Luck of the draw for summer-born

Richard Wiseman has been studying the notion of luck for a decade. Picture / Richard Robinson

DUNEDIN - Wonder if you were born under a lucky star?

The jury's in, and New Zealanders born in summer months feel luckier than those born in winter.

More than 2000 people took part in a six-week long experiment aimed at establishing the correlation between birth month and luck in life.

Since May 24, thousands have completed a simple online questionnaire stating their birth date and how lucky they feel.

The results showed people born between September and February considered themselves luckier than those born between March and August.

Some 68 per cent of December-borns considered themselves lucky, making it the luckiest month.

The figure dropped to just 47 per cent in the unluckiest month, April.

British psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman will analyse the results in his keynote address tonight at the International Science Festival in Dunedin.

The results of Born Lucky 2 prove Professor Wiseman's theory that summer-borns are luckier than winter-borns.

Professor Wiseman conducted a similar experiment at the Edinburgh Science Festival in 2004, in which 20,000 people participated.

But being born in winter does not spell doom.

"It's a very, very small difference. In the real world you're probably not going to notice it.

"But theoretically it's really interesting because it suggests something's happening to the fetus, or very early in the developmental stages which is then linked to optimism - which is quite a controversial idea.

"Assuming it's a genuine effect, we don't know why that would be. One theory is that it's temperature related. It's warmer when they're born.

"Maybe that means that they're happy to explore more, or maybe there's some sort of effect on the fetus."

Professor Wiseman has been studying the notion of luck for a decade, pioneering social research into what has often been put down to fate.

Our thinking and behaviour played a definite role in determining our luck in life, he said.

Being in the right place at the right time, landing on your feet and having opportunities fall into your lap defined the lucky people he studied.

"It's not about winning lotteries," he said.

"That stuff is clearly chance."