Since ancient times, people have believed in special "signs of fate" that can warn them of an impending danger or a favorable outcome of the case. Nowadays, despite the scientific and technological progress, there are still many loyal fans of various signs and superstitions.
Belief in "signs of fate" is the result of the joint work of the human brain (self-hypnosis) and certain environmental factors. People subconsciously try to connect the events of their own lives with a variety of phenomena.
The belief of most people in omens has repeatedly become the subject of research by scientists. So, a group of psychologists at Harvard University decided to find out why almost everyone is subject to superstition to one degree or another. After conducting a special study, they revealed that belief in omens is an integral part of the adaptive behavior of all people who want to explain the complex phenomena of the world around them.
Moreover, the signs themselves directly affect the mood of a person, forcing him to subconsciously expect events that were "predicted from above" for him. That is, people psychologically tune in to a positive or negative wave, and often get exactly what they expected.
Scientists from the University of London also seriously approached the study of the problem of people's belief in omens. Having conducted a survey of more than 5,000 Britons, Professor Stella McGuire came to an interesting and rather unexpected conclusion: superstitious people live much longer than their skeptical brethren. 97% of respondents over 90 years old took omens, superstitions and predictions seriously during their lives. Among people over 80, this figure was 93%.
This led scientists to believe that belief in omens makes a person be more careful and prudent, allows him to carefully consider his own actions and deeds. In addition, superstition prepares people for possible failure by reliably protecting them from stress and guilt over failure.
