We classified all respondents to our Sports Superstitions study as either “Unsuperstitious” or “Superstitious.” A respondent had to answer “Not at all paranoid”, “Not at all afraid”, and “Not at all fearful” to be labeled “Unsuperstitious.” (Even these unsuperstitious could have confessed to taking specific superstitious actions, however, but that question was asked of just a subset of respondents.) Even by this strict classification, 73% of respondents were Unsuperstitious vs. 27% Superstitious.
Of those who denied any fear or paranoia about affecting their team’s fortunes on the field by their actions at home, 34% still did at least one superstitious activity. But only 40% of the superstitious did at least one of these activities, compared to 66% of the unsuperstitious.
This is an excerpt from the free Researchscape white paper, “Sports Superstitions & The Big Game”. Download your own copy now: