Magical Thinking vs Scientific Thinking
Magical thinking is a comforting way of explaining the world. Scientific thinking is what moves the world forward.
A Definition of Magical Thinking
The term ‘magical thinking’ is used by both psychologists and anthropologists to define the thinking processes of those who attribute the cause of one event to another unrelated event. There is no causal link between the two events.
So, for instance, a tribe in the Amazon jungle might believe that the egg that was laid by the chicken was a result of the chicken chirping every day. They, therefore, faithfully, lay out fruit for the chicken-god every day so that the chickens will always chirp. If the chicken chirps, they believe it will lay an egg. This would be magical thinking — the erroneous belief that one event happens as a consequence of another event without there being a plausible and evidential link of causation.
Here’s another example — this time from real life.
In the 60s, it was thought that the drought in South Africa was caused by women wearing mini-skirts.
Many pastors were preaching this. Newspapers wrote about the outrage of the moral majority against women wearing dresses and skirts that were…
