View source for Philosophy:Magical thinking

{{Short description|Belief in the connection of unrelated events}}
'''Magical thinking''', or '''superstitious thinking''',<ref name="LF2020"/> is the belief that unrelated events are causally connected despite the absence of any plausible causal link between them, particularly as a result of supernatural effects.<ref name="LF2020">{{Cite web| title = Magical Thinking| last=Bennett|first=Bo|work = Logically Fallacious| access-date = 20 May 2020| url = https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Magical-Thinking}}</ref><ref name="Carroll2014">{{Cite web| title = Magical thinking| work = The Skeptic's Dictionary| author = Carroll RT| date = 12 Sep 2014| access-date = 20 May 2020| url = http://skepdic.com/magicalthinking.html}}</ref><ref name="Sternberg2007"/> Examples include the idea that personal thoughts can influence the external world without acting on them, or that objects must be causally connected if they resemble each other or have come into contact with each other in the past.<ref name="LF2020"/><ref name="Carroll2014"/><ref name="Vamos2010">{{cite journal|last1=Vamos|first1=Marina|title=Organ transplantation and magical thinking|journal=Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry|volume=44|issue=10|year=2010|pages=883–887|issn=0004-8674|doi=10.3109/00048674.2010.498786|pmid=20932201|s2cid=25440192}}</ref> Magical thinking is a type of fallacious thinking and is a common source of invalid [[Causal inference|causal inference]]s.<ref name="Sternberg2007">{{cite book|author1=Robert J. Sternberg|author2=Henry L. Roediger III|author3=Diane F. Halpern|title=Critical Thinking in Psychology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mA9NPAgWR0C|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-60834-3}}</ref><ref name="Carhart-Harris2013">{{cite journal|last1=Carhart-Harris|first1=R.|title=Psychedelic drugs, magical thinking and psychosis|journal=Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry|volume=84|issue=9|year=2013|pages=e1|issn=0022-3050|doi=10.1136/jnnp-2013-306103.17|doi-access=free}}</ref> Unlike the [[Correlation does not imply causation|confusion of correlation with causation]], magical thinking does not require the events to be correlated.<ref name="Sternberg2007"/>

The precise definition of magical thinking may vary subtly when used by different theorists or among different fields of study. In [[Social:Anthropology|anthropology]], the posited causality is between religious ritual, [[Unsolved:Prayer|prayer]], sacrifice, or the observance of a [[Social:Taboo|taboo]], and an expected benefit or recompense.

In [[Social:Psychology|psychology]], magical thinking is the belief that one's thoughts by themselves can bring about effects in the world or that thinking something corresponds with doing it.<ref>{{cite book |first= Andrew M. |last= Colman |title= A Dictionary of Psychology |edition= 3rd |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2012}}</ref> These beliefs can cause a person to experience an irrational fear of performing certain acts or having certain thoughts because of an assumed [[Correlation|correlation]] between doing so and threatening calamities.<ref name="LF2020"/> 

In [[Biology:Psychiatry|psychiatry]], magical thinking defines false [[Philosophy:Belief|belief]]s about the capability of thoughts, actions or words to cause or prevent undesirable [[Philosophy:Event|events]].<ref name="DSM-5">{{cite book |author=American Psychiatric Association |title=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) |year=2013 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/655 655, 824] |location=Arlington, VA |publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing |isbn=978-0-89042-554-1 |doi=10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 |url=https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/655 }}</ref> It is a commonly observed symptom in [[Medicine:Thought disorder|thought disorder]], [[Medicine:Schizotypal personality disorder|schizotypal personality disorder]] and obsessive-compulsive disorder.<ref>{{cite book |title=Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry |first1=B. J. |last1=Sadock |first2=V. A. |last2=Sadock |first3=P. |last3=Ruiz |edition=10th |publisher=Wolters Kluwer |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-4511-0047-1}}</ref><ref name="Fonseca-Pedrero et al. (2018)">{{cite journal |vauthors=Fonseca-Pedrero E, Ortuno J, Debbané M, Chan E, Cicero D, Zhang L, Brenner C, Barkus E, Linscott E, Kwapil T, Barrantes-Vidal N, Cohen A, Raine A, Compton M, Tone E, Suhr J, Inchausti F, Bobes J, Fumero A, Giakoumaki S, Tsaousis I, Preti A, Chmielewski M, Laloyaux J, Mechri A, Lahmar M, Wuthrich V, Laroi F, Badcock J, Jablensky A, Isvoranu A, Epskamp S, Fried E|date=2018 |title=The network structure of schizotypal personality traits |journal=Schizophrenia Bulletin |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=468&ndash;479 |doi=10.1093/schbul/sby044|pmid=29684178 |pmc=6188518 }}</ref><ref name="Barkataki (2019)">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |vauthors=Barkataki B |date=2019 |title=Explaining obsessive-compulsive symptoms? A transcultural exploration of magical thinking and OCD in India and Australia |publisher=Curtin university}}</ref>

== Types ==

=== Direct effect ===
[[Biography:Bronisław Malinowski|Bronisław Malinowski]]'s ''Magic, Science and Religion'' (1954) discusses another type of magical thinking, in which words and sounds are thought to have the ability to directly affect the world.<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|pp= 59–61, 205–12}}</ref>  This type of [[Philosophy:Wish fulfillment|wish fulfillment]] thinking can result in the avoidance of talking about certain subjects ("speak of the devil and he'll appear"), the use of euphemisms instead of certain words, or the belief that to know the "true name" of something gives one power over it, or that certain chants, prayers, or mystical phrases will bring about physical changes in the world. More generally, it is magical thinking to take a [[Symbol|symbol]] to be its referent or an [[Analogy|analogy]] to represent an identity.

[[Biography:Sigmund Freud|Sigmund Freud]] believed that magical thinking was produced by [[Philosophy:Cognitive development|cognitive development]]al factors. He described practitioners of magic as projecting their mental states onto the world around them, similar to a common phase in child development.<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|pp= 53–5}}</ref> From toddlerhood to early school age, children will often link the outside world with their internal consciousness, e.g. "It is raining because I am sad."

=== Symbolic approaches ===
Another theory of magical thinking is the symbolic approach. Leading thinkers of this category, including Stanley J. Tambiah, believe that magic is meant to be expressive, rather than instrumental. As opposed to the direct, mimetic thinking of Frazer, Tambiah asserts that magic utilizes abstract analogies to express a desired state, along the lines of metonymy or metaphor.<ref>{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Michael F. |title= Thinking About Magic |publisher= Greenwood Press |year= 1993 |pages= 5–7 }}</ref>

An important question raised by this interpretation is how mere symbols could exert material effects. One possible answer lies in John L. Austin's concept of [[Social:Performativity|performativity]], in which the act of saying something makes it true, such as in an inaugural or marital rite.<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|pp= 60–2}}</ref> Other theories propose that magic is effective because symbols are able to affect internal psycho-physical states. They claim that the act of expressing a certain anxiety or desire can be reparative in itself.<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|pp= 49–53}}</ref>

== Causes ==
[[File:Healing "laying on of hands" ceremony in the Pentecostal Church of God. Lejunior, Harlan County, Kentucky. - NARA - 541337.jpg|right|thumb|A healing ritual (the laying on of hands)]]
According to theories of anxiety relief and control, people turn to magical beliefs when there exists a sense of uncertainty and potential danger, and with little access to logical or scientific responses to such danger. Magic is used to restore a sense of control over circumstance. In support of this theory, research indicates that superstitious behavior is invoked more often in high stress situations, especially by people with a greater desire for control.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Keinan |first= Giora |title= The effects of stress and desire for control on superstitious behavior |journal= Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume= 28 |issue= 1 |pages= 102–108|year = 2002 |doi=  10.1177/0146167202281009|s2cid= 145223253 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Keinan |first= Giora |title= The effects of stress and tolerance of ambiguity on magical thinking |journal= Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume= 67 |issue=  1 |pages= 48–55 |year= 1994 |doi=  10.1037/0022-3514.67.1.48 }}</ref>

Another potential reason for the persistence of magic rituals is that the rituals prompt their own use by creating a feeling of insecurity and then proposing themselves as precautions.<ref name="Boyer">{{cite journal |last1= Boyer |first1= Pascal |last2= Liénard |first2= Pierre |title= Ritual behavior in obsessive and normal individuals |journal= Current Directions in Psychological Science |volume= 17 |issue= 4 |pages= 291–94 |year= 2008 |doi=  10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00592.x |citeseerx= 10.1.1.503.1537 |s2cid= 145218875 }}</ref> [[Biography:Pascal Boyer|Boyer]] and Liénard propose that in obsessive-compulsive rituals — a possible clinical model for certain forms of magical thinking — focus shifts to the lowest level of gestures, resulting in goal demotion. For example, an obsessive-compulsive cleaning ritual may overemphasize the order, direction, and number of wipes used to clean the surface. The goal becomes less important than the actions used to achieve the goal, with the implication that magic rituals can persist without efficacy because the intent is lost within the act.<ref name=Boyer/> Alternatively, some cases of harmless "rituals" may have positive effects in bolstering intent, as may be the case with certain pre-game exercises in sports.<ref>{{cite web|title = Why Rituals Work|url = http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-rituals-work |website=Scientific American |access-date = 2015-12-17}}</ref>

Some scholars believe that [[Philosophy:Psychological theories of magic|magic is effective psychologically]]. They cite the [[Medicine:Placebo|placebo effect]] and psychosomatic disease as prime examples of how our mental functions exert power over our bodies.<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|pp= 50–68}}</ref> Similarly, Robin Horton suggests that engaging in magical practices surrounding healing can relieve anxiety, which could have a significant positive physical effect. In the absence of advanced health care, such effects would play a relatively major role, thereby helping to explain the persistence and popularity of such practices.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Horton |first= Robin |title= African traditional thought and western science: Part I. From tradition to science |journal= Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |year= 1967 |volume= 37 |issue= 1 |pages= 50–71 |jstor= 1157195 |ref= {{Harvid|Horton|1967a}}|doi= 10.2307/1157195 |s2cid= 145507695 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Horton |first= Robin |author-link= Robin W.G. Horton |title= African traditional thought and western science: Part II. The 'closed' and 'open' predicaments |journal= Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |year= 1967 |volume= 37 |issue= 2 |pages= 155–87 |jstor= 1158253 |ref= {{Harvid|Horton|1967b}}|doi= 10.2307/1158253 |s2cid= 245911255 }}</ref>

=== Phenomenological approach ===
Ariel Glucklich tries to understand magic from a subjective perspective, attempting to comprehend magic on a [[Philosophy:Phenomenology (psychology)|phenomenological]], experientially based level. Glucklich seeks to describe the attitude that magical practitioners feel what he calls "magical consciousness" or the "magical experience". He explains that it is based upon "the awareness of the interrelatedness of all things in the world by means of simple but refined sense perception."<ref>{{harvnb|Glucklich|1997|p=12}}</ref>

Another phenomenological model is that of Gilbert Lewis, who argues that "habit is unthinking". He believes that those practicing magic do not think of an explanatory theory behind their actions any more than the average person tries to grasp the pharmaceutical workings of aspirin.<ref>{{cite book |last= Lewis |first= Gilbert |title= The Look of Magic |publisher= University of Cambridge}}</ref>  When the average person takes an aspirin, he does not know how the medicine chemically functions. He takes the pill with the premise that there is proof of efficacy. Similarly, many who avail themselves of magic do so without feeling the need to understand a causal theory behind it.

== Social ==

=== Anthropology ===
In [[Religion:Religion|religion]], [[Religion:Folk religion|folk religion]], and [[Unsolved:Superstition|superstitious]] [[Philosophy:Belief|belief]]s, the posited causality is between religious ritual, [[Unsolved:Prayer|prayer]], [[Philosophy:Meditation|meditation]], [[Unsolved:Trance|trance]]s, sacrifice, [[Unsolved:Incantation|incantation]], curses, benediction, [[Unsolved:Faith healing|faith healing]], or the observance of a [[Social:Taboo|taboo]], and an expected benefit or recompense. The use of a lucky charm or ritual, for example, is assumed to increase the probability that one will perform at a level so that one can achieve a desired goal or outcome.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hamerman |first1=Eric J. |last2=Morewedge |first2=Carey K. |date=2015-03-01 |title=Reliance on luck identifying which achievement goals elicit superstitious behavior |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=323–335 |doi=10.1177/0146167214565055 |pmid=25617118 |s2cid=1160061}}</ref>

Researchers have identified two possible principles as the formal causes of the attribution of false causal relationships:

* the [[Philosophy:Post hoc ergo propter hoc|temporal contiguity of two events]]
* "associative thinking", the association of entities based upon their resemblance to one another

Prominent [[History:Victorian era|Victorian]] theorists identified associative thinking (a common feature of practitioners of magic) as a characteristic form of irrationality. As with all forms of magical thinking, association-based and similarities-based notions of causality are not always said to be the practice of magic by a magician. For example, the [[Unsolved:Doctrine of signatures|doctrine of signatures]] held that similarities between plant parts and body parts indicated their efficacy in treating diseases of those body parts, and was a part of Western medicine during the Middle Ages. This association-based thinking is a vivid example of the general human application of the representativeness heuristic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nisbett |first1=D. |title=Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment |last2=Ross |first2=L. |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1980 |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |pages=115–8}}</ref>

Edward Burnett Tylor coined the term "associative thinking",<ref name="Gluckich">{{cite book |last=Glucklich |first=Ariel |url=https://archive.org/details/endmagic00gluc_759 |title=The End of Magic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/endmagic00gluc_759/page/n42 32–3] |url-access=registration}}</ref> characterizing it as pre-logical,{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} in which the "magician's folly" is in mistaking an imagined connection with a real one. The magician believes that thematically linked items can influence one another by virtue of their similarity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans-Pritchard |first=E. E. |title=Theories of Primitive Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1977 |pages=26–7 |author-link=E. E. Evans-Pritchard}}</ref> For example, in E. E. Evans-Pritchard's account, members of the Azande tribe<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans-Pritchard |first=E. E. |title=Witchcraft, Magic, and Oracles Among the Azande |publisher= [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |year=1937 |location=Oxford |author-link=E. E. Evans-Pritchard}}</ref> believe that rubbing crocodile teeth on banana plants can invoke a fruitful crop. Because crocodile teeth are curved (like bananas) and grow back if they fall out, the Azande observe this similarity and want to impart this capacity of regeneration to their bananas. To them, the rubbing constitutes a means of transference.

Sir James Frazer (1854–1941) elaborated upon Tylor's principle by dividing magic into the categories of [[Social:Sympathetic magic#Similarity and contagion|sympathetic and contagious magic]]. The latter is based upon the [[Unsolved:Law of contagion|law of contagion]] or contact, in which two things that were once connected retain this link and have the ability to affect their supposedly related objects, such as harming a person by harming a lock of his hair. Sympathetic magic and [[Unsolved:Homeopathy|homeopathy]] operate upon the premise that "like affects like", or that one can impart characteristics of one object to a similar object. Frazer believed that some individuals think the entire world functions according to these mimetic, or homeopathic, principles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frazer |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.175097 |title=The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion |publisher=Macmillan |year=1915 |edition=3rd |location=London |orig-year=1911}}</ref>

In ''How Natives Think'' (1925), Lucien Lévy-Bruhl describes a similar notion of mystical, "collective representations". He too sees magical thinking as fundamentally different from a Western style of thought. He asserts that in these representations, "primitive" people's "mental activity is too little differentiated for it to be possible to consider ideas or images of objects by themselves apart from the emotions and passions which evoke those ideas or are evoked by them".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lévy-Bruhl |first=Lucien |title=How Natives Think |publisher=Knopf |year=1925 |page=36 |author-link=Lucien Lévy-Bruhl}}</ref> Lévy-Bruhl explains that the indigenous people commit the ''[[Philosophy:Post hoc ergo propter hoc|post hoc, ergo propter hoc]]'' fallacy, in which people observe that x is followed by y, and conclude that x has caused y.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lévy-Bruhl|1925|p=76}}</ref> He believes that this fallacy is institutionalized in native culture and is committed regularly and repeatedly.

Despite the view that magic is less than rational and entails an inferior concept of causality, in ''[[Philosophy:The Savage Mind|The Savage Mind]]'' (1966), [[Biography:Claude Lévi-Strauss|Claude Lévi-Strauss]] suggested that magical procedures are relatively effective in exerting control over the environment. This outlook has generated alternative theories of magical thinking, such as the symbolic and psychological approaches, and softened the contrast between "educated" and "primitive" thinking: "Magical thinking is no less characteristic of our own mundane intellectual activity than it is of Zande curing practices."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shweder |first1=Richard A. |year=1977 |title=Likeness and likelihood in everyday thought: Magical thinking in judgments about personality |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=637–58 (637) |doi=10.1086/201974 |jstor=2741505 |s2cid=29780746}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|The Azande practice of curing epilepsy by eating the burnt skull of a red bush monkey, based on the apparent similarity of epileptic movements and those of the monkeys, was discussed in {{harvnb|Evans-Pritchard|1937|page= 487}}.
}}

=== Cultural differences ===
Robin Horton maintains that the difference between the thinking of Western and of non-Western peoples is predominantly "idiomatic". He says that the members of both cultures use the same practical common-sense, and that both science and magic are ways beyond basic logic by which people formulate theories to explain whatever occurs. However, non-Western cultures use the idiom of magic and have community spiritual figures, and therefore non-Westerners turn to magical practices or to a specialist in that idiom. Horton sees the same logic and common-sense in all cultures, but notes that their contrasting ontological idioms lead to cultural practices which seem illogical to observers whose own culture has correspondingly contrasting norms. He explains, "[T]he layman's grounds for accepting the models propounded by the scientist are often no different from the young African villager's ground for accepting the models propounded by one of his elders."<ref>{{Harvnb|Horton|1967b|p=171}}</ref> 

Along similar lines, Michael F. Brown argues that the Aguaruna of Peru see magic as a type of technology, no more supernatural than their physical tools. Brown says that the Aguaruna utilize magic in an empirical manner; for example, they discard any magical stones which they have found to be ineffective. To Brown—as to Horton—magical and scientific thinking differ merely in idiom.<ref>{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Michael F. |title= Tsewa's Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society |publisher= University of Alabama Press |year= 1986}}</ref> These theories blur the boundaries between magic, science, and religion, and focus on the similarities in magical, technical, and spiritual practices. Brown even ironically writes that he is tempted to disclaim the existence of 'magic.'<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1993|p=2}}</ref>

One theory of substantive difference is that of the open versus closed society. Horton describes this as one of the key dissimilarities between traditional thought and Western science. He suggests that the scientific worldview is distinguished from a magical one by the [[Scientific method|scientific method]] and by [[Skepticism|skepticism]], requiring the [[Philosophy:Falsifiability|falsifiability]] of any scientific hypothesis. He notes that for native peoples "there is no developed awareness of alternatives to the established body of theoretical texts."<ref>{{Harvnb|Horton|1967b|p=155}}</ref> He notes that all further differences between traditional and Western thought can be understood as a result of this factor. He says that because there are no alternatives in societies based on magical thought, a theory does not need to be objectively judged to be valid.

==In children==
According to [[Biography:Jean Piaget|Jean Piaget]]'s Theory of Cognitive Development,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Piaget|first=Jean|title=The child's conception of the world|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|year=1929|isbn=|location=London|pages=}}</ref> magical thinking is most prominent in children between ages 2 and 7. Due to examinations of grieving children, it is said that during this age, children strongly believe that their personal thoughts have a direct effect on the rest of the world. It is posited that their minds will create a reason to feel responsible if they experience something tragic that they do not understand, e.g. a death. Jean Piaget, a developmental psychologist, came up with a theory of four developmental stages. 

Children between ages 2 and 7 would be classified under his preoperational stage of development. During this stage children are still developing their use of logical thinking. A child's thinking is dominated by perceptions of physical features, meaning that if the child is told that a family pet has "gone away to a farm" when it has in fact died, then the child will have difficulty comprehending the transformation of the dog not being around anymore. Magical thinking would be evident here, since the child may believe that the family pet being gone is just temporary. Their young minds in this stage do not understand the finality of death and magical thinking may bridge the gap.

===Grief===
It was discovered that children often feel that they are responsible for an event or events occurring or are capable of reversing an event simply by thinking about it and wishing for a change: namely, "magical thinking".<ref>{{cite journal |last= Nielson |first= D. |year= 2012 |title= Discussing death with pediatric patients: Implications for nurses |journal= Journal of Pediatric Nursing |volume= 27 |issue= 5 |pages= e59–e64 |doi=10.1016/j.pedn.2011.11.006|pmid= 22198004 }}</ref> Make-believe and fantasy are an integral part of life at this age and are often used to explain the inexplicable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Samide |first1= L. |last2= Stockton |first2= R. |year= 2002 |title= Letting go of grief: Bereavement groups for children in the school setting |journal= Journal for Specialists in Group Work |volume= 27 |issue= 2 |pages= 192–204 |doi=10.1177/0193392202027002006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Webb |first= N. |year= 2010 |chapter= The child and death |editor-first= N.B. |editor-last= Webb |title= Helping Bereaved Children: A Handbook for Practitioners |pages= 5–6 |location= New York |publisher= Guildford }}</ref>

According to Piaget, children within this age group are often "egocentric", believing that what they feel and experience is the same as everyone else's feelings and experiences.<ref name = Biank>{{cite journal |last1= Biank |first1= N. |last2= Werner-Lin |first2= A. |year= 2011 |title= Growing up with grief: Revisiting the death of a parent over the life course |journal= Omega |volume= 63 |issue= 3 |pages= 271–290 |doi=10.2190/om.63.3.e|pmid= 21928600 |s2cid= 37763796 }}</ref> Also at this age, there is often a lack of ability to understand that there may be other explanations for events outside of the realm of things they have already comprehended. What happens outside their understanding needs to be explained using what they already know, because of an inability to fully comprehend abstract concepts.<ref name = Biank />

Magical thinking is found particularly in children's explanations of experiences about death, whether the death of a family member or pet, or their own illness or impending death. These experiences are often new for a young child, who at that point has no experience to give understanding of the ramifications of the event.<ref>{{harvnb|Webb|2010|p=51}}</ref> A child may feel that they are responsible for what has happened, simply because they were upset with the person who died, or perhaps played with the pet too roughly. There may also be the idea that if the child wishes it hard enough, or performs just the right act, the person or pet may choose to come back, and not be dead any longer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Schoen |first1= A. |last2= Burgoyen |first2= M. |last3= Schoen |first3= S. |year= 2004 |title= Are the developmental needs of children in America adequately addressed during the grief process? |journal= Journal of Instructional Psychology |volume= 31 |pages= 143–8 }} EBSCOhost [http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/13719052 13719052]{{dead link|date=November 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.</ref> 

When considering their own illness or impending death, some children may feel that they are being punished for doing something wrong, or not doing something they should have, and therefore have become ill.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Schonfeld |first= D. |year= 1993 |title= Talking with children about death |journal= Journal of Pediatric Health Care |volume= 7 |issue= 6 |pages= 269–74 |doi=10.1016/s0891-5245(06)80008-8|pmid= 8106926 |doi-access= free }}</ref> If a child's ideas about an event are incorrect because of their magical thinking, there is a possibility that the conclusions the child makes could result in long-term beliefs and behaviours that create difficulty for the child as they mature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Sossin |first1= K. |last2= Cohen |first2= P. |year= 2011 |title= Children's play in the wake of loss and trauma |journal= Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy |volume= 10 |issue= 2–3 |pages= 255–72 |doi=10.1080/15289168.2011.600137|s2cid= 146429165 }}</ref>

==Related terms==
"'''Quasi-magical thinking'''" describes "cases in which people act as if they erroneously believe that their action influences the outcome, even though they do not really hold that belief".<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0010-0285(92)90015-T |last1= Shafir |first1= E. |last2= Tversky |first2= A. |title= Thinking through uncertainty: Nonconsequential reasoning and choice |journal= Cognitive Psychology |volume= 24 |issue= 4 |pages= 449–74 |year= 1992 |pmid= 1473331 |s2cid= 29570235 }}</ref> People may realize that a superstitious intuition is logically false, but act as if it were true because they do not exert an effort to correct the intuition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Risen|first=Jane L.|title=Believing what we do not believe: Acquiescence to superstitious beliefs and other powerful intuitions.|journal=Psychological Review|volume=123|issue=2|pages=182–207|doi=10.1037/rev0000017|pmid=26479707|year=2016|s2cid=14384232 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Columns-list|
* [[Philosophy:Cognitive bias|Cognitive bias]]
* [[Philosophy:Faith|Faith]]
* [[Philosophy:Illusion of control|Illusion of control]]
* [[Unsolved:Law of attraction (New Thought)|Law of attraction (New Thought)]]
* [[Philosophy:Mythopoeic thought|Mythopoeic thought]]
* Psychology of religion
* [[Philosophy:Psychological theories of magic|Psychological theories of magic]]
* [[Medicine:Schizotypal personality disorder|Schizotypal personality disorder]]
* [[Philosophy:Synchronicity|Synchronicity]]
* Tinkerbell effect
* ''The Year of Magical Thinking'', an account of how mourning the death of a spouse led to magical thinking.
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last= Hood |first= Bruce |title= SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable |publisher= HarperOne |year= 2009 |isbn= 9780061452642 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/supersensewhyweb00hood }}
*{{cite book|last=Horton|first=Robin|chapter=African traditional thought and western science|title=Rationality|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rationality00wils/page/131 131-171]|date=1970|editor-last=Wilson|editor-first=Bryan R.|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|isbn=9780631119302|series=Key Concepts in the Social Sciences|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rationality00wils/page/131}} Abridged version of {{harvtxt|Horton|1967a}} and {{harvtxt|Horton|1967b}}.
*{{cite book |last= Hutson |first= Matthew |title= The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane |publisher= Hudson Street Press |year= 2012 |isbn= 9781594630873}}
*{{cite book |last= Serban |first= George |title= The Tyranny of Magical Thinking |publisher= E. P. Dutton |location= New York |year= 1982 |isbn= 978-0525241409}} This work discusses how and why the magical thinking of childhood can carry into adulthood, causing various maladaptions and psychopathologies.
*{{cite book |last= Vyse |first= Stuart |title= Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition |publisher= [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |year= 1997 |isbn= 9780195136340}}

==External links==
*{{cite news |url= https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200803/magical-thinking |title= Magical thinking |magazine= Psychology Today |last= Hutson |first= Matthew |date=2008 |volume = March-April | pages= 89–95}}
*{{cite journal |url= http://www.csicop.org/SI/show/magical_thinking_in_complementary_and_alternative_medicine/ |title= Magical thinking in complementary and alternative medicine | first= Phillips Jr. |last= Stevens |journal= [[Unsolved:Skeptical Inquirer|Skeptical Inquirer]] |date= November–December 2001 |volume= 25 |issue= 6 |access-date= 2010-09-22 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100603083044/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/magical_thinking_in_complementary_and_alternative_medicine/ |archive-date= 2010-06-03 |url-status= dead }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magical Thinking}}
[[Category:Causal fallacies]]
[[Category:Cognition]]
[[Category:Cognitive biases]]
[[Category:Language and mysticism]]

{{Sourceattribution|Magical thinking}}