Magical Thinking: “The inaccurate belief that one's thoughts, words, or actions will cause or prevent a specific outcome that does not demonstrate a realistic relationship between cause and effect.”

About.com has Magical Thinking listed under Phobias:
“Magical thinking is a clinical term used to describe a wide variety of nonscientific and sometimes irrational beliefs. These beliefs are generally centered on correlations between events. Magical thinking is sometimes symptomatic of a mental disorder.”

Jed Bartlet: “C.J., on your tombstone it’s going to say ‘Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc.”

C.J. Cregg: “Okay, but none of my visitors are going to be able to understand my tombstone.”

Jed Bartlet: “It means, ‘One thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other.' But it’s not always true. In fact, it’s hardly ever true. We did not lose Texas because of the hat joke. Do you know when we lost Texas?”

C.J. Cregg: “When you learned to speak Latin?”

Jed Bartlet: “Go figure.”

NOTE: Even though Magical Thinking was maligned (by me) in today's Monday Morning Memo (Aug. 31, 2009,) and is universally maligned by psychologists, there are definitely uses for it, or variations of it, in business. I promise to talk about these uses in an upcoming Monday Morning Memo. Be looking for it. – Roy H. Williams