Random Speculations About Superstition

Just saw a book regarding some superstitions. It got me pretty interested.

Somehow, superstition seemed to me like it was some form of "prejudice", in a very loose way. People believe in certain superstitions because of certain ideas that they have in their minds as a result of comments from other people, or even self experience. Sometimes, people make generalisations and blame something for bad luck. Perhaps the first person to say "Friday the 13th is a day is bad luck" is someone who has had a terrible day from dawn to dusk.

Superstitions are not (always) true, yet they still persist through the times of science and whatnot. Why is it so? Do people wish to have something they can do to make themself feel confident? Is luck merely an inner feeling that makes people less fearful and more confident about their actions? Why, then, is there actually a need for superstition, if you merely want a boost in confidence?

Personally, I find that superstition is a good way to make one cautious or confident. When you are told that you are unlucky for the day, one would be careful. If you were told that you are lucky, you would be very optimistic and confident about everything.

So far, I have been talking about the positive things of superstition, but like everything else, there is always a down side. People sometimes take superstitions way too far. The results are sometimes rather dire, but such instances are rare nowadays, as compared to the times when Science was still developing.

Superstitions are a pretty cool thing to believe in, but as long as no one takes it too far, its ok. Also, many superstitions go against Science as we know today, lets take an example:
"Blue Flames in the Fire - spirits are in the house"
We now know that blue flames are non-luminous flames, which are much hotter and whatnot. However, such superstitions were created who-knows-how-long ago. This just goes to show that such superstitions are wrong, but it won't hurt to just believe it xD