A new study provides evidence that women’s reliance on intuition and “gut” feelings helps to explain why they tend to report more magical beliefs than men do. The research has been published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
“I was really intrigued to understand why, across the world, women tend to be more likely than men to report beliefs in magical phenomena like ghosts and haunted houses,” said study author Sarah Ward, an assistant professor of Management at the University of Illinois.
“What social, cognitive, or demographic differences between women and men might explain why they differ in their levels of magical beliefs? I suspected that women’s higher preference for using intuition explained why they were more likely to believe in magical phenomena and superstitions.”
In four studies with 2,545 participants in total, the researchers found that women were more likely than men to endorse magical beliefs. Women tended to report relying more on intuition and scored lower on a cognitive reflection test (an assessment of a person’s tendency to override an incorrect “gut” response), which were both associated with heightened magical beliefs.
The researchers also found that experimentally enhancing trust in one’s intuition increased men’s endorsement of magical beliefs.
“People who trust their intuition and rely on their gut feelings and hunches are much more likely to believe in magic and superstitions. Women trust their intuition more strongly than men do, which helps account for why they express higher beliefs in phenomena like ghosts, fate, and karma,” Ward told PsyPost.
“Although some antiquated stereotypes have portrayed women’s higher magical beliefs as caused by lower rationality or intelligence, this was not supported in the data. Women and men did not differ in analytical reasoning capacities or intelligence in these studies, showing the inaccuracy of these early stereotypes for gender differences in magical beliefs.”
The researchers found no evidence that perceived vulnerability, demographics, or femininity helped to explain why women tended to believe in magical phenomena more than men. But there are likely several other factors that account for some of the gender differences in magical beliefs.
“Although gender differences in trusting intuition helped to account for gender differences in magical beliefs, they did not fully do so, statistically speaking. There are several additional mechanisms that might also help explain why people differ in their tendency to have these beliefs. For example, feeling in control makes people less likely to believe in magic and express superstitions. Men tend to feel a higher sense of control than women do, which might also explain why they are less likely to believe in magical phenomena,” Ward explained.
“Magical beliefs are widespread among educated, intelligent adults all over the world, though many people do not like to admit to such beliefs publically. Understanding why people hold magical beliefs and superstitions is very complex and can be attributed to many different social, cognitive, and demographic factors.”
The study examined a variety of magical beliefs, such as ghosts, fate, and miracles. But men appear to employ more magical thinking than women in at least two specific domains: sports and gambling.
“One perplexing remaining question is why men tend to exhibit higher gambling behavior than women, given that gambling is a domain rife with magical and superstitious thinking. Magical and superstitious beliefs can underlie many problematic gambling behaviors because these beliefs encourage people to feel like they are special and that they have control despite the randomness of these activities,” Ward said.
“Women’s lower tolerance for risk might explain why they are less likely to gamble than men. However, a really intriguing question is why men tend to exhibit higher magical beliefs and superstitions when it comes to gambling and sports, but not in many other life domains. Perhaps, men are more inclined to express magical beliefs in contexts that provide more opportunities for winning or financial/personal gain.”
The study, “Examining the roles of Intuition and Gender in Magical Beliefs“, was authored by Sarah J. Ward and Laura A. King.
(Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay)
