Luck
In this view, the epithet "lucky" or "unlucky" is a descriptive label that refers to an event's positivity, negativity, or improbability.
Saying someone is "born lucky" may hold different meanings, depending on the interpretation: it could simply mean that they have been born into a good family or circumstance; or that they habitually experience improbably positive events, due to some inherent property, or due to the lifelong favor of a god or goddess in a monotheistic or polytheistic religion.
In Chinese and Japanese culture, the association of the number 4 as a homophone with the word for death may explain why it is considered unlucky.
Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate or luck, was popular as an allegory in medieval times, and even though it was not strictly reconcilable with Christian theology, it became popular in learned circles of the High Middle Ages to portray her as a servant of God in distributing success or failure in a characteristically "fickle" or unpredictable way, thus introducing the notion of chance.
These beliefs vary widely from one to another, but most agree that luck can be influenced through spiritual means by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain circumstances.
Abrahamic religions believe God controls future events; belief in luck or fate is criticised in Isaiah 65:11–12: But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter Belief in the extent of Divine Providence varies; most acknowledge providence as at least a partial, if not complete influence on luck.
Shamans and witches are both respected and feared, based on their ability to cause good or bad fortune for those in villages near them.
Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo, producing positive thinking and improving people's responses to events.
Luck in games involving chance is defined as the change in a player's equity after a random event such as a die roll or card draw.
A statistical analysis in the book The Success Equation attempted to elucidate the differing balance between skill and luck with respect to how teams finished in the major North American sports leagues.
Marketing and other discussions regarding lotteries often mention luck but tend to underplay the actual prospects of winning, which are usually millions to one against.
This practice has gone on for thousands of years, a common contemporary example is the coin toss at the start of a sporting event which may determine who goes first.
Richard Wiseman did a ten-year scientific study into the nature of luck that has revealed that, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune.
"[19] Researchers have suggested that good luck and good mood often co-occur (Duong & Ohtsuka, 2000)[20] and that people who believe themselves to be lucky are often comparatively happy and optimistic whereas people who believe themselves to be unlucky may feel comparatively anxious and depressed (Day & Maltby, 2003; Wiseman, 2003).
[22][23] Although previous studies have explored the antecedents and consequences of luck using attribution theory (e. g., Fischoff, 1976; Weiner et al., 1987),[24][25] personality variables (Darke & Freedman, 1997a;b),[26] and more recently a cognitive priming approach (DeMarree et al., 2005; Kramer & Block, 2008) research on the underlying mechanism of how luck influences consumer judgment and behavior has been noticeably absent in the extant literature.
Their research showed that priming participants subliminally with luck-related stimuli made them feel luckier and happier.
It was also found that the effects of priming luck using subliminal messages increased participants' estimates of the likelihood of favorable events, their participation in lotteries, the amount of money they invested in relatively risky financial options and these effects appeared to be mediated by temporary changes in perceptions of luck rather than by affect.
He taught that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate.
In the Sutta Nipata, the Buddha is recorded as having said the following about selling luck: Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams ... bringing good or bad luck ... invoking the goodness of luck ... picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gautama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood.
In Thailand, Buddhists may wear verses (takrut) or lucky amulets which have been blessed by monks for protection against harm.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 states (in a passage that describes events with different outcomes - e.g. a race, a battle, the gaining of wealth and favour) that "time and chance happeneth to them all".
Whilst the latter passage from Ecclesiastes suggests no things in human affairs are certain, the extract from Proverbs indicates that the outcome of something as apparently random as the rolling of dice or the tossing of a coin remains subject to God's will or sovereignty.
A very long discussion continues on how this prefixed destiny, fortune or luck defines attitudes and living behavior and so as to how much amends one can make in this predetermined fate by one's own contribution through positive actions in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
There is no concept of luck in Islam other than actions determined by Allah based on the merit of the choice made by human beings.
[39] Darke and Freedman (1997)[40] were the first researchers systematically to address directly both the concept and the measurement of belief in luck as a deterministic and personal attribute.
She found the positive and negative components of personal luck beliefs correlate highly, suggesting they are conceptually very close or in fact the same.
They developed and validated an internationally applicable scale to measure, respectively, belief in luck and personal luckiness constructs.
