Magical thinking is an actual term in psychology, despite sounding like something that’s simply a petty insult.

Magical thinking is when somebody believes their inner thoughts have a direct causal relationship with the external world. For example: hoping for sunshine actually caused a sunny day.

Examples of magical thinking

• Manifesting
• Prayer (to non-believers)
• Superstitions

Impact of Magical Thinking

#magical-thinking isn’t always just hand-wavy woo-woo. It can be linked to serious disorders like OCD and delusional disorders. A person’s quality of life may be suffering as a result of magical thinking. E.g. they may believe that if they don’t smile at everybody on the street, the world will end.