Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

Eugene Subbotsky
__________________________________________________________________
values’ that supersede economic and other material considerations. 16 It would be
wrong to reduce the phenomenon of suicidal terrorism to religious belief only, yet
the belief in a magical unity with God’s will, and the belief in great rewards
waiting in the afterlife, undoubtedly make the decision to commit a suicidal act of
terror more psychologically acceptable.
Notes
1 E. Subbotsky, Magic and the Mind: Mechanisms, Functions and Development of
Magical Thinking and Behavior, Oxford University Press, New York, 2010, ch. 2.
2 P.L. Harris, E. Brown, C. Marriot, S. Whittal and S. Harmer, ‘Monsters, Ghosts
and Witches: Testing the Limits of the Fantasy–Reality Distinction in Young
Children’, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 9, 1991, pp. 105-
123.
3 E. Subbotsky, C. Hysted and N. Jones, ‘Watching Movies with Magical Content
Facilitates Creativity in Children’, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 111, 2010,
pp. 267- 277.
4 Subbotsky, op. cit., ch. 5.
5 Ibid., ch. 10.
6 Ibid., ch. 5.
7 Ibid., ch. 9.
8 There is no doubt that magical beliefs are still widely spread in modern
developing cultures, such as most traditional cultures of Asia, Africa, Central and
South America and the Pacific.
9 S. Vyse, Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, Oxford University
Press, New York, 1997.
10 S. Freud, A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Liveright, New York, 1935.
11 Subbotsky, Hysted and Jones, loc. cit.
12 E. Subbotsky & E. Slater, ‘Children’s Discrimination of Fantastic vs Realistic
Visual Displays after Watching a Film with Magical Content’, Perceptual and
Motor Skills, Vol. 112, 2011, pp. 603-609.
13 E. Subbotsky and J. Matthews, ‘Magical Thinking and Memory: Distinctiveness
Effect for TV Commercials with Magical Content’, Psychological Reports, Vol.
109, 2011, pp. 1-11.
14 S. Tambiah, Magic, Science, Religion and the Scope of Rationality, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1990.
15 D. Westen, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the
Nation, Public Affairs, New York, 1997, p. 423.
16 S. Atran, R. Axelrod and R. Davis, ‘Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution’,
Science, Vol. 317, 2007, pp. 1039-1040.
95