Magical thinking in normal and pathological conditions: literature review

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The scientific literature analysis on a magical thinking problem was conducted. A review of studies in a historical perspective on this problem was given (English anthropological and French sociological schools, psychoanalysis views), various descriptions of magical thinking structure and possible causes of its development were discussed. A brief review of experimental studies of magical thinking of people without mental pathology is described as well as a specificity of magical thinking in children’s mind. The study of magical thinking in various mental pathologies is considered as one of the forms of “psychosis-like experiences”, as well as the phenomenon of “thought action fusion”.

About the authors

Michail S. Chertischev

Kazan State Medical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: chertishev.mihail@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8692-1868

Postgraduate Student, Depart. of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology

Russian Federation, Kazan

References

  1. Korolenko CP, Shpiks TA. Psychology and psychiatry of spectral psychological states and disorders. Neurological Bulletin. 2015;XLVII(3):99–101. (In Russ.) doi: 10.17816/nb13965.
  2. Zhmurov VA. Great Encyclopedia of Psychiatry. 2nd ed. M.: Dzhangar; 2012. р. 465–466. (In Russ.)
  3. Reber A. Big explanatory psychological dictionary. Trans. from English EYu Chebotarev. M.: Veche; 2000. 391 p. (In Russ.)
  4. Lexicon of psychiatric and mental health terms. 2nd ed. Editor. VB Late. Geneva: World health organization; 1994. 74 p.
  5. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. (DSM-5, DSM-V). Washington, DC, London: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. 970 p. ISBN 978-0-89042-554-1. ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8.
  6. Meehl PE. Manual for use with checklist of schizotypic signs. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1964. 106 p.
  7. Karagodina EG. Social and individual aspects of modern mystical thinking (based on the study of psychic healers). Social and Clinical Psychiatry. 1997;7(3):67–89. (In Russ.)
  8. Lindeman M, Svedholm AM, Takada M et al. Core knowledge confusions among university students. Science & Education. 2011;(20):439–451.
  9. Saenko YV. Superstition as an obstacle to personal and professional development. In: Acmeology: personal and professional development. Proceedings of the international scientific conference, 7–8 October, 2004. M.: ECO Publishing House; 2004. 316 p. (In Russ.)
  10. Fraser J. Golden Bough. The study of magic and religion. M.: Politizdat; 1980. р. 20–69 (In Russ.)
  11. Taylor EB. Primitive Culture. Foreword and note by AI Pershitz. M.: Politizdat; 1989. р. 91–121. (In Russ.)
  12. Ribot T. Logic of feelings. Translation by L Semenyut. St. Petersburg: ON Popova; 1905. р. 53–61. (In Russ.)
  13. Lapshin II. The Psychology of Emotional Thinking by Heinrich Mayer. New ideas in philosophy. St. Petersburg: Obrazovanie. 1914(16):1–42. (In Russ.)
  14. Levy-Bruhl L. Primitive thinking. Ed. VK Nikolsky, AV Kissin. M.: Atheist; 1930. р. 85–118 (In Russ.)
  15. Freud Z. Totem and taboo. In: Freud Z. Collected works in 10 volumes. Vol. 9. M.: STD LLC; 2008. р. 288–445. (In Russ.)
  16. Berne E. Know yourself: On psychiatry and psychoanalysis — for all who are interested. Translation from English A Gruzberg. Yekaterinburg: LITUR; 2004. р. 211–256. (In Russ.)
  17. Fromm E. Escape from freedom. Gen. ed. and afterword PS Gurevich. M.: Progress; 1990. р. 6–27. (In Russ.)
  18. Subbotsky EV. Consciousness under construction. M.: Meaning; 2007. р. 171–263. (In Russ.)
  19. Subbotsky EV. Invisible reality: Consciousness in the mirror of magical thinking. Psychologist. 2015;(3):33–67. (In Russ.)
  20. Miroshnichenko LD. Drugs and addiction: an encyclopedic dictionary. M.: Pero; 2014. р. 175. (In Russ.)
  21. Stoimenov IA, Stoimenova MI, Koeva PI et al. Psychiatric encyclopedic dictionary. Kyiv: MAUP; 2003. р. 497. (In Russ.)
  22. Piaget J. Speech and thinking of the child. Comp., new ed., translation from French, comment. Shaft. ValA Lukova, VlA Lukova. Moscow: Pedagogika-Press; 1994. р. 346–392. (In Russ.)
  23. Rosengren K, Hickling A. Metamorphosis and magic: The development of children’s thinking about possible events and plausible mechanisms. In: Rosengren K, Johnson C, Harris P. Imagining the impossible: Magical, scientific, and religious thinking in children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2000. p. 75–98.
  24. Zakharov AI. Origin and psychotherapy of children’s neuroses. St. Petersburg: KARO; 2006. р. 28–48. (In Russ.)
  25. Levesque RJR. Magical thinking. In: Levesque RJR. Encyclopedia of Adolescence. New York: Springer; 2011. p. 1635–1637.
  26. Brashier NM, Multhaup KS. Magical thinking decreases across adulthood. Psychology and Aging. 2017;32(8):681–688. doi: 10.1037/pag0000208. PMID: 29239653.
  27. Dmitrieva TB, Polozhiy NS. Social psychiatry. In: Psychiatry: a national guide, editors. TB Dmitrieva, VN Krasnova, NG Neznanova, VYa Semke, AS Tiganova. M.: GEOTAR-Media; 2011. p. 147–149. (In Russ.)
  28. Suvorova OV. Magical thinking as a coping — personality strategy: socio-cultural and ontogenetic aspects. Nizhny Novgorod psychological almanac. 2020;1(1):211–220. (In Russ.)
  29. Kiken LG. Mind-body therapy use and magical thinking. Social Science & Medicine. 2019;237(9):312–340. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.045. Epub 2019 May 31. PMID: 31398509.
  30. Saenko YuV. Superstition as a product of mythological thinking. In: The creative heritage of A.V. Brushlinsky and O.K. Tikhomirov and modern psychology of thinking. Moscow: Institute of Psychology RAS; 2003. р. 46. (In Russ.)
  31. Stojanova IJ. Pralogicheskie obrazovanija v norme i patologii [dissertation]. Tomsk; 2007. р. 303. (In Russ.)
  32. Yalom ID. Treatment of love and other psychotherapeutic novels. M.: Independent Firm Klass; 2003. р. 73–77. (In Russ.)
  33. Koroleva EG. Deontology in psychiatry. Educational and methodological guide. Grodno: UO “GrGMU”; 2009. р. 30–36. (In Russ.)
  34. Kovalev VE. Magical thinking in modern society. In: Young Russia. Collection of materials of the XIII All-Russian scientific and practical conference with international participation. 2021, April 20–23. Kemerovo: Kuzbass State Technical University named after T.F. Gorbachev; 2021. p. 94719.1–94719.7. (In Russ.)
  35. Statsenko AD. Charisma as a key to understanding the nature of magical thinking: a philosophical aspect. In: Actual problems of modern science: historical, philosophical, methodological aspects. Collection of articles of the Regional Scientific Confe-rence of Young Scientists. 2021, May 07. Kursk: Closed joint-stock company “Universitetskaya kniga”; 2021. p. 64–69. (In Russ.)
  36. Keinan G. Effects of stress and tolerance of ambiguity on magical thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1994;(67):48–55. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.67.1.48.
  37. Olshansky DV. Psychology of the masses. St. Petersburg: Piter; 2001. р. 50–51. (In Russ.)
  38. Stoyanova IY, Semke VY, Bokhan NA. Pralogical formations in the adaptive-protective system in patients with mental disorders of the non-psychotic spectrum and in the norm (psychological model). Research Institute of Mental Health, Siberian Department. Russian academy of medical sciences. Tomsk: Ivan Fedorov; 2009. р. 52–53. (In Russ.)
  39. Suvorova OV. Magical thinking as coping — personality strategy: socio-cultural and ontogenetic aspects. Nizhny Novgorod psychological almanac. 2020;1(1):211–220. EDN: HDDZVZ. (In Russ.)
  40. Bayramova EE. Magical thinking and belief in magic in the structure of psychological defenses and coping strategies. Psychology. Psychophysiology. 2021;14(4):5–13. (In Russ.)
  41. Karagodina EG. Phenomena of altered perception in psychic healers: Psychopathological and sociocultural analysis. Social and Clinical Psychiatry. 1996;6(2):56–65. (In Russ.)
  42. Yung AR, Buckby JA, Cotton SM et al. Psychotic-like experiences in nonpsychotic help-seekers: associations with distress, depression, and disability. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2006;32(2):352–359. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbj018. PMID: 16254060.
  43. Jarosz M, Pankiewicz Z, Buczek I et al. Badania nad ksztaltowaniem sie proporcji “myslenie realistyczne — myslenie magiczne” w schizofrenii paranoidalnej. Psychiatria Polska. 1993;27(4):353–361. PMID: 8415996.
  44. Bayramova EE, Enikolopov SN. The study of magical thinking in persons with endogenous mental illness. Clinical and medical psychology: research, training, practice. Electron. scientific magazine. 2016;(4). http://www.medpsy.ru/climp/2016_4_14/article03.php (access date: 13.12.2022). (In Russ.)
  45. Spitzer RL, Endicott J, Gibbon M. Crossing the border into borderline personality and borderline schizophrenia. The development of criteria. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1979;36(1):17–24.
  46. George L, Neufeld RWJ. Magical ideation and schizophrenia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1987;(55):778–779.
  47. Eckblad M, Chapman LJ. Magical ideation as an indicator of schizotypy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1983;51(2):215–225.
  48. Turley D, Drake R, Killackey E, Yung AR. Perceived stress and psychosis: The effect of perceived stress on psychotic-like experiences in a community sample of adolescents. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 2019;13(6):1465–1469. doi: 10.1111/eip.12795. PMID: 30712294.
  49. Fonseca-Pedrero E, Santarén-Rosell M, Lemos-Giráldez S et al. Psychotic-like experiences in the adolescent general population. Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría. 2011;(3):155–162.
  50. Yung AR, Nelson B, Baker K et al. Psychotic-like experiences in a community sample of adolescents: implications for the continuum model of psychosis and prediction of schizophrenia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;43(2):118–128. doi: 10.1080/00048670802607188. PMID: 19153919.
  51. Moukas G, Gourzis P, Beratis IN, Beratis S. Sex differences in prepsychotic “prodromal” symptomatology and its association with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale active phase psychopathology in male and female patients. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 2010;(5):546–551. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2009.11.003. PMID: 20728014.
  52. Nelson B, Fusar-Poli P, Yung AR. Can we detect psychotic-like experiences in the general population? Current Pharmaceutical Design. 2012;(4):376–385. doi: 10.2174/138161212799316136. PMID: 22239568.
  53. Yung AR, Buckby JA, Cotton SM et al. Psychotic-like experiences in nonpsychotic help-seekers: associations with distress, depression, and disability. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2006;32(2):352–359. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbj018. PMID: 16254060. PMCID: PMC2632224.
  54. Turley D, Drake R, Killackey E, Yung AR. Perceived stress and psychosis: The effect of perceived stress on psychotic-like experiences in a community sample of adolescents. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2019;13(6):1465–1469. doi: 10.1111/eip.12795. PMID: 30712294.
  55. Bayramova EE. Comparative analysis of the manifestations of magical thinking in healthy individuals and those with endogenous mental pathology. In: School of young scientists “Schizophrenia: the present, a look into the future”. Materials of the III All-Russian Kostroma school of young scientists and specialists in the field of mental health. 2016, April 19–22. Moscow-Kostroma. M.: Mental Health Research Center; 2016. p. 162–165. (In Russ.)
  56. Bayramova EE. Magical thinking in the structure of cognitive processes in the norm and in endogenous mental illnesses. In: Eighth International Conference on Cognitive Science: abstracts. 2018, October 18–21. Svetlogorsk: Institute of Psychology RAS; 2018. p. 83–85. (In Russ.)
  57. Einstein D, Menzies R. Magical thinking in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and the general community. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2006;34(3):351–357.
  58. Fite RE, Adut SL, Magee JC. Do you believe in magical thinking? Examining magical thinking as a mediator between obsessive-compulsive belief domains and symptoms. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2020;48(4):454–462. doi: 10.1017/S1352465820000132. PMID: 32178750.
  59. Worthy DA, Gorlick MA, Pacheco JL et al. With age comes wisdom: Decision-making in younger and older adults. Psychological Science. 2011;(22):1375–1380. doi: 10.1177/0956797611420301.
  60. Beitel M, Ferrer E, Cecero JJ. Psychological mindedness and cognitive style. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2004;(60):567–582. doi: 10.1002/jclp.10258.
  61. Berle D, Starcevic V. Thought-action fusion: Review of the literature and future directions. Clinical Psychology Review. 2005;25(3):263–284. ISSN 0272-7358.
  62. Rachman S. Acognitive theory of obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1997;35(9):793–802. ISSN 0005-7967.
  63. Salkovskis PM. Obsessional-compulsive problems: A cognitive-behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1985;23(5):571–583. ISSN 0005-7967.
  64. Shafran R, Thordarson DS, Rachman S. Thought-action fusion in obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 1996;10(5):379–391. ISSN 0887-6185.
  65. Eddy CM, Hansen PC. Alexithymia is a key mediator of the relationship between magical thinking and empathy. Front Psychiatry. 2021;24:12. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.719961. PMID: 34504448. PMCID: PMC8421603.
  66. Wildt BT, Schultz-Venrath U. Magical ideation — defense mechanism or neuropathology? A study with multiple sclerosis patients. Psychopathology. 2004;37(3):141–144. doi: 10.1159/000078866. PMID: 15192318.
  67. Abitov I. Manifestations of irrational thinking in neurotic disorders. In: The Fifth International Luria Memorial Congress. (Lurian Approach in International Psychological Science.). KnE Life Sciences. 2018: 12–19. DOI 10.18502/2.
  68. Saenko YV. The study of superstition by the test method. Problems of the Russian legal system. Innovative processes in education. Taganrog: TIUE Publishing House; 2003. р. 16–18. (In Russ.)
  69. Mendelevich VD. Anticipatory mechanisms of neurogenesis. M.: Gorodets; 2018. р. 263–265. (In Russ.)
  70. Abitov IR. Cognitive features of persons suffering from neurotic disorders. In: Abitov IR, Akbirova RR, Sibgatullina LR, Rodionov MV. Cognitive studies: Emergence and complexity, cognitive practices. Proceedings of the VIII International interdisciplinary conference. Issue. 8. Ed. AP Lobanova, NP Radchikova. Minsk: BSPU; 2019. p. 100–107. (In Russ.)
  71. Abitov IR. Some psychological features of addicts undergoing rehabilitation under the program “12 steps”. In: Abitov IR, Akbirova RR, Sibgatullina RR, Pushin AA. Human psychology in conditions of health and disease. Materials of the VII International scientific-practical conference June 7, 2017. Tambov: Publishing House of TSU named after GR Derzhavin; 2017. p. 107–113. (In Russ.)
  72. Passanisi A, Craparo G, Pace U. Magical thinking and decision-making strategies among late adolescent regular gamblers: A mediation model. Journal of Adolescence. 2017;(59):51–58. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.016. PMID: 28582650.
  73. Armando M, Saba R, Monducci E et al. Sottotipi di “psychotic-like experiences” in un campionecomunitario di giovaniadulti: correlati socio-demografici e uso di sostanze. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2012;47(5):424–431. doi: 10.1708/1175.13033. PMID: 23160053.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2023 Chertischev M.S.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies