ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the aspect of magic's "reality" that rests on the simple fact that countless people have believed in it and many continue to do so. It examines the ways in which magic might "really" work, producing at least some of the effects that it claims to, although not necessarily by the mechanisms that its practitioners assert. The chapter explores the reasons why people might choose to believe in magic even in the face of evident failures or despite powerful arguments made against magic's reality. It also focuses on how modern psychology has dealt with magic and whether there may be something inherent in the human brain that lends itself to believing in magic despite all our modern doubts. Humanity's continued belief in magic has fascinated modern psychology for almost as long as it has modern anthropology.
