Rationalists, fatalists, and the modern superstitious: Test-taking in introductory sociology

As sociologists we are guided by a rational approach to understanding the s ocial world. This rational approach is also evident in the way we test stud ents. But do students approach tests from the same orientation that we take in creating them, or are they influenced by such nonrational orientations as superstitions? To explore this question the authors created and administ ered the Luck and Superstition Questionnaire to 426 students taking Introdu ction to Sociology. We found that nearly 70 percent of students indicate so me level of test-related superstitious practice. However, we also found tha t superstitious practice was largely unrelated to religious belief and prac tice, gender and race, educational performance and grade expectations, and end-of-semester pressures. These results are entirely consistent with Colin Campbell's theory of modern superstition. Superstitious practice in modem society is self-sustaining-not integrated into social institutions or syste ms of belief-and only "half-believed" by the very practitioners of modern s uperstition.