Suppose person X believes that washing one’s hands in a river will afford the individual to become prosperous in business. One morning, person X washes his hands in a river and later that afternoon his small business serves more customers than usual.
Person X’s fallacious reasoning is known as magical thinking. Describing this fallacy, one source states:
Making causal connections or correlations between two events not based on logic or evidence, but primarily based on superstition. Magical thinking often causes one to experience irrational fear of performing certain acts or having certain thoughts because they assume a correlation with their acts and threatening calamities.
Logical Form:
Event A occurs.
Event B occurs.
Because of superstition or magic, event A is causally connected to or correlated with event B.
That which is irrational is said not to comport with logic and reason. For clarity regarding this sort of irrational belief, one source states, “In 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.”
Noteworthy, there’s a difference between kooky beliefs, which don’t cause a person to become upset, and the four major irrational beliefs of self-disturbance regarding Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). For instance, consider the following:
Demandingness – In order to be prosperous in business, I must wash my hands in a river.
Awfulizing – It would be terrible if I didn’t wash my hands in a river and as a result I wasn’t prosperous in business.
Low frustration tolerance – I couldn’t stand not to be prosperous in business, so I’ll wash my hands in a river.
Global evaluations – If I’m not prosperous in business, I’m completely worthless. Therefore, I’ll wash my hands in a river for prosperity.
Thinking that one’s handwashing behavior in relation to a river will bring about prosperity is nonsensical. However, in and of itself this form of magical thinking doesn’t necessarily cause self-disturbance.
For instance, person X may flexibly believe that washing hands in a river may lead to prosperity while maintaining that not performing this behavior is a suitable option, because success in business isn’t a guarantee. Thus, this kooky belief isn’t one that is likely to cause self-disturbance.
However, when combining magical thinking with one of the four major self-disturbing beliefs, person X is likely to cause unnecessary fear or anxiousness. The difference between a kooky magical belief and one of a self-upsetting variety depends on the outcome of person X’s belief.
If magical thinking leads to irrational hope that doesn’t result in despair, then there’s likely no foreseeable issue with believing in absurd rituals such as washing one’s hands in a river for success in business. After all, people irrationally believe in a great number of absurd claims.
In any case, I suspect that if I breathe normally while finishing up this blogpost my breathing will cause me to arrive at a salient conclusion worthy of posting. And now, I’ve concluded the topic on magical thinking and I’m ready to post! (See what I did there?)
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References:
Freepik. (n.d.). View of realistic hands touching clear flowing water [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.freepik.com/free-ai-image/view-realistic-hands-touching-clear-flowing-water_138361272.htm#fromView=search&page=3&position=19&uuid=86ce9ef3-fc20-4312-94b4-f07944450a33
Hollings, D. (2022, October 31). Demandingness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/demandingness
Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer
Hollings, D. (2023, September 8). Fair use. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/fair-use
Hollings, D. (2024, April 2). Four major irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/four-major-irrational-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better
Hollings, D. (2023, September 13). Global evaluations. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/global-evaluations
Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/
Hollings, D. (2023, May 18). Irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/irrational-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2024, June 16). Kooky beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/kooky-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching
Hollings, D. (2023, January 8). Logic and reason. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/logic-and-reason
Hollings, D. (2022, December 2). Low frustration tolerance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/low-frustration-tolerance
Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt
Hollings, D. (2022, November 1). Self-disturbance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/self-disturbance
Hollings, D. (2022, October 7). Should, must, and ought. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/should-must-and-ought
Hollings, D. (2022, November 15). To don a hat. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-don-a-hat
Logically Fallacious. (n.d.). Magical thinking. Retrieved from https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Magical-Thinking
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Magical thinking. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking
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