HeyJaredThe Psychology of Superstition
This podcast explores why people believe in superstitions, using insights from cognitive psychology, behavioral science, and cultural anthropology.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 23, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
False Patterns – Why Coincidences Feel Impossible (opens the original)
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Why do certain coincidences feel too extraordinary to be random? This episode explores how probability, pattern recognition, confirmation bias, selective attention, and emotional significance shape our perception of unlikely events. It explains why the human brain naturally connects unrelated experiences, why random events often form surprising clusters, and how enormous numbers of everyday opportunities make remarkable coincidences more common than they seem. The episode also examines why coinc
The Comfort of Invisible Guardians (opens the original)
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This episode explores why beliefs in guardian angels, protective spirits, ancestors, and unseen protectors can feel so comforting. It explains how attachment, agency detection, meaning-making, continuing bonds, and anxiety reduction can make invisible protection psychologically powerful, especially during fear, grief, and uncertainty. Protective beliefs and rituals may provide courage and emotional stability, but they can become harmful when they create dependence or restrict everyday choices. T
Fear of the Unknown – The Birthplace of Every Superstition (opens the original)
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This episode explores how ambiguity and uncertainty create fertile ground for superstition. It explains how compensatory control, threat-detection bias, agency detection, pattern recognition, selective memory, and confirmation bias can transform unclear events into omens, curses, signs, or rituals. Cultural traditions then reinforce these interpretations by teaching people which symbols and events are supposed to carry meaning. The episode concludes that learning to tolerate ambiguity helps redu
The Seduction of Certainty (opens the original)
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This episode explores why the human brain often prefers confident answers over honest uncertainty. It explains how the need for cognitive closure, ambiguity aversion, emotional relief, and confidence bias can make simple explanations, prophecies, superstitions, and rigid belief systems feel more convincing than nuanced evidence. Certainty can reduce anxiety, but it may also discourage questioning and make false beliefs harder to abandon. The episode concludes that strong thinking depends not on
Why We Remember Miracles but Forget Failures (opens the original)
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This episode explores why people remember apparent miracles and supernatural “successes” more vividly than the many failures that contradict them. It explains how selective memory, confirmation bias, survivorship bias, emotional intensity, and the availability heuristic make rare coincidences feel more meaningful than they statistically are. Miracle stories become powerful because successful matches are remembered, repeated, and emotionally reinforced, while failed predictions and ineffective ri
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