Talk:Magical thinking

I think "self-fulfulling prophecy" might be good for this. But I don't know enough about it. It's (very roughly) the idea that your mind tends to recall moments which reinforce teh prophecy and dismiss or overlook those instances where that is not the case. "Airplanes are more dangerous than cars - I can recal 10 airplane crashes recently" (out of how many flights? and how many car crashes can you recall when they are so truly mundane). I'd add it, but my understanding is simply too general on it.--Waiting for Godot 16:12, 10 September 2008 (EDT)

A "self-fulfilling prophecy" is actually one in which the prophecy itself sets in motion the events it predicts. For example, when the Oracle prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father, it led the father to expose the child, which led to him being raised elsewhere, which led... More often, it's used when the person hearing it specifically worries and frets and causes the thing to happen. If you tell a kid they'll never amount ot anything, and they never try, and thus don't, it'd be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Researcher 13:35, 19 November 2009 (UTC)