'The Barnum Effect' is often used by those mentioned above to make you think that they are correct and have some physic power. The reality is they don't.....
The Barnum Effect is when a person is given vague statements and descriptions but they see it as a very accurate reflection of themselves. The statements are so vague that no one can disagree with that description. People don't seem to realize that the statements are vague and instead search for anything that may reflect them.
For example, psychologist Bertram Frorer had his students take a personality test. He gave them back a result with statements such as 'you can sometimes be critical of yourself' and 'at times you can be an extrovert, sociable, but at other times you can be introverted, reserved.' The students were satisfied with the description they got of themselves reporting it as very accurate. However, Frorer had actually given every one of them the exact same description. The statements in the description were so vague that they could apply to everybody at one point or another. This is how horoscopes work.
A horoscope for Scorpio, which I just looked up, contained statements like 'sometimes when the phone rings you already know who it is going to be' and 'articles about people's experiences that are similar to yours increase your understanding of that person'. Statements like this mean that reader is looking at it thinking it sounds exactly like them when actually it sounds like everybody. Statements of 'you are sometimes X but you can also be Y at time's are a dead give away....they are giving you both options so you can't possibly disagree.
Fortune-tellers use the barnum effect in relation to predictions about the future. They provide a sense of control over the unknown. Again, the fortune-teller will give a broad statement knowing that what they say will most likely happen to the person at some stage. Also, people tend to read too much into what they are told and see the statement as true for some reason that doesn't really match up to what they were told. Lets say you are told that something bad will happen, the next day you can't find your car keys. You will tend to think that this must have been the bad thing when realistically losing your keys isn't really that bad.
Is the horoscope that you are reading suddenly sounding very broad and vague? There are valid and reliable personality tests out there should you be interested in learning more about yourself.
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