Are women more superstitious?

condra

I've seen this topic spring up in a few places recently and it can get danced around a bit.

If you look at Twitter accounts of self proclaimed "mediums" such as Lorna Byrne and John Edward, most of their followers seem to be women.

It is clear that psychics/mediums and some other superstitions appeal more to women than to men.

By why?

Are women more gullible? Are men more cynical? Perhaps women are simply more concerned with the well being of deceased loved ones. Has there been any research done on this matter?

wonderfulname

Have you checked the age profile and socioeconomic backgrounds of these women?

My own observation is it's a certain cultural upbringing that brings it about, not really anything to do with innate differences in the sexes, but I have nothing to base that on.

Mardy Bum

Error management theory has been put forward as a reason from an evolutionary psychological perspective. Link here.

King Mob

I think part of this is that those type of shows and books are more marketed towards women.
I'd wager the "ghost hunting" and "History" channel "documentaries" about ghosts and psychics etc have much more of a male audience.

Zombrex

Apparently religious faith is also generally (ie across the board) higher in woman than men, though I have never seen a plausible explanation put forward for why that is.

Chuck Stone

condra wrote: »

Are women more gullible?

Have a look into a betting shop some time and tell me how many women you see in there.

joseph brand

Zombrex wrote: »

Apparently religious faith is also generally (ie across the board) higher in woman than men, though I have never seen a plausible explanation put forward for why that is.

I'm no expert, but I'd wager it has something to do with women having less rights, in the past.

It's not too long ago that most women stayed at home, while the man was out working. There's no reaso to think that it's down to genetics or anything like that, just society and culture.

Just look at Arab countries, or, closer to home, the church itself. Men have all the authority and higher missionary positions. There's no hope of there being any female cardinals or a lady pope.

It is said in te bible, that; "the pope shall not have bewbs."

Turtwig

In terms of superstition, no. But religion isn't all about superstition. It's often about authority.

My theory (hardly scientific!) is that women who seemed more acceptable of their subjugated stances were more likely to survive and be allowed reproduce than those who showed more reluctance towards authority. Due to this women today have a slightly stronger tendency towards being subservient than men.
Religions thrives on this "giving yourself towards something higher and greater than you" mentality. It enables a sense of belonging to a group that only the group members can understand and as such, you feel that little bit more special.

tl;dr Men were bastards. That's why!

Also, another factor must surely be that men are more likely to be better educated than women. Stereotypes still exist, that sadly, compel some women to think they can't have careers males have. There are even biases in science jobs towards males! Finally, this graphic also makes a valid point.

Peregrinus

Jernal wrote: »

In terms of superstition, no. But religion isn't all about superstition. It's often about authority . . .

There is another dimemsion to this, which is that religion is about community - about communal relationships, and communal bonding rituals. And women, broadly speaking, tend to be more engaged with this activity than men. We can see this at every level, from the fact that women tend to be responsible for the family's birthday list and Chistmas card co-ordination, to the fact that there is no male equivalent to the ICA.

pauldla

Peregrinus wrote: »

There is another dimemsion to this, which is that religion is about community - about communal relationships, and communal bonding rituals. And women, broadly speaking, tend to be more engaged with this activity than men. We can see this at every level, from the fact that women tend to be responsible for the family's birthday list and Chistmas card co-ordination, to the fact that there is no male equivalent to the ICA.

Well, there used to be the FCA.... :pac:

Peregrinus

pauldla wrote: »

Well, there used to be the FCA.... :pac:

In a pitched battle, my money would be on the ICA!

Bannasidhe

Peregrinus wrote: »

In a pitched battle, my money would be on the ICA!

Hmmmm... two aunties in the ICA - both in their 70s and about 5 foot tall if they stand on tippy toes. Son is over 6 foot and used to be in FCA - my money is on the aunties! They would go through him like a dose of salts.