Psychology of luck

This aspect of Prof Richard Wiseman's research explores why some people live charmed lives, and develops techniques that enable others to enhance their good fortune. The project began in 1994 and has involved hundreds of exceptionally lucky and unlucky people. These findings have been published in Prof Wiseman's bestselling book The Luck Factor. Current work examines how these ideas can be applied in organisational and business settings.

For additional information about this work, visit the links in the menu on the left, and download this article from Skeptical Inquirer magazine. (144k, PDF)

Some of Prof Wiseman’s most recent work on creating new ideas and lucky opportunities is described in his book, Did You Spot the Gorilla?. Visit the ‘Gorilla’ page on the left to read an article about this work from the Times.

External resources

Several writers and academics, including Edward de Bono, Charles Handy, and Prof Wiseman, were recently asked by the East of England 'Space for Ideas' campaign to contribute essays on creativity. To listen and read about their contributions, click here.

BBC Online article on Prof Wiseman's luck research

Forbes.com carries Prof. Wiseman's article on the psychology of opportunity here.

Fast Company article on The Luck Factor in business

Selected references

Chotai, J. & Wiseman, R. (2005). Born lucky? The relationship between feeling lucky and month of birth. Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 1451-1460.
Download PDF (148k)

Wiseman, R. & Watt, C. (2004). Measuring superstitious belief: Why lucky charms matter. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1533-1541.
Download PDF (132k)

Smith, M. D., Wiseman, R. & Harris, P. (2000). The relationship between 'luck' and psi. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 94, 25-36.

Smith, M. D., Wiseman, R., Machin, D., Harris, P. & Joiner, R. (1997). Luckiness, competition, and performance on a psi task. Journal of Parapsychology, 61, 33-44.