Fear of bad luck really can be reversed by touching wood and throwing salt

The fear of bad luck really can be reversed by carrying out rituals like touching wood and throwing salt, according to a new study.

Touching wood is the most common superstition in Western culture used to reverse bad fortune or undo a 'jinx', while other cultures maintain similar practices, like spitting or throwing salt, after someone has tempted fate.

Even people who aren't particularly superstitious often participate in these practices.

Now a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has found that these superstitions actually do 'reverse' perceived likelihood of bad fortune.

People believe that negative outcomes are especially likely after a jinx.

If someone says, 'no one I know will ever get into a car accident,' for example, it often feels that a car accident is likely to occur.

But people's concerns after tempting fate can be eliminated if they engage in a ritual to undo that bad luck, the researchers say.

In five separate experiments, they asked participants either to tempt fate or not and then to engage either in a known ritual or a random action.

Superstitious actions included touching wood, whereas nonsuperstitious ones included throwing a ball.

The researchers found that those who touched wood or threw a ball away believed that a jinxed negative outcome was less likely than participants who held a ball near their body.

Noting that many of the most common rituals for undoing bad luck all involve movements that push something away from a person, researchers set out to test whether the nature of the action is key for reducing the negative expectations generated by tempting fate.

'Our findings suggest that not all actions to undo a jinx are equally effective.

'Instead, we find that avoidant actions that exert force away from one's representation of self are especially effective for reducing the anticipated negative consequences following a jinx,' said Dr Jane Risen, associate professor of behavioural science at Chicago Booth. 'Engaging in an avoidant action seems to create the sense that the bad luck is being pushed away,' she said.

Titled 'Reversing One's Fortune by Pushing Away Bad Luck,' the study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.