Barnum effect, aka Forer effect, is an interesting phenomenon in psychology that reveals some of the features of how we perceive information and evaluate its reliability. It is also curious where this phenomenon manifests itself: in cold reading, horoscopes, characteristics given by fortune tellers, astrologers, etc. Let's see what the Barnum effect is and how it works.
What is the Barnum effect
The Barnum effect is when a person perceives a very accurate description of his personality and character, which in fact is so general and statistically probable that it simply cannot be wrong. For the Forer effect to work, two main conditions must be met:
- characteristics in the description must be positive;
- the person must be sure that this description is made especially for him. In some cases, the accuracy of characteristics is also highly rated for the group to which the person belongs (for example, for a certain zodiac sign).
In addition, an important role is played the authority of the one giving the description: the higher it is, the more accurate the characteristic seems. But whether it was obtained “scientifically” (for example, as a “result of psychological testing” - see the description of Forer’s experiment just below) or completely unscientific (fortune telling by coffee grounds, prediction by a crystal ball, etc.) practically does not matter . If the fortune teller is authoritative for the “experimental person,” the Barnum effect will work.
Origin of the name and a little history
Two names for this effect are associated with the following names:
The text of the description that Forer distributed to the students is presented below under the spoiler. Would you agree with it if you thought it was written especially for you? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Why does the Barnum effect work?
This effect can be explained by several reasons.
- Firstly, when we read a description that was supposedly made especially for us, then We compare how suitable it is for us and not for anyone else. This is very logical, isn't it?
- Secondly, let us remember: an authoritative person for us says that this description was compiled for us - and on the basis of certain techniques that we obviously trust. Often like this a combination of factors clouds critical thinking and does not allow one to analyze the banality of the formulations.
- Thirdly, a person in principle tend to agree with positive characteristics about oneself- anyone likes to appear in a favorable light in their eyes.
The Forer Effect partially lifts the lid on why some people believe that characteristics received from astrologers, clairvoyants, mediums, etc. are accurate. However, this phenomenon mainly covers only the description of a person, while the work of the “specialists” listed above is often also associated with predicting the future. And when it comes to predicting the future, it is of interest
The Forer effect is named after the psychologist who studied this effect experimentally. This effect is also called the Barnum effect - in honor of the famous American circus performer. We will talk about what Phineas Barnum had to do with this effect a little later, but now let’s get acquainted with Forer’s historical experiment.
So, in 1948, Bertram R. Forer conducted the following experiment.
A group of people were asked to take a psychological test. People passed this test. The experimenter collected the completed tests and released the people for processing. In fact, no processing was done. After time had passed (supposedly spent processing the tests), Forer distributed to all participants in the experiment the same personality description, obtained, according to the experimenter, from the test results (in fact, the text was taken from an astrological magazine). Here is the text:
You have a strong need for love and respect from other people. You tend to be critical of yourself. You have great unrealized potential that you have not used to your advantage. Although you have some personality weaknesses, you generally compensate for them successfully. You have difficulty having regular sex life. While you demonstrate outward composure and self-control, you tend to experience inner anxiety and insecurity. Sometimes you are tormented by doubts about whether the decision you made was the right one or whether you did everything that was necessary. You are attracted to certain changes and variety, and you feel dissatisfied when they try to constrain or impose restrictions on you. You value your independence of thought and do not accept other people's statements unless they have sufficient solid evidence. You consider it unwise to reveal your soul too deeply to other people. At times you can be sociable, friendly, and sociable, while in other situations you may find yourself self-absorbed, distrustful, and withdrawn. Some of your claims seem quite unrealistic. Safety is one of your main goals in life.
Forer then asked each participant to rate on a five-point scale the degree to which the descriptive text was similar to their personality (“5” being the most similar). The average score was 4.26.
As we can see, the participants in the experiment believed that the description correctly described their personalities.
Please note: the above text consists of descriptions of personality, behavior that would fit to each to a person. Perhaps it is for this reason that this effect is called not only the Forer effect, but also the Barnum effect, because it is known that the circus performer and swindler Barnum liked to repeat: “we”ve got something for everyone.” ).
Forer's experiment has been carried out many times since it was first conducted: by different researchers and in different variations. This experiment is often used to demonstrate the Forer effect and, in general, a person’s gullibility, the imperfections of his social-perceptual processes, in particular, during trainings (at mine, for example). Interesting fact: Forer's experiment, used as a demonstration, was reproduced in the film "Red Lights", in this film, instead of a personality test, a natal horoscope was compiled for the participants in the experiment.
Later it became clear that a person will almost always consider a description of his personality to be reliable and correct, regardless of the truth of this description, if:
- This description was obtained by a method, technique, method that, in the opinion of the subject, allows one to obtain reliable data about his personality, i.e. comes from a source authoritative for the person.
- This description contains general, abstract, vague language.
- This description generally characterizes a person’s personality positively.
The Forer effect is based on a person’s acceptance of a description of his personality in the following pseudoscientific areas and situations:
- Astrology (character description by zodiac sign or natal horoscope)
- Chinese calendar (character description by year of birth)
- Palmistry (character description based on palm lines)
- Physiognomy (character description based on facial features)
- Determining character by name (books by B. Khigir)
- Determining character by eye color
- Determining character by blood type
- Vedic descriptions of personality (e.g. based on predominant guna)
- (description of the type of information metabolism, socionic tests)
- Psycheyoga (the pseudoscientific brainchild of A. Afanasyev (by the way, a 4th-class prop master!), loved by some adepts of socionics)
- Popular (vulgarized) personality typologies based on character accentuations (books by A. Egides (by the way, the teacher of N. Kozlov, the founder of the Sinton sect), who honors his student)
- Fortune telling with cards (including Tarot cards)
- Description of personality based on false tests (magazine, entertainment or, for example, J. Kellogg's mandala test)
- Description of a personality by a non-professional, illiterate psychologist
- Personality description by psychics (so-called “cold reading”)
- Description of personality based on so-called “representative systems” and “metaprograms” in
Of course, this is not a complete list, and the Forer effect extends not only to personality descriptions...
In conclusion, I would like to note that the Forer effect is a special case of such a cognitive bias as subjective validation. In addition, the Forer effect corresponds to a phenomenon called “hypochondriasis of medical students,” in which a medical student begins to see obvious signs of the disease that he is currently studying. Also, the Forer effect is somewhat reminiscent of egocentric thinking, when activated, a person, for example, entering a transport and hearing the laughter of passengers at that moment, thinks that they are laughing at him.
The Barnum effect lies in the ability of a person to perceive as completely reliable descriptions of his personality and assessments of a general nature, the method of occurrence of which is presented as scientific or ritual, magical.
People perceive generalized descriptions of their personality in specific ways. When some people read astrological portraits, they are inclined to trust them, convinced that these characteristics are absolutely suitable for them. However, these statements are general, vague and therefore suitable for everyone, since they do not actually describe anyone. Psychologists call such features of perception the Barnum effect - in honor of the famous former American entrepreneur.
The Forer effect is named after the psychologist who studied this effect experimentally. This effect is also called the Barnum effect - in honor of the famous American circus swindler Phineas Barnum, known for his penchant for deception and unscrupulousness in his means. This term - the Barnum effect - was proposed by an outstanding psychologist, one of the creators of the famous MMPI test, and a consistent critic of clinical predictions - Paul Meehl in his article "Wanted - A Good Cookbook."
So, in 1948, Bertram R. Forer conducted the following experiment.
A group of people were asked to take a psychological test. People passed this test. The experimenter collected the completed tests and released the people for processing. In fact, no processing was done. After time had passed (supposedly spent processing the tests), Forer distributed to all participants in the experiment the same personality description, obtained, according to the experimenter, from the test results (in fact, the text was taken from an astrological magazine). Here is the text:
You have a strong need for love and respect from other people. You tend to be critical of yourself. You have great unrealized potential that you have not used to your advantage. Although you have some personality weaknesses, you generally compensate for them successfully. You have difficulty having regular sex life. While you demonstrate outward composure and self-control, you tend to experience inner anxiety and insecurity. Sometimes you are tormented by doubts about whether the decision you made was the right one or whether you did everything that was necessary. You are attracted to certain changes and variety, and you feel dissatisfied when they try to constrain or impose restrictions on you. You value your independence of thought and do not accept other people's statements unless they have sufficient solid evidence. You consider it unwise to reveal your soul too deeply to other people. At times you can be sociable, friendly, and sociable, while in other situations you may find yourself self-absorbed, distrustful, and withdrawn. Some of your claims seem quite unrealistic. Safety is one of your main goals in life.
Forer then asked each participant to rate on a five-point scale the degree to which the descriptive text was similar to their personality (“5” being the most similar). The average score was 4.26.
As we can see, the participants in the experiment believed that the description correctly described their personalities.
Please note: the above text consists of descriptions of personality and behavior that would suit every person. By the way, the circus performer and swindler Barnum liked to repeat: “we have something for everyone.”
Forer's experiment has been carried out many times since it was first conducted: by different researchers and in different variations. This experiment is often used to demonstrate the Forer effect and, in general, a person’s gullibility, the imperfections of his social-perceptual processes, in particular during trainings. Interesting fact: Forer's experiment, used as a demonstration, was reproduced in the film "Red Lights", in this film, instead of a personality test, a natal horoscope was drawn up for the participants in the experiment.
Later it became clear that a person will almost always consider a description of his personality to be reliable and correct, regardless of the truth of this description, if:
- This description was obtained by a method, technique, method that, in the opinion of the subject, allows one to obtain reliable data about his personality, i.e. comes from a source authoritative for the person.
- This description contains general, abstract, vague language.
- This description contains characteristics that will suit most people.
- This description generally characterizes a person’s personality positively.
By the way, in the latter case we are talking about an independent phenomenon called the “Pollyanna principle”, according to which a person tends to accept positive descriptions of his own personality and consider them true.
It should be noted that the Barnum effect (Forer effect), of course, can manifest itself not only in a situation where a person reads this or that description of a personality. The Barnum (Forer) effect can also occur if this kind of description is presented to a person orally. For example, if you came to a psychic, astrologer, socionicist or some other similar “specialist”, this subject observed you, asked you tricky questions, made some notes in his notebook, and then began to describe your personality to you. And (oh, miracle!) You hear in his words correct assessments, correct conclusions and even deep penetration into those parts of your “I”, the existence of which you yourself were not aware of before meeting this “specialist”.
It is characteristic that the Barnum effect works only on positive statements.
Here is an example of a study of this effect. Australian professor and psychology teacher Robert Treven annually asks first-year students to write down their dreams or describe their vision of the famous “Rorschach blots.” After this, the professor, in great secrecy, hands each student the same “psychological analysis of personality” of 13 phrases, which Stagner used, and asks them to evaluate how successful the characterization was.
When students in front of the entire audience declare that each individual analysis made by the professor is correct, Treven allows them to look at each other's papers. According to the professor, such research is a good start to studying psychology courses.
An interesting point is that the strength of the Barnum effect is not influenced by the prestige of the astrologer or psychologist, and gullibility is inherent equally in both men and women.
R. Snyder studied satisfaction with the horoscope he compiled (one content for everyone). More satisfied were those whose astrologer asked the year, month, day and time of birth before drawing up a horoscope. Snyder also found that the results of an astrological personality analysis were considered very reliable by the subjects when there were five times more positive judgments than negative ones. If the description contained twice as many negative judgments as positive ones, then the subjects did not consider it reliable.
People who are worried, upset, anxious, not very happy, who are looking for an opportunity to get some support, want to get rid of depressing experiences and uncertainty are more likely to perceive descriptions as reliable.
Thus, the Forer (Barnum) effect is based on a person’s acceptance of a description of his personality in the following pseudoscientific areas and situations:
- astrology (character description by zodiac sign or natal horoscope)
- Chinese calendar (character description by year of birth)
- palmistry (character description based on the lines of the palm)
- physiognomy (character description based on facial features)
- determining character by name (books by B. Khigir)
- determining character by eye color
- determination of character by blood group
- Vedic descriptions of personality (e.g. based on predominant guna)
- socionics (description of the type of information metabolism, socionic tests)
- psycheyoga, (favorite of some socionics adherents)
- popular (vulgarized) personality typologies based on character accentuations.
- fortune telling with cards (including Tarot cards)
- description of personality based on false tests (magazine, entertainment or, for example, J. Kellogg's mandala test)
- description of a person by a non-professional, illiterate psychologist
- description of personality by psychics (so-called “cold reading”)
- description of personality based on so-called “representational systems” and “meta-programs” in NLP
Of course, this is not a complete list, and the Forer (Barnum) effect extends not only to personality descriptions.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the Forer (Barnum) effect is a special case of such a cognitive bias as subjective validation. In addition, the Forer (Barnum) effect corresponds to a phenomenon called “hypochondriasis of medical students,” in which a medical student begins to see obvious signs of the disease that he is currently studying. Also, the Forer (Barnum) effect is somewhat reminiscent of egocentric thinking, when activated, a person, for example, entering a transport and hearing the laughter of passengers at that moment, thinks that they are laughing at him.
You have a great need for other people to love and admire you. You are quite self-critical. You have many hidden opportunities that you have never used to your advantage. Although you have some personal weaknesses, you are generally able to overcome them. Disciplined and confident on the surface, in reality you tend to worry and feel insecure. There are times when you have serious doubts about whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer some variety; boundaries and restrictions make you dissatisfied. You also pride yourself on being an independent thinker; you do not take other people's statements on faith without sufficient evidence. You have realized that being too open with other people is not very wise. Sometimes you are extroverted, friendly and sociable, sometimes you are introverted, cautious and reserved. Some of your aspirations are quite unrealistic. One of your main goals in life is stability.
This is the description given to students by Bertram R. Forer. He presented it as a description of their personality, based on a psychological test that the students had previously taken. However, instead of a real individual description, he gave everyone the same vague text taken from the horoscope. He then asked each student to rate how well their personality description matched reality on a five-point scale—the average rating was 4.26. The assessment of the accuracy of students’ descriptions was also influenced by the authority of the teacher. Subsequently, the experiment was repeated hundreds of times.
This effect is called the Barnum effect (Forer effect, subjective confirmation effect) - a general observation that people rate extremely highly the accuracy of descriptions of their personality that they assume are created individually for them, but which are actually vague and general enough to they could just as easily be applied to many other people.
The effect is named after the famous American showman Phineas Barnum, who was known for his psychological manipulation and is credited with the phrase "We have something for everyone."
Factors influencing the effect:
1. The subject is convinced that the description applies only to him.
2. The vagueness of the characteristic makes it applicable to almost any person, and this makes the subject think about its validity.
3. The subject is convinced of the authority of the person who formulated the description.
4. The description mainly contains positive characteristics.
Many scientists partially explain the phenomenon of the widespread popularity of astrological horoscopes, palmistry, socionics and other pseudosciences with the Barnum effect.
A person loves to read and hear about himself. And he especially loves it when they say only good things about him and assume that a wonderful, happy and prosperous life awaits him. This is calming and allows you to feel relaxed, energized and confident. Bertram Forer and hundreds of psychologists after him tried to understand this psychological effect.
Forer's experiment
Back in 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer conducted a simple study. 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.
Barnum effect
Barnum effect- it is a feature of a person to perceive as reliable such descriptions of a person that, as 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.
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 a 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.
Therefore, people who are not very happy, who are gripped by 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 we consider 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 negative and focus only on the positive description of his personality.
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 to benefit. 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, the so-called is simply a set of techniques that such people use to create the illusion that they know more about people than they actually know. 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.
Can the Barnum effect be used for good purposes?
What smoothly follows from the Barnum effect is a person’s tendency to behave in accordance with predictions, descriptions and prophecies. 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 are taking money from you or trying 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, they help very well to 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.