“Resemblance and contagion” refers to the universal tendency in human reasoning to view similar objects as connected and objects that come in contact once as always in contact. This thinking is the basis of taboos, superstitions, and folk magic. It is an ingrained aspect of human cognitive processing that helped our ancestors survive but can hinder scientific thinking.
“Resemblance and contagion” is an umbrella term used to refer to ways of thinking that view similar objects as metaphysically connected (resemblance) and objects that come in contact once as always in contact (contagion). The term is used in cognitive psychology and anthropology for these universal tendencies in human reasoning. Anthropologists have investigated hundreds of cultures; including primitive tribal cultures essentially unchanged for thousands of years, and found similarity and contagion to be completely universal.
Similarity and contagion-based thinking are often the basis of taboos, superstitions, folk magic, and folk theories about the way the world works. For example, to curse someone, one could obtain a lock of the target’s hair and ceremoniously taint it. Because the hair originates from the person and is even grown from them, it is thought to retain that person’s essence after separation. What happens to the hair, will happen to the owner of the hair. This principle is most blatantly symbolized through voodoo dolls, but more subtle variations of similarity and contagion exist in cultures around the world. Similarity and contagion can be both positive and negative: if we get a used guitar pick from a rock star, we might think it will increase our ability to play.
In one experiment, graduate students refused to drink tea that had been mixed with a disinfected fly swatter, even when offered money to do so. This and other similar experiments and observations show that similarity and contagion-based thinking are not just a cultural holdover from more primitive times, but an ingrained aspect of human cognitive processing that is encoded in our genes. Theories based on similarity and contagion are heuristics – that is, rules of thumb – that helped our ancestors survive in the harsh world in which our species evolved. More often than not, these heuristics were helpful: For example, it’s really stupid to consume a fresh-looking piece of food if it’s in a pile of rotting food. But under different conditions, especially under modern conditions, these heuristics no longer apply. Similarity and contagion-based thinking are not necessarily scientific and can get in the way of science in many cases.
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