The science of superstition
Different superstitions
Number 13, Black cats, Breaking mirrors
The bread upside down on the table,
Walking under ladders
25% of people in USA who consider
themselves superstitious.
Many buildings do not a 13th floor.
Air France or Lufthansa do not have
a 13th row, then, Lufthansa has no
17th row because in Italy or Brazil is
the typical unlucky.
What is superstition ?
Generally means a belief in superstition forces such as fate, to the desire to influence unpredictable factors.
Psychologists who have investigated what role superstitions play, have found they derive from assumption that a connection exists between co-occuring, non-related events.
Superstitious beliefs have been shown to help promote a positive mental attitude.
Origins
In antiquity, the 12 was a perfect number because is the number of the 12 gods of Olympus, the 12 signs of the Zodiac or the 12 months.
The 13th was the number that came break this perfection. As the superstition of the 13th at the table, where Jesus' apostles are found and himself at the table.
One of apostles, a peephole who will be the traitor Judas, is considered as a sign of bad luck that will fall on a neighbour.