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The Fault is not in the Stars

Susceptibility of Skeptics and Believers in Astrology to the Barnum Effect

Lawrence University

Deborah Gottesman

Ohio University

Jeffrey Jolton

Ohio University

Skeptics' and astrology believers acceptance of generalized personality descriptions of the self was explored. Descriptions were varied in two ways: (a) They were attributed to astrology or were said to be a set of statements that might or might not be self-descriptive, and (b) they were socially desirable or undesirable. Overall, believers were more likely than skeptics to accept descriptions as accurate. Favorable descriptions were generally seen as more accurate than unfavorable descriptions, with one exception -believers accepted a negative astrological description as much as a positive one. Skeptics as well as believers rated astrological descriptions as more accurate than identical non-astrological descriptions. Finally, skeptics who received favorable horoscopes, in contrast to all other groups, became significantly more positive in their opinions toward astrology. Implications for the popularity of belief in astrology are discussed.

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