In almost any company, especially in women's A. Furnham, S. Schofield. Accepting personality test feedback: A review of the Barnum effect / Current Psychology, you can discuss how Libra is sociable and how Virgo is pedantic, and not receive serious criticism. Many educated people will attack you for mentioning homeopathy, but will not hesitate to name their zodiac sign.
Why is this classification so easy to accept despite the lack of scientific evidence? Say thank you to the Barnum (Forer) effect. Below we will look at how it helps us believe in any unproven classifications, fortune telling and predictions.
Forer's experiment
Back in 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer conducted a simple experiment. He gave his students a supposedly special test, the results of which would tell about their personality. Instead of a real psychological test, he gave everyone the same vague text taken from a horoscope. After reading it, he asked each student to rate the text based on their opinion of themselves on a five-point scale—the average rating was 4.26. This experiment was then carried out hundreds of times by other psychologists and gave approximately the same results.
During the experiment, Forer said that the student is disciplined and confident in appearance, can sometimes be an introvert, sometimes an extrovert, thinks independently, prefers variety, and sometimes feels insecure. The options may vary, but the essence remains the same.
Bertram Forer portrait of a personality. Professor Bertram Forer and a nightclub graphologist
In the late 1940s, Professor Bertram Forer was hard at work developing new ways to determine the numerical characteristics of a person's personality. One evening, Forer went to a nightclub, where he was approached by a graphologist who asked him to characterize his personality based on his handwriting. Although Forer refused the offer, this chance meeting awakened in him a desire to find out why the personal characteristics compiled by astrologers and graphologists make such a strong impression on so many people. And he decided to conduct an unusual experiment. It is curious that it was this experiment that was destined to glorify the scientist, and not his main work dedicated to the human personality, which everyone conveniently forgot about over time.
In an introductory psychology class, Forer gave the entire student audience the task of completing a personality test, that is, answering certain questions related to their personality. A week later, he gave them sheets of paper with personal characteristics compiled from the results of these tests, and invited each student to carefully study their own characteristic, rating its accuracy from 0 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and then raise their hand if it completely adequately determined his personality.
Let's turn back the clock and try the experiment again. Here is one of the characteristics that were given to students during Forer's research. By the way, you can also become a participant in this experiment: carefully read this characteristic and think about how accurately it matches your personality. So:
“You feel the need for love and respect from others, but at the same time you tend to be critical of yourself. Although you have some weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. You have significant potential that you have not yet taken advantage of. Outwardly disciplined and in complete control of yourself, internally you tend to experience anxiety and uncertainty. At times you are overcome by serious doubts about the correctness of the decision you have made or the action you have taken. You prefer some variety and change and are dissatisfied when you are driven into some kind of framework and restrictions. In addition, you pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept any claims without satisfactory evidence. But you believe that revealing yourself too openly to others is unwise. At times you are extroverted, outgoing and outgoing, while at other times you become introverted, distrustful and reserved. Some of your aspirations are rather unrealistic.”
Barnum effect
Despite the existence of the official author of the experiment, the effect itself is named after the American showman Phineas Barnum, known for his psychological manipulation.
The Barnum effect is the tendency for people to perceive as reliable personality descriptions that they believe were written exclusively for them, but in fact are vague and quite generalized.
The occurrence of this effect can be explained by the interest of each person in his own personality.
Conditions necessary for the Barnum effect to occur:
- The description should contain vague, abstract language.
- The description contains personality traits that suit most people.
- A person should consider this description to have been obtained from an authoritative source.
- The description should characterize the person in a positive way.
Only positive
A very interesting factor influencing the Barnum effect is positive affirmation. That is, the phrases that sound in horoscopes and predictions are usually positive. They are the easiest to believe. The human brain is designed in such a way that it is not always ready to accept self-criticism and not from everyone. If you tell someone about some negative character trait (which is actually present in this individual), then most likely he will deny it. Another thing is positive characteristics that are flattering to everyone who hears them.
What kind of people are prone to such trust?
It should be said that people's behavior during this experiment is influenced by so-called psychological artifacts. Artifacts are the result that arises in a psychological experiment as a result of the unplanned behavior of the experimented person, that is, when the researcher himself cannot predict all the factors that will influence the result.
For example, “helpful” people try in every possible way to please the experimenter, “cautious” people want to present themselves in the best light and avoid mistakes in every possible way, “selfish” people are simply trying to increase their self-esteem, “suspicious” people hide their true reactions, and “transparent” people are ideal for experiments. - they are ready to cooperate and show their true reactions and emotions.
Therefore, people who are not very happy, who are worried and irritated about something, overcome with anxiety, who want to get rid of depressing experiences and uncertainty, people who are looking for any support, are more likely to perceive this lengthy description as reliable. That is, a person must be mentally prepared in order to perceive such a positive and extensive description, because it helps him and gives him hope. By the way, such gullibility is equally inherent in both women and men.
Forer himself explained his effect by ordinary human gullibility, but even this explanation is quite vague. Vanity, thinking with desires and the desire to gain hope, the tendency to attach importance to everything that concerns the person himself - these are just some of the factors that influence the trust of the subject. The fact is that a person is inclined to trust even false statements if he considers them sufficiently acceptable or positive for us. Moreover, such descriptions trigger flights of fancy and we tend to interpret them as we wish. In some cases, you can even dilute positive descriptions with negative ones - it is quite possible that the person himself will filter out the negativity and focus only on the positive description of his personality.
Avoiding the Trap
- You must definitely pay attention to the person who is advising you or making predictions for you: how he is dressed, what his manner of communication is. As a rule, charlatans talk a lot and quickly. They are in a hurry and very impulsive.
- Never provide any information about yourself. The bare minimum is the name and date of birth; the astrologer must say everything else himself. If he does not name any specific events in your life, but beats around the bush, limiting himself to hackneyed, template phrases, rest assured: you have ended up with a scammer.
- A good astrologer or magician must first tell you what you already know: your marital status, number of children, area of work, existing problems that bother you. If he gives all the information only in general phrases or jokes, then, most likely, he is deceiving you. For example, an astrologer asks: “Are you married?” You answer in the negative, and he says: “I see that this is about to happen” (even though you don’t really have a fiancé), you should know that this is hardly a prediction, rather the Barnum effect. After all, any unmarried woman would like to have a family.
- Try to apply the prediction to another person. If what you heard can be easily said to anyone else, you are definitely being fooled.
- A good technique in the Barnum effect are phrases such as “You will succeed”, “If you persist or put in the effort, you will get what you want.” All these phrases are general and suitable for almost any person.
Areas of application of the Barnum effect
Many people are familiar with this effect and use it for their own purposes - often for their own profit (though not always). Compilers of astrological horoscopes, astrologers themselves, palmists, homeopaths, psychics, mediums, fortune tellers, mind readers, even marketers - all these people in one way or another use this effect for profit. Even if we assume that there are people with the gift of foresight, they are negligible compared to those who pretend to be so.
For example, so-called cold reading is simply a set of techniques that these people use to create the illusion that they know more about people than they actually do. But in this case, cold reading is a stronger technique than long description because it uses a person's physical characteristics to make assumptions. With cold reading, this is also all packaged in a foggy shell of descriptions and predictions, and since external factors are also taken into account, the effect is sometimes very strong.
Is it possible to protect yourself from deception?
Of course it is possible, and there are a huge number of ways. The first and most effective is to become a skeptic. Why rely on the forecast of strangers if you can decide your own destiny? Many skeptics are convinced that only a person is responsible for what happens to him or will happen in the near future. They do not look for excuses in the full moon or a weak zodiac sign, because they know for sure that if they made a mistake, then it is only their fault and shortcoming.
However, not everyone is born a skeptic. There are a lot of romantics and dreamers in the world. People live and believe that miracles surround them. It seems to them that, knowing their future, they will be able to prevent mistakes. They dream of finding out everything about themselves and their loved ones and preventing all bad events. Superstition adds color and new sensations to people's lives. Well, it's their choice. But in order for the dreamer not to fall for the bait of charlatans, you need to know a few very important things.
Can the Barnum effect be used for good purposes?
The Barnum effect smoothly follows the Rosenthal effect - a person’s tendency to behave according to prediction, description and prophecy. On the other hand, a person may feel different from who he really is, which will lead to a deterioration in his psychological state.
You should understand that many people take money from you or try to profit from their descriptions. In addition, after communicating with such people, you are left with an extremely unpleasant feeling, as if someone has crawled into your soul and trampled around there well.
The Barnum effect can be used for your own purposes (albeit in a modified form) in self-development. For example, affirmations are very good at helping you become more confident, calmer and more relaxed. Meditation does the same thing. There is no reason to listen to a stranger to increase self-esteem and list good qualities - you can achieve all this yourself.
If you have encountered this effect in your life, share your stories with us in the comments.
A fine line
As you know, people are very fond of mysticism, magic and predictions. For weak people, this is the only way to gain hope that everything will be fine. Predictions give them strength and confidence in the future. This is what charlatans play on, deceiving their victims with various fortune telling. It’s probably not worth denying that there may be something mystical and mysterious in the world, but all those horoscopes that we see every day on the Internet or read in magazines create more of a Barnum effect than are truly true. This also applies to most tests that can be found in print publications and on various websites. The materials compiled by experienced psychologists and doctors of science are in most cases far from the truth.
Bertram Forer 1948 astrology. Origin of the name and a little history
Two names for this effect are associated with the following names:
- The phenomenon received one name in honor of Phineas Taylor Barnum, a major entrepreneur and famous showman of the 19th century, who largely laid the foundations of modern show business. The term “Barnum effect” itself, of course, was introduced much later.
The second name is associated with the American psychologist Bertram R. Forer, who conducted a scientific experiment and with his help proved the existence of the effect in question. The experiment took place in 1948 and was outwardly quite simple. Forer asked a group of students to take a psychological test. After some time, he gave them a description of their personality and asked them to rate the accuracy of this characteristic on a five-point scale. The average score was 4.26 points. However, the essence of the experiment is that Forer did not analyze the answers of the psychological test at all - he gave all the students the same text, and nevertheless, the accuracy of the characteristics was perceived by them as quite high. Subsequently, similar experiments were repeated by other specialists - and with approximately the same high result.
