Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition

  • Stuart A. Vyse
Oxford University Press, 18.99, $25
Facial features of the sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric personality types (clockwise from top left), taken from Johann Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy (1789). They are reproduced in Believing in Magic The Psychology of Superstition by Stuart AVyse (Oxford University Press, 1899, $25). Vyse argues that scientific analysis of differences in personality traits — such as sensitivity to coincidence, fear of failure, a need for control — can help us to understand why superstition and belief in the paranormal are so prevalent today.