'Good Luck Charms' seem to work, according to science.
March 29, 2019 9:16 AM   Subscribe

'Good Luck Charms' seem to work, according to science. Even for the most pragmatics of us, maybe we could use a little good luck in our lives from time to time. Just like how the 'Evil eye' was a big symbol of this year 'March for Our Lives', and how many celebrities and politics are attached to their Hamsa lucky charm.
posted by sophieJu (27 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
No thanks. It's a known fact that superstition causes bad luck.
posted by Floydd at 9:35 AM on March 29, 2019 [6 favorites]


I grew up with a hamsa charm necklace ... I used to believe it had superpowers, but the ups and downs of life just make you loose optimism and faith. I don't believe in any lucky charm, but I understand that the optimism it brings can attract positive things. makes sense.
posted by sophieJu at 9:39 AM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


I shall remain a deeply skeptical person, not believing in psychics or tarot or astrology - and will still continue to carry a hamsa, tie a red string imbued with protection on my wrist, avoid walking through triangles and pet every cat I meet who will let me - because even if it does no good, it does no harm, and maybe I'm wrong about it doing no good. Truly skeptical people should stay skeptical of their own beliefs/non-beliefs as well.

(Okay, the cat-petting thing isn't about luck - I just really like cats).
posted by jb at 9:47 AM on March 29, 2019 [11 favorites]


As a Buddhist I think this works the other way around - you intend for an object to be sacred, act as though it is, and so it becomes. Over time this object, imbued with the power you imputed on it, is able to help you change mental states easily. Positive mental states beget external positive circumstances (or the appearance of them). But it starts with you.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:47 AM on March 29, 2019 [48 favorites]


Also, you can take my mala beads from my cold dead hands!

Seriously. If I’m dead, you can take them! Many a good mantra recitation was had with them, your meditation will be deeper because of it ;)
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:52 AM on March 29, 2019 [8 favorites]


Over time this object, imbued with the power you imputed on it, is able to help you change mental states easily. Positive mental states beget external positive circumstances (or the appearance of them).

I was just reading this and thinking, I wonder how much of this is because if you have this, if you make it something that isn't too hard for you to maintain, then whatever you're doing, you're starting with having one thing you've done successfully that is meaningful to you. Even if it was just "remember to wear my lucky socks". One thing in your day has gone right. I've been looking at my routines in general lately and realizing that I need to stop loading my own day with "these twelve things have gone just slightly wrong this morning because I was rushed and my routine is nonexistent". You might as well put yourself in a position where you feel like you've got a handle on as much as you can, even if you've started with little things.

On the other hand, I question if a good luck charm would work well for me because I'd be very likely to be starting my day with "oh fuck where did it go". But objects for a lot of people are easy, so it makes sense that they're widely-used.
posted by Sequence at 10:15 AM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]


Or we could take the contrapositive: if you DON'T have good luck, it's because you DON'T have the appropriate talisman. Or the right positive energy. Or Hamsa charm. Or whatever other bullshit victim-blaming terminology you want to use. You're Doing It Wrong, and I'm happy to sell you the way to Do It Right.

This is magical thinking, papered over thousands of years of class warfare disguised as telling people they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, if only they work hard enough and have a little bit of luck.
posted by Mayor West at 10:41 AM on March 29, 2019 [17 favorites]


There’s some good evidence that luck is very real, and (to grossly oversimplify) is just the effect of optimism. People who expect to find $5 bills on the ground look down for them more often, people who expect to win lotteries play them more often, and people who expect to meet interesting new people say hello to strangers more often. And by doing these things more frequently, we are much more likely to experience/take advantage of the good opportunities when they do arise by chance. The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman is a good place to start if you’re interested in the science behind these kinds of effects.
posted by Nutri-Matic Drinks Synthesizer at 11:12 AM on March 29, 2019 [22 favorites]


It kind of seems like you didn't watch the video, Mayor West. This is talking about the psychological effects of a personal talisman, not, like, whether luck is an actual, real thing bestowed by magic.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 11:15 AM on March 29, 2019 [6 favorites]


Above Professor Niels Bohr’s door hung a horseshoe. The world-famous atomic expert was asked if he really believed that it brought him luck. “No,” said Bohr, “of course I don’t—but I understand that it works even when you don’t believe in it!”
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:21 AM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]


A similar take was offered in Bull Durham:

Crash Davis: I never told him to stay out of your bed.
Annie Savoy: You most certainly did.
Crash Davis: I never told him to stay out of your bed.
Annie Savoy: Yes you did.
Crash Davis: I told him that a player on a streak has to respect the streak.
Annie Savoy: Oh fine.
Crash Davis: You know why? Because they don't -- they don't happen very often.
Annie Savoy: Right.
Crash Davis: If you believe you're playing well because you're getting laid, or because you're not getting laid, or because you wear women's underwear, then you ARE! And you should know that!


And that pretty much works for me. If you believe you're succeeding because of whatever, then that belief itself has some importance even if the whatever doesn't in itself.
posted by gusottertrout at 11:28 AM on March 29, 2019 [4 favorites]


Above Professor Niels Bohr’s door hung a horseshoe. The world-famous atomic expert was asked if he really believed that it brought him luck. “No,” said Bohr, “of course I don’t—but I understand that it works even when you don’t believe in it!”

You do realize that that's a joke about quantum mechanics, and Niels Bohr didn't actually have a horseshoe?
posted by heatherlogan at 12:53 PM on March 29, 2019 [3 favorites]


Mind you, quantum mechanics is all about probabilities anyway.
posted by heatherlogan at 12:56 PM on March 29, 2019


oh of course, it's the old Neils Bohr horseshoe joke, and yes some internal rhyme is lethal, but only in quantum physics.
posted by Oyéah at 12:57 PM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]


probability amplitudes :)
posted by sjswitzer at 12:57 PM on March 29, 2019


Just about every door around this place has a horseshoe over it.*

It's simple luck that one of 'em hasn't fallen on someone's head yet.

*I've had horses for over 40 years, what else do you do with the damn things when the shoer pulls 'em off?

The cats around this place have ALWAYS been lucky. I can't think of one we've ever lost to foxes, coyotes, or being run over. Additionally, we also have never been attacked by foxes, coyotes, or been run over. Obviously, cats are animals of good fortune.

And the whole place is simply peppered with mid-eastern blue eye charms to avoid the evil eye. What can I say? So many of our Turkish friends gave us gifts when we lived overseas, and you know, souvenirs. They make me smile.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:00 PM on March 29, 2019 [5 favorites]


Well, it seems that Barack Obama has a whole collection of lucky charms ... I am not saying he has the absolute truth, but I think there is something to meditate.
posted by sophieJu at 2:28 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


Luck favors the prepared mind.
posted by jamjam at 3:32 PM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]


You have to be ready to pounce when lucky circumstances arise that’s for sure. If you’re depressed or anxious you’re not going to grab an opportunity.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:49 PM on March 29, 2019 [3 favorites]


What about in zero-sum situations? Two fencers both wear good luck charms. Who gets the luck? How do you make your charm stronger than your opponent's?
posted by batter_my_heart at 5:32 PM on March 29, 2019


Well, ironically, batter my heart, you eat your opponents heart. Deep fry is optional, as I understand it.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:02 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


maybe they're both lucky but one is a better fencer.

be patient. the empirical science of luck is just in its infancy. have a little faith in the scientific method, the institutions and the peer review: comparative talismanic puissance will be a commercially developed technology in no time.
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:09 PM on March 29, 2019


Oh please.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:25 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


you intend for an object to be sacred, act as though it is, and so it becomes

See also: the US dollar.
posted by flabdablet at 10:28 PM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]


I shall remain a deeply skeptical person, not believing in psychics or tarot or astrology - and will still continue to carry a hamsa, tie a red string imbued with protection on my wrist, avoid walking through triangles and pet every cat I meet who will let me - because even if it does no good, it does no harm, and maybe I'm wrong about it doing no good.

As a person who has to exercise a fair degree of discipline to avoid turning full-bore hoarder, the potential harm done by believing that lucky charms do no harm far outweighs any possible good they could do me.

As a natural simplifier, I prefer to go straight to an ironclad belief in my own excellent luck and skip the magical-accessories step. I am my own lucky charm, which is convenient because I can't accidentally leave me behind. All of my behaviour is its own lucky ritual, which is convenient because I can't do the ritual wrong or forget to do it or forget that I wasn't supposed to do that other thing.

I'm so lucky that heaps of stuff that would supposedly be terribly unlucky for other people doesn't affect me in the slightest. I remain cheerfully indifferent to the long term consequences of breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, giving black cats the right of way or stepping on the cracks. I will happily wear my seat belt even if that does mean I'm sitting right in the middle of a triangle, I will vaccinate my children feeling supremely confident that my luck will prevent this from causing them to acquire autism, and I will camp out under the stars with no concern whatsoever about being abducted and anally probed by aliens.

This totally works. I am notorious in my family for being the one for whom there is always an open parking space right outside the shop I wish to visit.

Truly skeptical people should stay skeptical of their own beliefs/non-beliefs as well.

Truly lucky people don't need to give a fig about whether or not we're truly skeptical. Confirmation bias in favour of the proposition that one's own life is a joy and a privilege is a feature, not a bug.
posted by flabdablet at 11:06 PM on March 29, 2019 [4 favorites]


I was given a silver hamsa necklace as a child, but lost it in 1st grade. It had slipped off during class when the catch broke. My teacher helped me put it away in an envelope to take home, but when I got home it wasn’t where I thought I put it. Most of my memories of my childhood are foggy, but I can recall with excruciating exactitude the feel of remorse I felt when I discovered it was gone. I felt as if I had squandered something marvelous. I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly superstitious, but that lost hamsa really didn’t seem to bode well.
posted by reren at 10:16 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is... nothing? None of the things in the video or either article show that having a lucky charm or believing you are lucky causes you to be lucky. It could be the other way around. If you have success in your life for some other reason, you may be more likely to attribute it to luck.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:47 PM on April 1, 2019


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