Superstitious or Just a Little Stitious?

Have you ever crossed your fingers for good luck or knocked on wood to not jinx yourself? Have you ever carried around a rabbit's foot or penny for good fortune? Well if so, you are not alone.

Many people engage in superstitious behaviors to attract good luck. And test anxiety is no exception. However, very few of these behaviors make any sense or have anything to do with the outcome of your upcoming exam.

So then why do you keep wearing that lucky sweatshirt on test day? Well from a psychological perspective we call these superstitious behaviors safety aids. Safety aids are mental and behavioral strategies used to try to prevent a feared outcome. They can be overt (reassurance seeking with family or friends) or covert (using a lucky pencil).

Do you have test anxiety? Take the quiz to find out!

Although seemingly harmless and useful in the short-term for reducing anxiety, continued use of such strategies in the long-term actually contributes to increased anxiety and poor test performance. In fact, safety aids are problematic in that such behaviors prevent you from learning that the feared outcome is unlikely to occur in the absence of the behavior.

In addition, safety aids can become impairing, leading to increased anxiety and distress.

So what should you do if you are engaging in safety aid usage as a result of your test anxiety?

Well, the first step would be to simply identify what superstitious behaviors you are engaging in. Are you only comfortable if you sit in a particular seat during your exam? Do you find yourself having to read the questions a certain number of times before selecting an answer? If so, you may try decreasing the degree or frequency to which you use such behaviors. That is, you could try sitting in a different area of the test room and/or only allowing yourself to read each question twice.

By gradually allowing yourself to sit with your anxiety you will start to reteach your brain and body that such behaviors are not needed to prevent or minimize the feared outcome. In turn, this will lead to decreased anxiety and increased test performance.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org