AMY LOWNDES

It all started with my lucky necklace. My mom gave me a silver necklace with a four-leaf clover on it when I was in seventh grade, and I wore it to my first semester exams. When classes got harder and my test scores started slipping, I decided a little extra chance couldn’t hurt and started wearing my lucky necklace to my daily tests. Each year, I’d add a new bauble or ritual before assessment days, convinced that nothing wrong could happen if I did it.

It was only last year that I realized this could be a problem. I was sitting in an AP Chemistry test and noticed I wasn’t wearing my lucky necklace. I started to panic, checking my surroundings for a small chain. I was nearly finished with my test, but suddenly I doubted all the answers on the page. How could they be right, without my necklace there to guide me? I tried to change the answers, but the bell rang. I was doomed.

Actually, I got an 89 on the test. Compared to my chemistry record, that wasn’t too bad.

But it got me wondering how I became so steeped in superstition. I am traditionally superstitious. I evade stepping on cracks; I toss spilled salt over my shoulder; if I were to see a black cat, I would sprint in the opposite direction. But I assure myself that everyone’s like that.

Donna Walker, AP Psychology teacher, explains that superstitions are a product of “operant conditioning,” a type of learning in which various consequences alter a person’s behavior.

“Superstitions occur when a person believes their behavior influenced the delivery of some kind of reward,” Walker said. “In fact, their behavior was coincidentally timed to the presentation of the reward.”

Walker says since this reward was never actually influenced by our behavior—we latch onto this superstition even more “because the reward could come anytime.”

So, are there results to not following these superstitions?

“There are two consequences,” Walker said. “Not completing the superstition could lead to anxiety and fear…at the extreme, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), an anxiety disorder characterized by behaviors that are reinforced similarly to superstitions.”

Walker explains that the other outcome is a release of said anxiety.

“Not performing the superstition and breaking the cycle can ultimately lead to a reduction in anxiety…and [the person] can let go of the behavior,” she said.

That’s easier said than done. Walker says “the initial break” is the hardest part of conquering a superstition.

Yet I can’t shake some things like gum chewing during SATs or especially wearing my lucky necklace.

Senior Alex Beemer agrees. As a varsity soccer player, Beemer is accustomed to performing rituals before and during her games.

“I don’t want to change something that would make something bad happen,” she said.

Beemer clings to her quirky tradition of disregarding the spandex traditionally worn under soccer shorts.

“Everyone wears spandex under their shorts and for a while I was wearing them…but I realized I didn’t like wearing them,” she said. “So I took them off, and I played well.”

Beemer recalls wearing the spandex for her District Final game in 2011 where she “played horribly.”

“I decided not to wear them again. I’m paranoid that I’m going to play bad[ly],” she said. “If I do accidentally wear them, I’ll actually go to the bathroom and take them off.”

Walker explains that the less control a person has over her situation, like Beemer, the more likely a superstition will grow.

“Because a superstition arises out of a fear of a bad outcome,” she said. “A person is faced with the decision to perform or not perform the superstition, which leads to irrational fear.”

As a varsity baseball player, senior Austin Hale experiences the same ritualization. He admits his fear of not following his superstitions.

“Baseball is 90% mental, 10% skill,” Hale said. “I believe when you switch things up, it gives you more confidence. If you don’t do something, at that point you think, ‘Oh, I didn’t do it.’ Your confidence level goes down, and that will affect you in a game.”

Hale believes that his superstitions are helpful for building his confidence in a game. Certain traditions, such as turning around a wristband or putting a left glove on before a right, help him center himself and play his best. Hale thinks the team mentality reinforces these rituals. When a pitcher is throwing a perfect game, Hale describes that other teammates will not acknowledge the shutout.

“The whole team knows that it’s an unwritten rule… there are loop holes in the game you’re just not supposed to do,” Hale said.

Group mentalities seem essential to perpetuating superstitions.

Junior Kiko Ilagen, a Trinity Prep thespian, said the entire cast of a show would follow various theatre superstitions, such as not wishing fellow actors “good luck.”

“It’s bad luck to say ‘good luck’ actually,” Ilagen said. “So instead, we say ‘break a leg’….you don’t want to jinx it. The chances of messing up by doing something like that are too high.”

Though Ilagen is not personally superstitious, he still follows theatre rituals—such as never saying the title Macbeth, only referring to it as the “Scottish play.”

“I don’t want to be that one person that messes it up for everybody,” Ilagen said. “Just in case it might be true or just in case somebody else might believe in that.”

Superstitions that start off innocently often become habitual and ingrained, such as Beemer’s routine before performing a penalty kick.

“Before I take a PK, I always spit on the ground,” she said. “One time I just tried it to see if I’d make it, and I did. So now I do it every time.”

Beemer has done this spitting technique since she was four. She says her superstitious habits are predominant only in soccer, because “that’s what’s most important.” Hale, instead, finds his behavior towards baseball mirrors his academic and personal life.

“There’s certain organization and schedule aspects I follow,” Hale said. “It’s not like superstition, but I do that certain thing because it’s just like a habit… that’s just how it feels in baseball.”

Walker confirms that as long as the habit does not alter your functioning or mood, “feel free to continue the crazy.”

“However,” she said. “If you find yourself dedicating inconvenient amounts of time or your anxiety level growing in anticipation to accommodate the superstition, you may be having anxiety issues, and you should seek help.”

Perhaps my crazy antics to succeed are not so crazy. Yes, I’ll admit, I feel paranoid without my necklace, and, sometimes, I still do really poorly when I wear it. But when it comes down to it, superstitons give Beemer, Hale and me some peace of mind.

“If my superstitions get me to where I need to be, it’s fine,” Beemer said. Hale, too, agrees that there’s no embarrassment about his rituals.

“Once you find your passion for [something], you’ll do almost anything to keep your confidence up,” he said.