“Superstition” in the Collegiate Baseball Player

Abstract

An investigation of superstitious activity among collegiate baseball players (n = 83) was conducted over the course of three full seasons. A major feature of the investigation was a distinction between behaviors mediated by a conscious belief, and behaviors (presumably nonmediated) established through simple contiguity. Additionally, the baseball players were compared to nonathletes (n = 348) on a variety of traditional indicators of superstitious belief, but the comparison yielded few significant differences. Although the investigation showed that the ballplayers engaged in a high level of superstitious activity, it was concluded that such activity is unremarkable, if not understandable.