Sympathetic Magical Thinking: Contagion and Similarity Heuristics
In sympathetic magical thinking, contagion treats contact as transferring an enduring essence, while similarity treats resemblance as evidence of shared properties or powers. These beliefs can shape feelings about objects even when no physical effect is established.
THE IDEA
Sympathetic Magical Thinking: The Contagion and Similarity “Heuristics”
Paul Rozin and Carol Nemeroff
This concept describes two cognitive heuristics rooted in magical thinking:
- Contagion heuristic: The belief that once two objects or people come into contact, they retain a permanent essence or quality from each other. Examples include feeling that a sweater worn by a disliked person is somehow 'tainted' or that a lucky charm retains its power.
- Similarity heuristic: The belief that things that resemble each other share deeper properties or can influence each other. For instance, eating a food shaped like a heart might be believed to affect one's heart health.
Such reactions need not involve a consciously endorsed belief. Feeling that an object is tainted by its former owner can persist even when someone knows it is clean. This imagined transfer should be distinguished from actual physical contamination or information that influences a witness’s memory. The cited work on implicit prejudice (Greenwald et al., 1998) and eyewitness identification (Wells, 1993) concerns related judgment problems; those problems alone do not establish sympathetic magic.
When to use it
In a legal discussion, distinguish relevant physical evidence from an emotional association with an object or its former owner.
Marketers designing ads that use symbolic associations to influence consumer perceptions.
When discussing prejudice or superstition, identify the specific inference being made rather than treating all unwanted associations as the same mechanism.
Individuals making everyday decisions, such as whether to wear clothing from a thrift store or use a second-hand item.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Contagion in Legal Evidence
In a legal setting, a juror might unconsciously believe that a piece of clothing from a crime scene carries the 'essence' of the criminal, influencing their judgment of the defendant even if the evidence is irrelevant.
Similarity in Marketing
A food brand uses packaging that resembles a healthy vegetable, leading consumers to assume the product is healthier than it actually is—a form of the similarity heuristic.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Can you recall a time when you felt repulsed by an object that had been touched by someone you dislike, even though you knew it was clean? How does the contagion heuristic explain that feeling?
How might the similarity heuristic influence your interpretation of facial features or body language in others?
In what situations could being aware of these heuristics help you make more objective legal or medical judgments?
Often confused with
References
- Sympathetic Magical Thinking: The Contagion and Similarity 'Heuristics' — Paul Rozin and Carol Nemeroff
- Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test — Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz (1998)
- Effects of lineup procedure and configuration on eyewitness identification accuracy — Wells (1993)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Heuristics and Biases The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, Daniel Kahneman)