Life: One Big Game of Chance?

June 14, 2007 — -- It's said that severely superstitious people approach all of life as a game of chance. Nowhere is that metaphor more obvious than in America's roughly 800 casinos. Luck, both good and bad, rules supreme.

Gamblers cling to an endless variety of lucky charms to help things go their way. Behavioral psychologist Donald Dossey, author of "Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun," has long studied luck and superstition.

"If you had luck once rubbing that lucky whatever, you're hooked. Lucky charms are hope-based. We're hoping for something good to happen, for lady luck to smile," Dossey told ABC's "20/20."

In this day and age when we're so scientifically advanced, it may seem silly to still believe in charms and superstitions, but Dossey said we all do. "We're feeling beings. We're not logical beings. We're not logical at all."

Dossey believes that superstitions are all about feeling like you're in control. Tiger Woods feels he's got more control if he wears a red shirt during the final round of tournaments. His female counterpart, first ranked Lorena Ochoa, carries a lucky coin and flips it before she putts.

And that kind of behavior, according to Dossey, is par for the course. "Athletes are highly superstitious. They're probably one of the more superstitious of the human creatures, because they're under stress."

Any time stress increases, so does superstitious behavior. Facing the stress of a new baseball season, the New York Mets shaved their heads earlier this year. This apparently bald attempt to produce good luck puts the Mets in good company.

"My research has shown that people with superstitions are usually higher intelligence, higher achievers…sports professionals, actors, high rollers, Wall Street," Dossey recounted.

No one agrees more than executive Peter Arnell. He runs a billion dollar marketing and branding business, and said he's devoted to his lucky charms. "Lucky charms give me confidence."