*Guest Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady
**Associate Professor and Head, Department of Psychology, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady
Online published on 12 July, 2019.
People around the world believe in different fortune telling systems like astrology, palmistry etc because it seems to work for them. But previous scientific studies proved there is no science behind these predictions. It is observed that subjective validation error through Barnum statements may be a reason for this distorted perception. This study was an attempt to understand the role of psychology especially Barnum statements in subjective validation compared to the predictions based on moon sign information. Subjects were 300 volunteer students from different colleges from Kerala. Personal information about the subjects collected few days before the experiment. After collecting the initial data, investigator offered astrological reading about subjects from two great astrologers. The subjects were informed to read these astrological readings (actually one is a psychological one) carefully and to evaluate each one and score how much it is true about themselves. The correct responses are scored and evaluated with chi square test to find out the significant difference between two proportions. From the result, Barnum statements are found to be more relevant reading about the subject than moon sign predictions.
Barnum Statements, Moon Sign, Subjective Validation
