The Barnum effect or the Forer experiment - what is it?

Belief in the miracle of predictions and people who can tell everything about you (psychics, astrologers, palmists) - is an inalienable need of most people. A person has always been interested in his own destiny: what was he born for, what innate traits and talents will help him to realize himself. A glance behind the veil of the mystery of the future is awe.

What is the Barnum effect?

The last pages of popular prints are full of horoscopes, characteristics of different signs of the zodiac , predictions, so firmly embedded in our lives, that a magazine or a newspaper without them seems "fresh." Various tests, as a result of the responses to which, a person is told that he learns the most authentic about himself. The effect of Barnum is a person's inclination, related to his sincere interest in his destiny, to believe in the truthfulness and accuracy of common, banal assertions.

The Barnum Effect in Psychology

Ross Stagner, an American psychologist, became interested in this phenomenon and decided to conduct an experiment. He proposed to fill 68 personnel with a psychological questionnaire, which makes it possible to compile a psychological portrait of a person . Stagner took 13 frequently encountered phrases from popular horoscopes and compiled personal portraits of them. The result was stunning: one-third of the participants noted the striking reliability in the description, 40% - it is true and almost none of the personnel officers noted the description as "completely untrue".

The Barnum-Forer effect - the effect of subjective confirmation - is a socio-psychological phenomenon named after the popular interpreter, the circus artist F. Barnum, who entertained the American audience with various kinds of hoaxes. He proposed the term Barnum effect - Paul E.Mil, the creator of the multifactorial personality test (MMPI). F. Barnum believed that there are many simpletons in the world, and everyone can be offered something. B. Forer took up this phenomenon experimentally.

The Forer experiment

Bertram Forer in 1948 instructed a group of people to perform tests, and then the experimenter released them while processing the results, but there was no processing. To newly arrived people, Forer distributed the same result of the description of the person, taken from the astrological journal. The Forer effect in this case worked on the positive aspects in the description. The score of 5 points was considered as fully consistent with the description of the test results. The average score among the subjects was 4.26.

The text contained phrases that almost all people respond:

  1. "You need a need for respect."
  2. "Sometimes you are welcoming, sometimes reserved."
  3. "Look like a disciplined and confident person."
  4. "You have great potential."
  5. "Sometimes you are covered with doubts."

The Barnum Effect - examples

People seek to know their destiny and for this they go to psychics, fortune tellers. For some, it's just entertainment, others are also afraid to step step without reading the horoscope. Basically, these are disturbing individuals, for whom the future is vague. One of the important factors of belief in the truth of descriptions is the "popularity" or "popularity" of a specialist (astrologer, pseudo psychologist). The effect of Barnum in psychology is an example of the fact that it works only on positive predictions and it is actively used by specialists in such areas as:

Barnum effect - horoscope

The effect of Barnum astrology has been actively and long used to describe the signs of the zodiac. For today - it is considered an everyday norm to make a natal horoscope for yourself and your loved ones with a professional astrologer. The value of a horoscope - the high cost of a service / the personality of a specialist / specific terms (planets in the seventh house, and so on) - increases the level of people's confidence in the compiled unique horoscope, which naturally forms the events inherent in it and tends to come true.

The Barnum Effect as an Instrument of Social Engineering

The effect of Barnum or the effect of subjective confirmation manifests itself in full, with the presence and involvement of many factors. Psychologists (R. Hyman, P. Mil, R. Stagner, R. Treveten, R. Petty and T. Brock) who studied this phenomenon, identified the most important support points of the effect: