Craps and Magic

TLDR

Cab driver‑crapshooters bet according to known probability yet also employ magical practices that appear irrational to outsiders, and without understanding their belief system their behavior remains incomprehensible. The study seeks to explain how these players simultaneously operate in rational and irrational dimensions of probability and magic, and to uncover the origins of their magical behavior and belief system. The authors attempt to reconcile Malinowski and Kroeber's theories of magic with operant conditioning principles. Understanding the players' belief system reveals that their magical practices are rational, logically consistent strategies to maximize control over dice and minimize others' control.

Abstract

Problem 1.-How can these players operate simultaneously in both the dimensions of rationality and irrationality, of probability and magic? These cab driver-crapshooters usually bet according to known probability ("rational" aspect of the game), yet they have many magical practices in their betting and shooting that make little sense to an outside observer (the "irrational" aspects of the game). Once one understands the players' basic belief system, their system of cause and effect, one then sees that their magical practices are also "rational," that is, the strategies these players usse to maximize their own control over the dice when they are shooting and to minimize the control of other shooters are logically consistent within their belief system. Without understanding their belief system, we do not understand their behavior. Problem 2.- What is the origin of their magical behavior and belief system? An attempt is made to reconcile theories of Malinowski and Kroeber concerning the origin of magic whith principles of operant conditioning.