Do Superstitious Rituals Work; Or Just Illusions?

Many people feel strongly that superstitious rituals do work. These people usually have
some ritual or tradition that they believe helps them achieve or win something. For example:
when someone uses the same color pen every time to take a test, because they have taken a test
before and passed with that color pen. These rituals continue because sometimes, by coincidence,
the outcome is good or the same. B.F. Skinner (1948) demonstrated this by using eight pigeons
in his laboratory. He found that partial reinforcement got the best response because it persisted
after it had been lea…