We often think of Murphy’s Law when we experience minor bad luck, like missing a shuttle bus or getting in the wrong line. However, this comes from the illusion that we feel unfortunate when in fact it’s a natural phenomenon that has a probabilistic and scientific explanation. In addition, negative events are recognized by the brain as important information and remembered for a long time, reinforcing the feeling that Murphy’s Law applies only to us. In reality, unfortunate events happen to everyone, so there’s no need to be pessimistic.
Murphy’s Law
On days when I leave the house later than usual, the line for the shuttle bus is much longer than expected, the shuttle bus doesn’t arrive after waiting for a long time, and the doors close in front of me. I often wonder why bad things seem to happen to me. For example, in addition to missing the bus, I often spill coffee or untie my shoelaces on important days when I’m in a hurry in the morning. When standing in line at the restroom or grocery store checkout, the line you’re in seems to be the slowest, even if it’s the shortest one. And when you accidentally drop a piece of bread with jam on it, why does the jam always touch the floor?
These things remind people of Murphy’s Law, which states that bad things always happen to you. Murphy’s Law was first noted in 1949 by Captain Murphy, who was working at an Air Force base. He said, “If there are more than one way to do something, and one of them can get you into trouble, someone will always use that way.” It’s been used to mean that you should always think about the bad things that could happen and have a plan in place. Nowadays, however, Murphy’s Law is used to mean that when bad things happen to you, they only happen to you. Obviously, you can’t be the only one who has a string of bad luck, but everyone can relate to this situation.
Small, everyday bad luck
In fact, Murphy’s Law is more often found in small, everyday misfortunes than in big disasters. For example, you’re getting dressed for an important presentation in the morning and a button falls off or you spill your coffee. When these bad things happen one after another, we think of Murphy’s Law and realize, “I’m not the only one who suffers from this misfortune. People often use Murphy’s Law as a tool to explain situations where it seems like something is bothering them. But there are definitely scientific and psychological factors behind it. So, what makes us feel like unfortunate things keep happening to us?
The first reason is that people believe that unfortunate events happen to them when in fact they are not unfortunate events with low probability, but rather natural events that are explained by probability and science. Professor Robert Matthew of Birmingham, UK, proved that Murphy’s Law is not just bad luck, but a probabilistic outcome. He explains this phenomenon by using the example of standing in line at a supermarket checkout. If the number of checkout lanes is 10, the probability that the line you’re in will shorten the fastest is 1/10. However, there is a 9/10 chance that the other lines will shorten faster. Therefore, it is probabilistically natural for me to experience a 90% chance that the line I’m in will shorten faster than the one I’m in.
By the same token, when you’re shopping at the grocery store, the chocolate bar you bought to eat on the way home is always at the bottom of your cart, so you don’t take it out on the way home. This is due to a scientific phenomenon whereby a small, bulky item such as a chocolate bar is physically mixed in the cart and moves between bulky items, eventually ending up at the bottom. This doesn’t have to mean that you’re unlucky and can’t enjoy the chocolate bar.
Focus on negative events and confirmation bias
The second reason is a psychological one: people are more affected by unfortunate and unfortunate events, even if they happen equally, and they value them more and remember them longer, while things that go well are easily forgotten. Murphy’s Law is caused by confirmation bias, which psychologists argue is the tendency to recognize memories of misfortune more strongly than memories of good fortune. Contrast this with Sally’s Law. Sally’s Law states that only things that happen by chance in your favor will continue to happen to you. If life is full of good and bad things, there’s a 50% chance that something bad will happen.
Murphy’s Law states that when things that we want happen naturally, the brain’s structural features recognize them as unimportant information and quickly fade from memory. Unexpected information, on the other hand, is perceived as important and is remembered for a long time. This makes the unfortunate events feel like they have a very high weight. When this experience is repeated, people attach greater significance to Murphy’s Law, and they perceive themselves as repeatedly experiencing misfortune.
There is no rationality in a world where only bad things happen to you. It’s just that for the two reasons listed above, we either perceive it as if something bad happened when it should have, or we don’t remember the good things that happened. You don’t have to be pessimistic and think that only bad things will happen to you. Everything happens fairly by cause and effect, so instead of thinking only about the unfortunate things that happen to you, you need to make rational judgments and be grateful for the good things that happen. As Cooper, the main character of the movie Interstellar, once said. “Murphy’s Law doesn’t mean that bad things happen, it just means that what happens, happens.” This means that when something negative happens to his daughter Murphy, it doesn’t mean that only negative things will happen to me, but that something will happen, albeit with a small probability, and that I should think ahead and prepare for these negative events.
