What is "magical thinking"?

What is "magical thinking"?

Marc Kern (Addiction Expert, Director of Addiction Alternatives) gives expert video advice on: How can time be a trigger for behavioral addiction?; Will I ever be cured of my behavioral addiction?; What skills do I need for a successful recovery from behavioral addiction? and more...

Magical thinking is something that we all do. Those with addictions just do it maybe a little bit more. Magical thinking is something that we evolve as children, and we look and we think about the world around us sort of in a magical way, not in a reality context. People, for example, who have gambling problems, engage in a lot of magical thinking i.e. that the odds really aren't what they are - that magically they're going to make the big win this time. With magical thinking it is very common to think that if I play this video game, and I'm winning the war, that in some way that I have become a more powerful person, a more confident person, when it only has come about in this virtual world.