Barry Markovsky -
The Conversation
More than 40 million people in the United States admitted in a survey that
they wouldn't mind staying on the 13th floor of high-rise hotels.
According to elevator and elevator company Otis Elevator Co., for every building with a floor numbered '13,' six other buildings pretend not to, jumping from '12' directly to '14'.
Many people in Western countries feel weird on Friday the 13th. Of course, bad things sometimes happen on that date, but there is no evidence that it happens disproportionately.
As a sociologist specialized in social psychology and group processes, I am not so interested in individual fears and obsessions.
What fascinates me is
when millions of people share the same misconception to the point that it affects behavior on a large scale
.
This is the case of the great power that the number 13 has.
The origin of superstition
The origin of the bad reputation of 13—known as triskaidekaphobia or phobia of 13—
is murky and speculative
.
The historical explanation may be as simple as its fortuitous juxtaposition with the lucky 12.
Joe Nickell conducts research on paranormal claims for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, a nonprofit organization that scientifically examines controversial and extraordinary claims.
The researcher points out that 12 usually represents "fullness": the number of months of the year, the gods of Olympus, the signs of the zodiac and the apostles of Jesus.
Meanwhile, the 13 contrasts with these symbols of goodness and perfection.
The 13th days are unlucky for many cultures.
Kinga Krzeminska/Getty Images
The number 13 can be associated with some famous but unwelcome guests at a party.
In Norse mythology, the god Loki was the thirteenth to arrive at a banquet in Valhalla, where he tricked another attendant into killing the god Baldur.
In Christianity, Judas—the apostle who betrayed Jesus—was the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper.
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But the truth is that sociocultural processes can associate bad luck with any number.
When conditions are favourable, a rumor or superstition spawns its own social reality, snowballing like an urban legend down the hill of time.
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In Japan, 9 is unlucky, probably because it sounds similar to the Japanese word for "suffering" in English.
In Italy, the "unlucky" number is 17.
In China, 4 sounds like the word “death” and people try harder to avoid it than people in the West try to avoid 13—there are even people who pay more money to cell phone companies to avoid it.
And while 666 is considered a lucky number combination in China, many Christians around the world associate it with an evil beast described in the biblical book of Revelation.
There is even a word for the intense fear of 666: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.
What the experts say
There are many types of specific phobias, and people have them for a variety of psychological reasons.
They can arise from direct negative experiences: fear of bees after being stung by one, for example.
Other risk factors for developing a phobia include being very young, having family members with phobias, having a more sensitive personality, and being exposed to other people with phobias.
Part of the reputation of 13 may be related to a feeling of unknowing, or "feeling of anomaly," as it is called in the psychological literature.
In everyday life, 13 is less common than 12.
There is no 13th month, 13-inch ruler, or 13 o'clock.
By itself, the feeling of unfamiliarity does not cause a phobia, but psychological research shows that we favor what is familiar and disfavor what is not.
This makes it easier to associate 13 with negative attributes.
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People may also assign dark meanings to 13 for the same reason that many believe in "full Moon effects."
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Beliefs that the full Moon influences mental health, crime rates, accidents, and other human calamities have been widely debunked.
Still, when people seek to confirm their beliefs, they are prone to infer connections between unrelated factors.
For example, having a car accident during a full moon or on Friday the 13th makes the event seem more memorable and meaningful.
Once they are set, it is very difficult to get rid of these beliefs.
There are also the powerful effects of social influences.
It takes an entire town—or Twitter—for fears to coalesce around a harmless number.
The appearance of any superstition in a social group—fear of 13, going under stairs, not stepping on a crack, knocking on wood, etc.—is not unlike the appearance of a meme.
Although the term now more often refers to images widely shared on the Internet, it was first introduced by biologist Richard Dawkins to help describe how an idea, innovation, fad, or other piece of information can spread through a population.
A meme, by its definition, is similar to a piece of genetic code: it reproduces itself as it communicates between people, with the potential to mutate into alternate versions of itself.
The meme of 13 is a simple piece of information associated with bad luck.
For the reasons stated above, it resonates with people and spreads culturally.
Once acquired, this piece of pseudo-knowledge gives believers a sense of control over the evils associated with it.
False beliefs, but true consequences
Those who work in public relations for different companies have also seemed to succumb to popular superstitions for different reasons.
Perhaps due to the almost tragic Apollo 13 mission, NASA stopped sequentially numbering other missions.
In Belgium, complaints from superstitious passengers led Brussels Airlines to renew its logo in 2006. Until then it was a 13-dot “b”-shaped image.
The airline added the fourteenth.
Like many other airlines,
its aircraft row numbering skips 13.
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Because superstitious beliefs are inherently false, they are as likely to do harm as they are to do good.
I'd like to believe that influential organizations—perhaps even elevator companies like Otis Elevator Co.—would do more good to warn the public about the dangers of clinging to false beliefs, rather than continue to legitimize them.
