Many individuals all over the world have irrational beliefs. Some are religious, some are superstitious notions, and some are simply things we inform ourselves or cling onto for no particular reason. A new study analyzed one such unreasonable belief (belief in witchcraft) and discovered that noticeably, a large number of individuals in some countries believe in witchcraft. For example, over half of individuals in Russia and 90% in Tunisia share these beliefs.
Image credits: Bee Felten-Leidel.
The wicked eye
Journal Reference: Gershman B (2022) Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis.
The authors say these beliefs need to be considered for policymaking and other social initiatives.
Journal Reference: Gershman B (2022) Witchcraft beliefs all over the world: An exploratory analysis. PLoS ONE 17( 11 ): e0276872. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276872.
” The study documents that witchcraft beliefs are still widespread all over the world. Their prevalence is methodically related to a number of cultural, institutional, mental, and socioeconomic qualities,” the study concludes.
From this dataset, Gershman then looked at elements that might be associated with beliefs in witchcraft. Conformist cultures with weak institutions and low levels of social trust were likewise connected to greater beliefs in witchcraft.
Beliefs in witchcraft have actually been recorded for centuries, and still show up in modern times, however extremely, there have actually been couple of research studies on the occurrence of such beliefs– mostly due to the scarcity of data on this topic. To address this, Boris Gershman of the American University in Washington compiled the largest readily available dataset of surveys on witchcraft, including 140,000 individuals from 95 territories and countries.
Witchcraft comes in lots of forms in myth and culture, however it is generally specified as the ability to cause individuals harm by means of supernatural ways. Witches can cast spells and curses on people and cause bad things to occur to them, and normally utilize “black” magic.
The research study discovered that over 40% of the surveyed individuals said that they think “specific individuals can cast curses or spells that cause bad things to take place to somebody.” This suggests that at least 1 billion share beliefs in witchcraft, however since there were numerous nations not consisted of in the research study, the real number might be a number of times greater. There was no information on China and India, which together make up over a third of the world population.
A country-level occurrence of witchcraft beliefs around the world. Image credits: Boris Gershman, 2022, PLOS ONE.
Many people around the world have unreasonable beliefs. A brand-new research study examined one such illogical belief (belief in witchcraft) and found that strikingly, a large number of individuals in some countries believe in witchcraft. From this dataset, Gershman then looked at aspects that might be associated with beliefs in witchcraft. Conformist cultures with weak organizations and low levels of social trust were also linked to greater beliefs in witchcraft.
The dataset is still extremely little for a worldwide study, however its the best available details. The information was gathered in between 2008 and 2017 throughout research study performed by the Pew Research Center and other expert survey companies that consisted of questions on religion and belief in supernatural components.
The occurrence varied greatly, from over 90% in some parts of Africa, to 9% in Sweden. Overall, the occurrence in surveyed countries balanced at 43%.