Breaking magic: Foreign language suppresses superstition. Issue 1 (January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Geipel, Janet; Surian, Luca
• Other Names: Costa Albert guest-editor.; Duñabeitia Jon Andoni guest-editor.; Keysar Boaz guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. Volume 72:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 18
• Page End: 28
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Subjects: Superstition -- bilingualism -- emotions -- language -- the foreign language effect; Psychology, Experimental -- Periodicals; Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; Psychology, Comparative -- Periodicals; 150.72405
• DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1371780
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1747-0218

Abstract

In three studies, we found that reading information in a foreign language can suppress common superstitious beliefs. Participants read scenarios in either their native or a foreign language. In each scenario, participants were asked to imagine performing an action (e.g., submitting a job application) under a superstitious circumstance (e.g., broken mirror, four-leaf clover) and to rate how they would feel. Overall, foreign language prompted less negative feelings towards bad-luck scenarios and less positive feelings towards good-luck scenarios, while it exerted no influence on non-superstitious, control scenarios. We attribute these findings to language-dependent memory. Superstitious beliefs are typically acquired and used in contexts involving the native language. As a result, the native language evokes them more forcefully than a foreign language.