Superstitious Rituals Among College Athletes: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Superstitions and accompanying rituals are common among athletes and appear to provide an experience of control over performance. Despite anecdotal information suggesting a high prevalence of superstitious practices among athletes, empirical study has been limited. Even less is known about the variables that may influence the adoption of superstition-related rituals, including the type of sport-individual vs. team, athlete gender, and relevant personality dimensions. In the current study, 39 university athletes completed a questionnaire of superstitious rituals in athletes, a questionnaire assessing common superstitions in the general population, and Rotter's Locus of Control Scale. Results indicated that athletically oriented superstitions and practices were reported by over 90% of the sample (N=39). Rituals were most commonly used in immediate pregame preparation. While female athletes reported more superstitions common to the general population, they did not differ from men regarding athletic-specific superstitious rituals. In addition, locus of control did not differ between athletes involved in team versus individual sports. Further research in this area should begin with the development of a psychometrically sound questionnaire. ________________________________________________________________________________________ National Hockey League forward Bruce Gardiner dipped the blade of his hockey stick in the toilet before each game, Yasiel Puig, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, licked his bat believing that the bat gave him energy, Elizabeth Haley of Yale University Women's Baketball Team, precedes each competition by listening to the song,‖ Panda,‖ and Little League baseball player Trey Hondras believes that talking to girls before a game improves his hitting. While studies are limited, available research suggests that up to 75% of competitive athletes have performance-related superstitious rituals (Bleak & Frederick, 1998; Brevers et al., 2011) Superstitions are a type of cognitive distortion (Toneatto, 1999). These distortions are typically associated with rituals-specific repetitive behaviors (Hobson et al., 2017). These paired cognitions and behaviors reflect an illusory belief that they control an unpredictable event (Toneatto, 1999). There are suggestions that college and professional athletes may be more superstitious than the general population (Berger& Lynn, 2005; Womack, 1991). However, while common among athletes, superstitions and rituals have been given limited research attention-particularly in the past decade. One difficulty in investigating the topic is definitional. Superstitions and rituals related to athletic performance are not consistently defined. From the perspective of cognitive psychology, superstitions would be considered beliefs, while rituals would be associated behaviors (Dömötör, Ruiz-Barquin, & Szabo, 2016). However, research on athletes does not always make this distinction. In examining collegiate athletes in multiple sports, Bleak and Frederick (1998) merged the concepts of belief and behavior with superstitions defined as "formal, sequential behavior designed to seek control over a stressful situation." In examining collegiate baseball players, Ciborwoski (1997) distinguished between coincidental and causal superstitions. Drawing upon Skinner's operant model, coincidental superstitions are seen as chance temporal connections between specific pre-performance behavior and outcomes of which the athletes are usually unaware (Ciborowski, 1997). For example, when batting, Ciborowksi (1997) counted an average of 51 coincidental, yet consistent, movements batters exhibited between pitches.