superstition
2006-10-18 | 10:56 p.m.

Okay. Two situations. Two maybe irrational reactions. One question. See what you think.

Situation one:
Person X decides to get a flu shot. She's never had a flu shot before. That winter, she gets twice as many colds as she usually gets. She concludes that the colds are due to the flu shot, and decides not to get one the following year. For the next few winters, she does not have more than her usual number of colds. This reinforces her belief that the flu shot gave her colds, and decides that she will never get another shot, ever again.

Situation two:
Person Q has been using MSN Messenger for a few years. For about a week, every time she signs in, the program crashes. She upgrades to Windows Live Messenger, and the crashes stop, although once in a while a line of conversation gets eaten. Although no one else she knows has ever had the problem she had with the old MSN Messenger, and although she was using that version for months without a problem, she is sure that it was upgrading to Windows Live Messenger that fixed the problem, and she is unwilling to even consider going back to the old MSN to avoid the bugs in Windows Live.

Now, the question:

Who is being silly and superstitious?

One? Both? Neither?

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