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This study examined the effects of personality and situational differences on superstition behaviours in sports at three non-professional competition levels. The participants were 219 athletes (169 males, 50 females). We measured superstition by the number and kind of superstitious rituals (SRs), degree of superstitious feeling, and ritual commitment (RC). We used a within-group design that involved manipulating competition importance and uncertainty using scenarios to examine changes in pre-game psychological tension and RC. We found that sport superstition is positively correlated with athletic identity and pre-game psychological tension. Level of competition affects RC. RC is greater when the uncertainty and importance of the game are greater. Moreover, within-variable mediation analysis revealed that state of psychological tension mediated the effect of both uncertainty and importance on RC. Collectively, the results of the present investigation offer empirical support for Neil's (1980) hypothesis that sport superstition acts as a "psychological placebo".
Superstitious rimais (SRs) are defined as "unusual, repetitive, rigid behavior that is perceived to have a positive effect by the actor, whereas in reality there is no causal link between the behavior and the outcome of an event" (Womack, 1992, p. 192). The difference between some SRs and usual pre-game routines (e.g., hours of sleep, nutrition, warm-up) is not always clear. An excessive rigid timing and fixed order seems to draw the line between SR and useful preparation (Schippers & Van Lange, 2006). For example, an athlete who eats the same food at the same place (e.g., same restaurant and table) and at a fixed time (e.g., 5:55 p.m.) before the game could be classified as superstitious.
Various researchers have described SRs (superstitious beliefs and behaviors) practiced by athletes in various sports (e.g., Becker, 1975;Buhrmann&Zaugg, 1981; Neil, 1975;Bleak& Frederick, 1 998), at different levels of competition (e.g., Todd & Brown, 2003), and according to different types of SR (e.g., clothing, specific actions, thought; Coffin, 1971; Gmelch, 1972; Becker, 1 975). According to these reports, a large majority of athletes exhibit SRs. For instance, Schippers and Van Lange (2006) observed that 80.3% of recruited professional athletes mentioned one or more SR they performed before a game, with an average of 2.6 rituals per person. Interestingly, Bleak and Frederick (1998) found that whereas athletes are attached to their SRs...