Can’t leave my luck on the shelf

Abstract

While a series of traditional research have demonstrated irrational beliefs about luck in relation to the illusion of control model, more recent works have started to suggest that these beliefs about luck are based on the law of contagion. In the current research, we propose that not only physical contact, but also time contiguity will influence the perception of transferred luck, leading participants to prefer contiguous time when utilizing their luck. Consistent with our prediction, participants who believed that they had a lucky dream were more willing to buy a lottery as soon as possible compared to those who believed that they had an unlucky dream (study1& study2). More importantly, this effect was only exhibited on participants who believed that luck can be transferred to other people or events (study2).