 133.
217 feelings of gratitude: Emmons, R. A., and M. E. McCullough, “Counting Blessings versus Burdens: Experimental Studies of Gratitude and Subjective Well-being in Daily Life,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003): 377–89.
218 “narrative psychology”: McAdams, D. P., “The Psychology of Life Stories,” Review of General Psychology 5 (2001): 100–122.
219 “When people believe their lives”: Kray et al., “From What Might Have Been to What Must Have Been,” 110.
220 referential thinking: King, L. A., and J. A. Hicks, “Positive Affect, Intuition, and Referential Thinking,” Personality and Individual Differences 46 (2009): 719–24.
220 We credit a supernatural one: Gray, K., and D. M. Wegner, “Blaming God for Our Pain: Human Suffering and the Divine Mind,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14 (2010): 7–16.
221 negative agency bias: Morewedge, C. K., “Negativity Bias in Attribution of External Agency,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 138 (2009): 535–45.
222 negative experiences: Baumeister, R. F., et al., “Bad Is Stronger Than Good,” Review of General Psychology 5 (2001): 323–70.
222 paralysis victims . . . lottery winners: Brickman, P., D. Coates, and R. Janoff-Bulman, “Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36 (1978): 917–27; (Janoff-) Bulman, R., and C. B. Wortman, “Attributions of Blame and Coping in the ‘Real World’: Severe Accident Victims React to Their Lot,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35 (1977): 351–63.
223 “God may be both”: Gray and Wegner, “Blaming God for Our Pain,” 12.
223 “To alcohol!”: Swartzwelder, J. (writer) and B. Anderson (director), “Homer vs. the 18th Amendment” [television series episode], in M. Groening (creator), The Simpsons (Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox Television, March 16, 1997).
223 people are pretty resilient: Janoff-Bulman, R., and D. Yopyk, “Random Outcomes and Valued Commitments: Existential Dilemmas and the Paradox of Meaning,” in J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, and T. Pyszczynski (eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (New York, NY: Guilford Press, 2004), 122–40; Tedeschi, R. G., and L. G. Calhoun, “The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the Positive Legacy of Trauma,” Journal of Traumatic Stress 9 (1996): 455–71.
225 a loving god’s plan: Pargament, K. I., H. G. Koenig, and L. M. Perez, “The Many Methods of Religious Coping: Development and Initial Validation of the RCOPE,” Journal of Clinical Psychology 56 (2000): 519–43.
225 Cadillacs and jewelry: (Janoff-) Bulman and Wortman, “Attributions of Blame and Coping in the ‘Real World.’ ”
225 “automatic punishments”: Piaget, J., The Moral Judgment of the Child, M. Gab-ain, trans. (New York: Free Press, 1997; original work published 1932), 251.
225 “nature is a harmonious whole”: Ibid., 256.
226 college students: Raman, L., and G. A. Winer, “Evidence of More Immanent Justice Responding in Adults Than Children: A Challenge to Traditional Developmental Theories,” British Journal of Developmental Psychology 22 (2004): 255−74.
226 highly intuitive: Callan, M. J., R. Sutton, and C. Dovale, “When Deserving Translates into Causing: The Effects of Cognitive Load on Immanent Justice Reasoning,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46 (2010): 1097–1100.
226 good fortune: Callan, M. J., J. H. Ellard, and J. E. Nicol, “The Belief in a Just World and Immanent Justice Reasoning in Adults,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 32 (2006): 1646−58.
226
Gabriel Vivas: Associated Press, “‘Let Us Pray’: Peru Survivors Tell Harrowing Tale” (August 25, 2005), retrieved from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9071653/%5Benter%20URL%5D; Caruso, D. B., “Friends Say Brooklyn Family that Survived Plane Crash Deserved Miracle,” Associated Press (August 25, 2005), retrieved from LexisNexis.
226 just world theory: For a review, see Hafer, C. L., and L. Begue, “Experimental Research on Just World Theory: Problems, Developments, and Future Challenges,” Psychological Bulletin 131 (2005): 128−66.
227 kids as young as three: Olson, K. R., et al., “Judgments of the Lucky across Development and Culture,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 94 (2008): 757–76.
227 everyday behavior: Gaucher, D., et al., “Compensatory Rationalizations and the Resolution of Everyday Undeserved Outcomes,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36 (2010): 109–18.
227 subway: I wonder if the gambler’s fallacy plays a role in this expectation.
227 Germany suffered the worst flood disaster: Otto, K., et al., “Posttraumatic Symptoms, Depression, and Anxiety of Flood Victims: The Impact of the Belief in a Just World,” Personality and Individual Differences 40 (2006): 1075–84; Socher, M., and G. Bohme-Korn, “Central European Floods 2002: Lessons Learned in Saxony,” Journal of Flood Risk Management 1 (2008): 123–29.
228 search for patterns: Whitson, J. A., and A. D. Galinsky, “Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception,” Science 322 (2008): 115–17.
229 connect events to later events: Lindberg, M. J., and K. D. Markman, “When What Happens Tomorrow Makes Today Seem Meant to Be: The Meaning Making Function of Counterfactual Thinking” (Ohio Univ.: unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2010).
230 external control: For a review, see Kay, A. C., et al., “Religious Belief as Compensatory Control,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14 (2010): 37–48.
231 locus of control: Skinner, E. A., “A Guide to Constructs of Control,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71 (1996): 549–70.
231 abilities to be relatively fixed: Dweck, C. S., C. Chiu, and Y. Hong, “Implicit Theories and Their Role in Judgments and Reactions: A World from Two Perspectives,” Psychological Inquiry 6 (1995): 267–85.
231 cancer screening: de los Monteros, K. E., and L. C. Gallo, “The Relevance of Fatalism in the Study of Latina’s Cancer Screening Behavior: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” International Journal of Behavioral Medicine (in press).
231 diet or exercise: Shen, L., C. Condit, and L. Wright, “The Psychometric Property and Validation of a Fatalism Scale,” Psychology and Health 24 (2009): 597–613.
231 heart attack: Agarwal, M., and A. K. Dalal, “Beliefs about the World and Recovery from Myocardial Infarction,” Journal of Social Psychology 133 (1993): 385–94.
231 dangerous driving: Kouabenan, D. R., “Beliefs and the Perception of Risks and Accidents,” Risk Analysis 18 (1998): 243–52.
231 seatbelt use: Colón, I., “Race, Belief in Destiny, and Seatbelt Use: A Pilot Study,” American Journal of Public Health 82 (1992): 875–77.
231 unprotected sex: Kalichman, S. C., et al., “Fatalism, Future Outlook, Current Life Satisfaction, and Risk for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection among Gay and Bisexual Men,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 65 (1997): 542–46.
231 destiny as an agent: Shaffer, L. S., “Fatalism as an Animistic Attribution Process,” Journal of Mind and Behavior 5(1984): 351–61.
231 Some fisherman: Gill, A., “All at Sea? The Survival of Superstition,” History Today 44 (December 1994): 9–11.
231 American ports: Dzugan, J., “Age, Culture and Genes in Risk Taking,” NORA Proceedings 2006 (2006): 31–38.
232 blackjack: Carlin, B. I., and D. Robinson, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from Blackjack Tables,” Judgment and Decision Making 4 (2009): 385–96.
232 vaccine: Ritov, I., and J. Baron, “Reluctance to Vaccinate: Omission Bias and Ambiguity,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 3 (1990): 263–77.
232 Guinness World Record: Brackney, S., Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet (New York: Penguin, 2009).
233 “man is condemned to be free”: Sartre, J.-P., Existentialism Is a Humanism, C. Macomber, trans. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2007; original work published 1946), 29.
233 choice overload effect: For an overview, see Scheibehenne, B., R. Greifeneder, and P. M. Todd., “Can There Ever Be Too Many Options? A Meta-Analytic Review of Choice Overload,” Journal of Consumer Research 37 (2010): 409–25.
233 “tyranny of freedom”: Schwartz, B., “Self-Determination: The Tyranny of Freedom,” American Psychologist 55 (2000): 79–88.
233 “A good life may require constraints”: Markus, H. R., and B. Schwartz, “Does Choice Mean Freedom and Well-being?” Journal of Consumer Research 37 (2010): 352.
233 faced with a difficult decision: Beattie, J., et al., “Psychological Determinants of Decision Attitude,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 7 (1994): 129–44.
234 Alexander wakes up: Viorst, J., Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (New York: Aladdin, 1987; original work published 1972).
235 bronze medal: Medvec, V. H., S. F. Madey, and T. Gilovich, “When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction among Olympic Athletes,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 603–10.
236 negotiating with fate: Phrase inspired by Au, E. W. M., “Negotiable Fate: Potential Antecedents and Possible Consequences” (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: unpublished doctoral dissertation, 2008).
238 “Wisdom is tested”: Birren, J. E., and L. M. Fisher, “The Elements of Wisdom: Overview and Integration,” in R. J. Sternberg (ed.), Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990), 324.
238 make peace: Morling, B., and S. Evered, “Secondary Control Reviewed and Defined,” Psychological Bulletin 132 (2006): 269–96.
Epilogue: The World Is Sacred
240 sacredness: Belk, R. W., M. Wallendorf, and J. F. Sherry Jr., “The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey,” Journal of Consumer Research 16 (1989): 1–37; Durkheim, E., The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, K. E. Fields, trans. (New York: Free Press, 1995; original work published 1915); Tetlock, P. E., “Thinking the Unthinkable: Sacred Values and Taboo Cognitions,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7 (2003): 320–24.
240 “the value of nothing”: Wilde, O., Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Play about a Good Woman (London: The Bodley Head, 1893), 95.
241 sanctification: For an overview, see Pargament, K. I., and A. M. Mahoney, “Sacred Matters: Sanctification as a Vital Topic for the Psychology of Religion,” International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 15 (2005): 179–99.
241 mindful meditation: Goldstein, E. D., “Sacred Moments: Implications on Well-being and Stress,” Journal of Clinical Psychology 63 (2007): 1001–19.
241 perception of sacredness: Kesebir, P., C.-Y. Chiu, and T. Pyszczynski, The Sacred: An Existential Anxiety Buffer (manuscript submitted for publication, 2010).
243 “Being human always points”: Frankl, V. E., Man’s Search for Meaning (New York: Pocket Books, 1984; original work published 1946), 133.
243 “Events that lack”: Baumeister, R. F., Meanings of Life (New York: Guilford Press, 1991), 61.
243 The Karate Kid: Weintraub, J. (producer), and J. G. Avildsen (director), The Karate Kid [motion picture] (United States: Columbia Pictures, 1984).
244 “In accepting [the] challenge”: Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 137.
244 flow: Csikszentmihalyi, M., “If We Are So Rich, Why Aren’t We Happy?” American Psychologist 54 (1999): 821–27.
245 “He who has a why”: Cited in Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 97.
245 rote activities: Hsee, C. K., A. X. Yang, and L. Wang, “Idleness Aversion and the Need for Justifiable Busyness,” Psychological Science 21 (2010): 926–30.
245 positive affect: King et al., “Ghosts, UFOs, and Magic: Positive Affect and the Experiential System,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92 (2007): 905–19; King, L. A., et al., “Positive Affect and the Experience of Meaning in Life,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90 (2006): 179–96.
245 “every human experience”: Eliade, M., The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, W. R. Trask, trans. (New York: Harcourt, 1959; original work published 1957), 171.
246 song “Miracles”: Posse, I. C., and M. E. Clark, “Miracles,” on Bang! Pow! Boom! [album] (Farmington Hills, MI: Psychopathic, 2009).
246 “Magical Mysteries”: Michaels, L. (producer), Saturday Night Live [television broadcast] (New York: NBC, April 17, 2010).
246 “Garbage magnet”: Spitzer, J. (writer) and D. Holland (director), “Costume Contest” [television series episode], in G. Daniels (producer), The Office (New York: NBC, October 28, 2010).
247 “committed to living”: Janoff-Bulman, R., and D. Yopyk, “Random Outcomes and Valued Commitments: Existential Dilemmas and the Paradox of Meaning,” in J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, and T. Pyszczynski (eds.), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology (New York, NY: Guilford Press, 2004), 130.
247 “Once our hopeless questioning”: Singer, I., Meaning in Life: The Creation of Value (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010; original work published 1992), 80–81.
247 “Poets say science”: Feynman, R. P., R. B. Leighton, and M. L. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 1 (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1963), 3–6.