Why We Believe Horoscope
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Living in the 21st century means living in the age of technological wonders, allowing people to do things that would be considered magic a century ago. Television, the Internet, cell phones, space flights, super-fast trains, virtual reality, holographic and three-dimensional images, are just several examples demonstrating the incredible technological progress humanity has made during recent decades. Simultaneously, many people still believe in awkward and sometimes absurd phenomenons, like superstitions, magic, astrology, and so on. Especially this thesis refers to astrology; although many people claim that horoscopes for their Zodiac signs are “absolutely true,” science proves that it is just a matter of perception.
If you have ever read a horoscope for the Zodiac sign you were born under, you must have noticed that sometimes “predictions” about your personality traits, lifestyle, relationships, or career can somehow seem to be pretty exact. Fortunately, this does not mean that distant stars and planets somehow affect your destiny; much more likely, in such cases, you are experiencing what is called the Barnum effect.
Generally, the Barnum effect (also called the Forer effect) means people’s tendency to take vague and generalized characteristics of themselves as accurate and truthful (Paranormality). Or, in other words, it means that people accept characteristics that can apply to many people as personal and accurate only for themselves.
Here is a psychological characteristic composed of the statements used by the American psychologist Bertram Forer in the experiment that proved the effect. He provided each of his students with the following text, and each of the students recognized it to be his/her precise psychological characteristic.
“You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not
Living in the 21st century means living in the age of technological wonders, allowing people to do things that would be considered magic a century ago. Television, the Internet, cell phones, space flights, super-fast trains, virtual reality, holographic and three-dimensional images, are just several examples demonstrating the incredible technological progress humanity has made during recent decades. Simultaneously, many people still believe in awkward and sometimes absurd phenomenons, like superstitions, magic, astrology, and so on. Especially this thesis refers to astrology; although many people claim that horoscopes for their Zodiac signs are “absolutely true,” science proves that it is just a matter of perception.
If you have ever read a horoscope for the Zodiac sign you were born under, you must have noticed that sometimes “predictions” about your personality traits, lifestyle, relationships, or career can somehow seem to be pretty exact. Fortunately, this does not mean that distant stars and planets somehow affect your destiny; much more likely, in such cases, you are experiencing what is called the Barnum effect.
Generally, the Barnum effect (also called the Forer effect) means people’s tendency to take vague and generalized characteristics of themselves as accurate and truthful (Paranormality). Or, in other words, it means that people accept characteristics that can apply to many people as personal and accurate only for themselves.
Here is a psychological characteristic composed of the statements used by the American psychologist Bertram Forer in the experiment that proved the effect. He provided each of his students with the following text, and each of the students recognized it to be his/her precise psychological characteristic.
“You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not
References: “Barnum Effect.” Paranormality. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. Forer, B.R. (1949). “The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility”. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (American Psychological Association).