An opinion piece written by SA Secular Society member Louise Golding.
What Everyday Beliefs Reveal About the Human Mind
South Africa’s cultural landscape is beautifully diverse — a meeting place of traditions, superstitions, and spiritual interpretations passed down through generations. But where do these beliefs come from? Why do we still hold them, even when science offers other explanations? Understanding the why behind a belief helps us appreciate the human mind that created it. Psychology and neuroscience reveal that our brains are natural pattern-makers, constantly seeking meaning, connection, and control in an uncertain world.
By exploring familiar superstitions through the lens of science, we can understand not only what people believe, but why — uncovering the psychological instincts that shape belief itself.
Our Brains Are Pattern-Making Machines
Humans are wired to see patterns — even when they aren’t there. Psychologists call this pattern recognition or apophenia. It’s a survival trait that once helped our ancestors stay alive: better to mistake a shadow for a lion than a lion for a shadow.
This instinct continues through many everyday beliefs. Things like a bird flying into the house. This can be taken to mean someone will die. When this happens and a loved one falls ill or passes away soon after, we link the two events — but we forget all the times a bird flew in, and nothing happened. This is called confirmation bias.
Another example is Lightning caused by witchcraft. Before meteorology, lightning was mysterious and terrifying. In small communities, unexplained misfortune was often blamed on human intent. This explained — and sometimes, sadly, a scapegoat.
Our pattern-hungry brains are meaning-making engines — and sometimes they connect dots that aren’t actually connected.
The Need for Control and Comfort
When life feels uncertain, belief offers us a sense of control. Rituals, charms, and taboos often emerge from this deep human need for stability in an unpredictable world. For example, placing salt at the door or behind the ears for protection is a symbolic act that appears in many cultures. Salt represents purity and cleansing — but beyond its symbolism, the act of using it provides a moment of reassurance. Even if it doesn’t alter the physical environment, it calms the mind while performing the ritual.
Psychologists refer to this as the “talisman effect” — when an object associated with safety or good fortune reduces anxiety by giving the brain a sense of agency. Neuroscience supports this: performing ritualized actions can activate the brain’s reward and regulation centers, releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin that soothe uncertainty and stress. In essence, belief can act as a psychological safety valve, helping people manage fear and regain a sense of emotional balance.
Before the rise of modern psychology and neuroscience, our ancestors had no vocabulary for concepts like anxiety, control, or trauma. They interpreted the world through stories and symbols — legends that offered comfort in chaos. These beliefs filled the gaps in human understanding and were passed down through generations as cultural wisdom. Today, we know that changing such deeply rooted narratives takes both education and self-awareness, and each individual moves through that process at their own pace.
The Stories We Tell About Our Bodies
Many common beliefs link physical sensations to messages from beyond — a twitching eye, an itchy palm, a sneeze. These experiences often have simple biological explanations, but our minds love to make them meaningful.
Left eye twitching means bad news. More likely, it’s fatigue, caffeine, or stress. Yet because the body feels it strongly, it becomes the perfect canvas for projection — we assign meaning to what we can’t control. Just like sneezing when someone talks about you. A simple bodily reflex becomes a social story. Linking it to gossip gives random events a narrative — a reminder of how much we crave meaning in daily life. Again, that’s confirmation bias reinforcing the pattern.
Even dreams join this pattern-making process. We’ve all had dreams of teeth falling out, snakes, or deceased relatives appearing to deliver messages. Each of these can be explained by psychology. Dreams express stress, fear, or grief in symbolic form. When we’re anxious or processing loss, the mind creates stories that feel deeply personal — because they are. Far from being supernatural, these beliefs reflect the powerful, emotional language of the unconscious.
The Comfort in Ritual and Ancestors
Many South Africans have a strong connection to their ancestry. In many traditions, ancestors are seen as protectors, guides, and keepers of family harmony. Even for those who no longer hold supernatural beliefs, ancestral rituals still carry emotional grounding.
Ceremonies like lighting candles, visiting graves, or speaking to the departed
provide comfort and connection. Psychology calls this continuing bond — a way people maintain a relationship with those who’ve passed.
As far as Sangomas and spiritual healers go, they historically served vital roles in communities — offering counsel, ritual, and healing through storytelling and symbolic action. Even when viewed through a secular lens, these practices can meet deep psychological needs for belonging and meaning. In small communities, historically, this belief helped maintain social cohesion and accountability.
When we see these practices as expressions of love, memory, and culture — not literal interventions — they can be seen as deeply human rather than mystical.
The Placebo and the Power of Belief
Science has repeatedly shown that belief itself can produce real effects. The placebo effect — when the mind triggers genuine healing because it expects to — demonstrates how thoughts and emotions influence the body. This is the rational explanation of faith healing, holy water, or sangoma blessings. They can create measurable improvement, not because of supernatural power, but because of expectation, comfort, and emotional release.
In a secular context, that’s not “less” miraculous — it’s a reminder of how powerful the human brain truly is.
Why Rational Explanations Matter
When we understand where beliefs come from, we don’t lose wonder — we gain empathy. Regarding someone who believes that lightning was sent by a curse or that an owl brings death, we can ask: What fear or need might that belief be meeting?
Rational explanations help us see the shared psychology beneath the surface. Whether through religion, folklore, or science, we all search for the same things: safety, connection, meaning, and understanding.
So the next time you hear someone warn against whistling at night, or mention the tokoloshe, you can ask yourself what story that belief tells — about history, about fear, about the creative mind of humankind.
Click here to read another article about South African superstitions.