Why even smart people believe in zodiac signs and read Tarot

What is the Barnum effect

The effect was discovered back in 1949, during a psychological experiment. Bertram Forer handed out questionnaires to the students and said that based on the results, an experienced psychologist would make a portrait of their personality.

The next day, all participants were given the same description from an astrological book purchased from a newsstand and presented it as a psychologist's report. Students were asked to rate how it matched their personality on a five-point scale. The average score was 4, 6. That is, almost everyone believed that the description exactly matched them.

Were they all the same? Of course not, it's just that the description used very vague and general phrases that fit most people. For example, these are:

You really need to be loved and accepted by other people. Everyone needs it.
You are prone to self-criticism. Everyone criticizes themselves from time to time.
You consider yourself independent and disagree with other people without satisfactory evidence. No one wants to admit that he is easily led by someone else's opinion, even if this is so.

The color of the descriptions plays an important role: they should not only be vague, but also flattering. People are happy to ascribe good qualities to themselves, even if in fact they do not very much correspond to their personality.

Moreover, people do not notice that the descriptions are general, even if they are told about it. In one experiment, participants were asked directly whether the descriptions were appropriate for them or the population as a whole. And the majority chose the first option.

How the Barnum effect makes you believe in the signs of the zodiac

Descriptions of the zodiac signs are great for creating the Barnum effect. First, they are vague and general. Secondly, they are almost completely positive. For example, here is a description of one of the characters with horo.mail:

You are absolutely sure that you were born in order to make the world a better place, and in this you are almost not mistaken … But you become completely ruthless when someone tries to offend your loved ones.

Everyone wants to make the world a better place and they can't stand it when they offend their loved ones. Another example from the same site:

You take into account many factors - including those that are not noticed by representatives of other signs, and this is why you often spend time thinking. In addition, you are distinguished by good manners, friendliness and optimism.

Clairvoyance, good manners, friendliness and optimism. Such qualities are gladly recognized by every person. And further:

You are a complex, multifaceted and very attractive person. You are able to charm anyone, but you never do it for selfish purposes.

It's just honey. There is hardly a person who will read this and say: “Well, no, this is not about me. I am simple as a log, repulsive, and I use people all the time."

Vague generalities and something good are two components of success that make us believe in pseudoscientific classifications, and also in all kinds of predictions.

Why we trust psychics and coffee grounds

When evaluating predictions, we use the same method as when reading our characteristics - subjective or personal validation. If you believe that what is written or told applies to you, then instantly find a match. Psychics do not even need to strain too much: the client himself "guesses" what they mean, and happily informs about it.

Here's an example from real life. One friend of mine is sure that she got a real medium, because before looking into the future, he correctly described her past and named some facts from her biography. In particular, he spoke about her mother's illness, which he could not find out about. When my friend talked about this, at first it looked as if the medium had named a specific disease. Later it turned out that he simply mentioned "problems in the female part", and they are found in many women of age.

By this principle, you can say anything and get to the point.

For example, if a fortuneteller speaks of a "strong father figure", a person can equally well think about his father, if he exists, and about another man who has an influence on his life: a relative, boss, friend, benevolent neighbor, or anyone else. !

This works not only with mediums, but also with independent fortune telling on everything in a row. Not a single Tarot card, rune, and even more so the coffee grounds will not tell you about the "promotion to the general manager", but about the "unexpected pleasant surprise" - yes. At the same time, a surprise can be an increase, and an empty seat in a packed bus, and a second snickers accidentally dropped out in a vending machine with food. You yourself will discover this and associate it with fortune-telling. But what did not coincide will simply be forgotten.

Why do we forget what didn't match

If people remembered everything that was in the prediction, and each time they performed statistical analysis, their belief in the supernatural would fade away. But the opposite happens: if something comes true, it strengthens the faith, if not, it is forgotten.

And selective, or selective, memory helps in this. Scientists conducted an experiment: some people were asked to remember something, others - to forget. It would seem that we do not control our memory, but the EEG data proved the opposite - memories can really fade away at the will of a person. A few hours after the event, they begin to be suppressed, and the further, the more they are erased.

Scientists noted that the forgetting mechanism resembles the inhibition of a motor impulse. You can pull your hand back in time and not catch a falling cactus - and in the same way, you can forget something if necessary.

Thus, after reading the horoscope or fortune telling, you will simply forget everything that did not fit, and after a while you will not remember it even at gunpoint.

The question remains: why do we even want to forget the inappropriate and believe that everything read or told is true?

I think the answer lies in trying to gain a little more control over your life. Zodiac signs help you find out what to expect from strangers, fortune-telling - what to expect from the future. No one will wonder if he will be able to drink coffee today or call a friend. We control this. But going through an interview, finding a husband, finding out a person's attitude without asking him about it is a completely different matter.

Fortune telling, horoscopes, signs, phases of the moon, amulets - all this creates the illusion of control over your life, because whoever is warned is armed. But this is just an illusion, and it gives nothing but temporary relief and unjustified hopes.