Psychic Readings:The Barnum Effect
An Alternative Explanation for Psychic, Tarot or Astrology Readings
The Barnum or Forer Effect essentially provides the listener with what they want to hear. It may help explain why people are so impressed by ambiguous psychic readings.
Some psychic readings, tarot readings or astrology readings present very general information or personality descriptions that are applicable to most people. Surprisingly, people view the content as being an accurate, and unique, reflection of themselves without realizing that the same content could be applied to just about anyone. This phenomenon has been researched extensively in psychology and is frequently referred to in magic literature as a way of pretending to be psychic.
The Barnum Effect (a.k.a. The Forer Effect)
Back in 1949 the psychologist Bertram Forer published a study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology showing that people tend to accept vague and ambiguous personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves without realising that the same description could be applied to just about anyone. Forer gave out a psychology questionnaire to 39 students in his introductory psychology class. One week later he gave each student an identical personality description consisting of vague, ambiguous, and general statements, which came from a popular astrology book. Students were asked to rate the accuracy on a scale of 0 (poor) to 5 (perfect) thinking they had each received a unique description. The average accuracy rating was 4.3. A few of the Barnum statements are shown below:
- You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself.
- Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.
- At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved.
(Taken from The Elusive Quarry, 1989, p407)
Subjective Validation Effect
This effect has been given the name ‘Barnum,’ in respect to circus man P. T. Barnum’s reputation as a master psychological manipulator. It is also an example of what is known as the subjective validation effect. When people find personal and significant meaning in words or signs it is known as the subjective validation effect. It relies on a client, in a one-to-one setting with a medium for example, cooperating and being eager for the medium to succeed, reading into the vague and ambiguous statements and searching for meaning. The Barnum Effect is, therefore, a particular type of subjective validation since it is solely concerned with finding meaning in statements.
From a critical point of view, although over 50 psychology experiments have demonstrated the Barnum Effect, 33 of these have all used the same original 13 Barnum statements from Forer’s original study whilst the rest have tended to merely elaborate on them and not used any original statements. The Barnum Effect, therefore, may only partially explain why so many people accept as accurate, vague and ambiguous psychic readings. The remaining questions are why does the client become engaged in the interpretation and acceptance of the reading? Also what is the alternative explanation for other, more detailed, psychic readings? Perhaps a pseudo-psychic technique called ‘Cold Reading’ can help explain.
The take-home message at the end of the day, though, is to be aware of the Barnum effect the next time you read a horoscope or get your palm read. Give the reading to a friend and tell them it was written exclusively for them by a psychic you know. If they’re impressed, tell them about Barnum.
Further Reading
The Forer Effect (from ‘The Skeptic’s Dictionary’)
The Elusive Quarry: a Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research, Ray Hyman (Prometheus Books, 1989).
The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility, Bertram R. Forer, Journal of Abnormal Psychology (1949).
