We all know our zodiac sign and have all read the horoscope to see how our future will go or how compatible we are with another person.
In reality, none of this is true and is based on elementary psychological principles.
How it works
"Horoscope" comes from the Greek; "hōroskópos", meaning "to observe the time".
It is so called because in astrology the position of the stars at birth allow astrologers to predict a person's personality and future.
The astrological chart is divided into 12 parts, the 12 signs representing the different positions of the sun along the ecliptic, that is, the apparent movement of the sun in the sky throughout the year. In addition, the signs are grouped into 4 elements (water, air, fire or earth) and "houses" (divisions of the sky representing different areas of life) are used for more detailed interpretations.
In this way, a birth chart with a wealth of information is created.
Evidence of it working?
None.
Of the numerous studies that try to analyze how accurate horoscope personality descriptions are, none have found that the probability of accuracy is greater than pure chance. To give an example: Hartmann et al. in 2006 compared the personality of more than 15,000 people 1 to 1 and tried to see if the horoscope descriptions were close to the psychological personality studied.
It was concluded that if he got it right it was pure chance.
Why then do so many people claim that the horoscope and their birth chart work?
Simple.
Psychological explanations
There is a lot of evidence that confirms this.
Forer Effect
People tend to accept generic descriptions of us as if they were specific. This phenomenon was first studied by psychologist Bertram R. Forer in 1948.
Forer handed out a fake personality test to his students and then gave them each a personality report based on the fake test. What the students didn't know, however, was that they all received the same report.
Forer asked his students to rate how well they thought the personality report matched them on a scale of 0 to 5. The score was 4.26.
85.2% accuracy rate.
Not bad for a dummy test.
"You need other people to accept and admire you."
"You are a person who is critical of yourself."
"You are aware of your shortcomings and try to compensate for them."
"You are sometimes very sociable but always need space for yourself."
These descriptions are so general that they can apply to almost anyone.
Confirmation bias
This is one of the most common and powerful human biases; we have previously seen how this bias affects our creativity.
We tend to look for information that confirms our beliefs and undervalue information that questions them. When receiving generalizations, if you trust astrology, you unconsciously look for traits or data that confirm what astrology indicates and undervalue the cases that it does not get right (Plous, 1993).
Law of Authority
As we saw very recently, in The Art of Influencing Others, if a person is a respected authority we tend to trust his or her statements much more than if he or she were not, even though he or she may be wrong or it may be a subject open to debate (Bickman, 1974).
Astrologers sell themselves as experts, with years of experience and hundreds of satisfied clients.
It's just another way to convince you and the same one used in TV advertising.
See you soon in another letter! Thanks for always being there 🙏.
References 📚
Bickman, L. (1974). The Social Power of a Uniform. Journal Of Applied Social Psychology, 4(1), 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1974.tb02599.x
Forer, B. R. (1949). The fallacy of personal validation: a classroom demonstration of gullibility. Journal Of Abnormal And Social Psychology, 44(1), 118-123. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0059240
Hartmann, P., Reuter, M., & Nyborg, H. (2006). The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study. Personality And Individual Differences, 40(7), 1349-1362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017
Plous, S. (1993). The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making. McGraw-Hill Education.
I believe that daily personal horoscopes might not be that accurate, and many just junk, but the detailed, not vague at all description of what I am like, from my birth chart, is so precise it brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it. And I believe it is for many.
What you try to destroy in one short article has thousands of years of history and is linked more with our human capabilities of intuition, spiritual guidance and clairvoyance than modern science.
It’s like saying the spirit world doesn’t exist when we are legion who have had contact with that realm on many occasions, despite its existence being unprovable by science.
Lastly, why you’re trying to destroy something that gives hope and courage to thousands upon thousands of people around the world, without hurting anyone is beyond me.
The world is filled with real problems to fix.
Maybe you should write an article that
proves that separation is an illusion to help end war and conflict, or anything that would truly help humanity in these trying times instead of trying to discredit us “ tea leaves readers” who are just using our intuition and guidance from the unseen realm to light our way. Yes, like in any field there are hustlers and fakes, but there are also genuinely kind souls who just want to help their fellow sisters (and brothers) who need a little nudge on their on personal treks in this world.