Cracked hand mirror series#
Paul's anonymous letters to a local newspaper begin a series of mysterious phone calls with equal parts threats and lures. Little does he know that this journey will force him to confront his past in a manner that he has never imagined or dared to before. Paul finds a way to blackmail a corrupt police officer to hand him information about the case and lets him begin his own manhunt.
Cracked hand mirror cracked#
They can make us feel responsibleįor bad outcomes we didn’t cause, or waste our energy seeking untenable shortcutsĬommon sense alone ought to be reason enough to deter us from smashing mirrors.The Cracked Mirror is narrated in large part by Paul Cantor, a Los Angeles hustler, who once he begins to lose many of his friends, their murdered and mutilated bodies mounts up. Superstitions are falseīeliefs that can often produce anxiety and guilt. On the other hand, one does need to proceed with caution. To talk about, and promote group solidarity. More generally, superstitions can lower stress and improve performance when we find ourselves in difficult situations. If a superstition happens to make us more cautious around mirrors, there’s no harm The more people there are supporting the superstition, the more believable it will seem and the longer it will persist. Then our superstitionsĬirculate indefinitely among families and friends, reinforced by word of mouth, social
Cracked hand mirror full#
We also acquire superstitious beliefs during socialization, learning about them from parents and other trusted authorities while still young and open to a world full of magical possibilities. Though it’s only a coincidence, your brain may still infer a pattern, and you may begin to believe the penny caused the run of good luck. That a friend gives you a “lucky penny.” You’re skeptical, but a few days pass and
Sometimes, however, our brains infer cause-and-effect patterns that aren’t real. In traffic both involve learning real cause-and-effect patterns. We also avoid injury or death when crossingĪ busy street by recognizing traffic patterns. Right places at the right times for meals. For example, we survive by recognizing feeding patterns and put ourselves in the The human mind continuously and unconsciously searches for useful patterns. Have always tended to believe things that make them feel good, even when untrue. The belief that good luck would eventually return was surely comforting, and people
They believed that the body renewed itself every seven years. But the Romans did not believe that the ensuing bad luck would To damage a mirror was considered so disrespectful that people thought it compelled the gods to rain bad luck on anyone so careless.Īround the third century mirrors were being made from glass, and breakage became a But it was Roman artisans who actually learned to manufacture mirrorsįrom polished metal surfaces, and believed their gods observed souls through theseĭevices. The Greeks believed that one’s reflection on the surface of a pool of water revealed I argue that the superstition aboutīroken mirrors may be rooted in these ancient beliefs. Without necessarily having any basis in reality. These times and places that the broken mirror superstition began its rise in popularity.Īs a social psychologist who studies various ways that people influence one another, I am fascinated when groups generate beliefs that are pure “social constructions” It so happened that inīoth ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, reflected images were thought to have mysterious powers. Years old: Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. Included in this second category is a superstition that is between 2,000 and 2,700
Others can be traced to specific times in history.
The origins of many superstitions are unknown. Also, many tall buildings don’t label their 13th floors as such because of that number’s association with bad luck. In the U.S., some people panic if they accidentally walk under a ladder or see a black cat cross In some Asian societies people believe that sweeping a floor after sunset bringsīad luck, and that it’s a curse to leave chopsticks standing in a bowl of rice. In this second category is a superstition that is between 2,000 and 2,700 years old:īreaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck.Įvery human culture has superstitions. In history, sociology professor Barry Markovsky writes in The Conversation. Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.Library Annex and Conservation Facility.College of Information and Communications.College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management.Health Promotion, Education and Behavior.Global Supply Chain and Operations Management.Environmental Science / Environmental Studies.Educational Administration and Higher Education.Computer Science / Computer Engineering.
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