11-11-11 The Psychology of Superstition
By: Stephanie Castillo
Updated: November 14, 2011
All six digits of the date being the same happens once in a lifetime. Many people believe days like 11-11-11 to be a lucky ones. And many decided to go all out and celebrate it.
The question is why? According to researchers its the way we as humans are wired. In honor of the day many weddings happened over the weekend.
Las Vegas is always a popular destination for tying the knot, but the city had a special anticipation for last week in particular. The wedding website The Knot found a huge spike in November 11th nuptials, almost 25,000 couples registered for the day. A dramatic increase to other Fridays in November.
Why the rush to the altar or thousands of people buying lottery tickets? Matt Hutson, who has researched the psychology of superstition says its the way humans are wired. He says all humans have innate instincts to try and find patterns in the world and to try and use the patterns to control or predict the future, even if the patterns make no logical sense.
The superstition is based of things we learn. For instance some hotels, other tall buildings, and airlines omit the number 13 when numbering floors or seats. Simply because for years people have believed the number 13 is unlucky.
Superstitions also depend on the environment people are in. If you feel a lack of control in your daily life or certain circumstance you might feel anxious, causing you to rely on other things to predict the future.
During this tough economy for example, people might be more inclined to cling to the belief that 11-11-11 could be the luckiest day of a lifetime. At least until next December when the calendar reads 12-12-12.
The question is why? According to researchers its the way we as humans are wired. In honor of the day many weddings happened over the weekend.
Las Vegas is always a popular destination for tying the knot, but the city had a special anticipation for last week in particular. The wedding website The Knot found a huge spike in November 11th nuptials, almost 25,000 couples registered for the day. A dramatic increase to other Fridays in November.
Why the rush to the altar or thousands of people buying lottery tickets? Matt Hutson, who has researched the psychology of superstition says its the way humans are wired. He says all humans have innate instincts to try and find patterns in the world and to try and use the patterns to control or predict the future, even if the patterns make no logical sense.
The superstition is based of things we learn. For instance some hotels, other tall buildings, and airlines omit the number 13 when numbering floors or seats. Simply because for years people have believed the number 13 is unlucky.
Superstitions also depend on the environment people are in. If you feel a lack of control in your daily life or certain circumstance you might feel anxious, causing you to rely on other things to predict the future.
During this tough economy for example, people might be more inclined to cling to the belief that 11-11-11 could be the luckiest day of a lifetime. At least until next December when the calendar reads 12-12-12.
