Chapter 27 Melanesians and Missiles

Bronislav Malinowski is one of the world's greatest anthropologists.He grew up in Poland and initially studied mathematics and natural sciences.However, an accidental opportunity completely changed Malinowski's life course.While preparing for a foreign language exam, he came across the writings of the eminent anthropologist Sir James Fraser.Fraser's book examines in detail witchcraft and religion in different cultures around the world.The book prompted Malinowski to start a research career in anthropology in England.After the outbreak of the First World War, in order to avoid being interned, Malinowski lived in Melanesia, a small island off the coast of New Guinea, where he devoted himself to studying the isolated society of the Trobriand Islanders. group culture.Later, based on his research work on the island, he wrote the recognized classic "The Navigator of the Western Pacific".Malinowski studied many aspects of Trobriand Islander daily life, but one aspect of his particular interest was the islanders' superstitious behavior.He noticed that when operating in the relatively calm waters of the lagoon, the Trobriander Islanders used common fishing techniques, only resorting to more sophisticated witchcraft when they entered the more dangerous open waters. magical and superstitious rituals.Malinowski speculates that these superstitious practices may have their roots in the unpredictability of islander life.Islanders face relatively few uncertainties when fishing in lagoon areas.They feel they are in control of the situation, so there is no need for superstitious behavior.However, the situation in the outer sea is completely different.The islanders know very well that the situation in the open sea is unpredictable, so they will place their hopes on various witchcraft rituals in an attempt to gain control of the situation in the open sea and reduce the risk of fishing operations.In short, Malinowski believed that superstition reassured the islanders, giving them a sense of control in the face of the ruthless odds of fate.

There might be some truth in our thinking that irrational behavior was limited to a small isolated island population in the 1920s.But the same pressures that drive Trobriand Islanders to perform complex rituals off the coast of Melanesia are also what lead us to tap logs, cross our fingers and collect lucky rabbit's feet. By the mid-1920s, Germany was experiencing an inflation so severe that people would run down the street carrying banknotes in shopping bags.All are eager to spend the money as soon as they get it, fearing that the money on hand will lose a lot of value the next day.By 1932, nearly half of Germany's population was unemployed. In 1982, Vernon Padgett of Marshall University and Dale Jorgensen of California State University published a paper comparing articles related to astrology, occultism and witchcraft in major interwar German newspapers and magazines Quantity and annual economic threat.As controls, they also counted the number of articles about gardening and cooking.The Economic Threat Index is calculated based on wages, union membership unemployment and industrial production.When people are suffering from economic depression, the number of articles about superstitions increases significantly.When the economy starts to improve, there will be fewer such articles.The close relationship between these two factors led the authors of the paper to the following conclusions:

Just as the Trobriand Islanders became superstitious when it came to fishing in the more dangerous offshore waters, so the Germans in the 1920s and 1930s became more superstitious when it came to economic threats. The authors relate their findings to broader societal issues.They say people's desperate search for a sense of certainty in times of increasing uncertainty can lead them to support strong leadership systems and to believe in various irrational factors that claim to determine their fate, such as superstition and witchcraft. A study by psychologists at Tel Aviv University in Israel during the Gulf War in 1991 illustrated the same concept in vivid detail.Soon after the war broke out, it became very clear that cities such as Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan were at risk of being hit by Scud missiles, while others, such as Jerusalem and Tiberias, were relatively safer s.The researchers wanted to know whether the intense stress of living in a more dangerous area might make people more superstitious.To test this idea, they designed a questionnaire about superstitions.Some of the questions on the questionnaire related to well-known oddities, such as whether shaking hands with lucky people or wearing lucky charms brings good luck.Others have to do with the new superstitions that arose after the outbreak of war.For example, since the mid-1980s, Israeli buildings have had a room that can be sealed with plastic to protect the occupants from poison gas attacks.Questions included in the questionnaire included: Do people feel it is better to step right foot first when entering a sealed room?If someone's house had been attacked in the sealed room, wouldn't that person be more likely to be attacked again?Next, the researchers began door-to-door interviews in high-risk areas and low-risk areas. They interviewed a total of about 200 people and asked them if they had the above-mentioned behaviors.The researchers' suspicions were confirmed: People living in missile-prone areas were more likely to develop superstitious thoughts and behaviors than residents of low-risk areas of the country.

Studies in New Guinea, Germany, and Israel have come to a common conclusion: To cope with uncertainty, many people become superstitious.However, other research has also shown that superstitious thinking can be caused by very different causes, possibly with far more serious consequences.