Herald Sun 6/6/06

If you walk under ladders, never touch wood for luck and make a point of putting new shoes on the table, consider yourself exceptional.

A leading scientist says superstition is unavoidable in the human brain. Research shows we are wired to believe in religion and the supernatural, says experimental psychologist Prof Bruce Hood, of Bristol University. Observation of babies showed they naturally filled in gaps and invent rules to help make sense of the world around them.

Irrational beliefs are therefore so fundamental that it might be pointless trying to discourage them.

Instead we should just embrace them as a normal part of being human. “There’s a minority of people who are totally rational,” Prof Hood said. “Most of us, although we are not aware of it, enter into beliefs and practices where, when we analyse them, almost magical reasoning is operating.” Adults also avoided things they thought had been associated with evil.

In one experiment, Prof Hood found few people would put on a cardigan when told it belonged to serial killer Fred West.

And if they put it on, others instinctively moved away from them, as if they thought being around it would in some way infect them with evil. Prof Hood concluded that all irrational beliefs ranging from religion to superstition probably come from what he calls “intuitive reasoning” found in early childhood.