Walk under a ladder, cross paths with a black cat or open an umbrella inside a room and you can expect bad luck.

Whether you believe in superstitions or not there may always be a slight hesitation within society to do any of these things. Friday the 13th marks a day that may mean avoiding anything related to bad luck or testing the boundaries.

So what is it that makes us superstitious? Perhaps, it is the fear of the inevitable. An article from livescience, I found of particular interest mentions psychologist B. F. Skinner. Skinner conditioned pigeons to believe if they behaved a certain way they would receive food. This could be related similarly to humans believing if we partake in a certain action will result in bad luck. Whether we as humans have been conditioned to bad luck is debatable, but an interesting theory for sure. The article quotes Stuart Vyse, professor of psychology at Connecticut College who says “Several surveys of Americans suggest that roughly half say they are at least slightly superstitious.” A fairly high percentage in my opinion, that being said however even I myself get slightly caught up. While I wouldn’t call myself overly superstitious, I can’t help but avoid feeling weary on the 13th. 

There will always be those who test the theories though, walking under ladders or going to 13th floor. Looking at those who are suspicious about superstition lead me to an article from Life about the Anti-Superstition Society of Chicago. The article includes some really great photos including bringing the meeting to order by shattering a mirror, sitting at tables of 13 and walking under a ladder as part of initiation. The pictures taken at a meeting in December 1941, depict a happy good time to be had by all. So whether you believe in superstitions or not it is something that will always be on our minds as humans.