Air attacks, train disasters, car crashes

People on whom fortunes always smile have a greater intuitive understanding of the laws of probability, a study claims.

The Psychology of Luckiness, by academics at the University of Hertfordshire, in the UK, is the biggest survey on phenomenon. A series of psychological tests were performed on 150 people, evenly divided between those who believed themselves to be lucky and those who thought they were not.

The findings showed lucky people were more successful at calculating the odds in mathematical problems and that women are more likely to think themselves lucky than men.

One of the four questions asked “A hat contains 10 red and 10 blue counters.  I pull out 10 and eight of them were red.

Am I more likely to get red or blue the next time?”

In total 46% of lucky people answered all questions correctly while less than a third (32%) unlucky people got them right.

Dr. Richard Wiseman, a psychology lecturer at the university, who complied the report, said “Lucky people were simply better working out the odds of as situation and understanding probability questions”.

Clive Jones, 41, from North London, has been a professional gambler since 1978, when he left the accounts department of P & O Ferries. To Jones, luck and deduction of probability, which he calculates on a computer for sporting events such as rugby and golf can trigger a winning streak. Calculating the odds, you are taking the edge off the casino or bookmaker and giving it to yourself. Luck is either there or it isn’t”.

Dr David Nias, a clinical psychologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, who made a study of gamblers, said, “Emotionally, gamblers do believe in luck, but many will argue that they make their own luck, calculating the odds and studying form books”.

In Wiseman’s tests, more than a third (37%) of lucky people believed that they could control their luck.  By contrast, far fewer unlucky people style said they had the power to change their luck, they also tend to be more accident prone.

Wiseman detected a difference in mental attitude between lucky and unlucky people: the former were found to be more optimistic, possessed greater self-esteem and were more likely to remember good times than bad.

The study included a 43 year old woman who fell head first into a fire at three, was gassed at five, toppled into a river at seven, and ran in front of a bus at nine.  Despite this, she considered herself lucky to have emerged without serious injury.

Another “lucky” woman fled to Burma to escape Japanese soldiers, avoiding air attacks, train disaster and car crashes, often by minutes or hours. Later in Britain, she was twice rescued by strangers walking past after being confronted by rapists.

The link between luck and the ability to calculate the odds is highlighted by Mel Eddison, 50, a Manchester businessman. When presented with a commercial deal, he makes his mind up in a flash. “I have an instinct for working out risk against return. I have always had it” he once said. Eddison has also always been lucky. Success from a string of businesses was crowned by a £2.5 million UK Lottery win in 1995 against odds of 14 million to one.

So I would imagine that the only thing there is to learn is that, you should always follow your mind and select the numbers which you know are going to bring you the luck that comes to all of us in our lives in many different disguises.

If you wish to use this article please include the "About the Author"