Have there been any psychological studies on the reliability of star signs?

Question

I am having huge difficulty finding a background study for an A2 Psychological Investigation. Does anybody know of any psychological study of the reliability of star signs?

Answer 1

I'm personally not sure.

If you read the horoscopes they are written in vague language that makes it releant for anyone reading it. Try reading a horoscope for someone and read one for a diffrent sign and see of they notice, they won;t. Most of the horoscopes printed use a kind of Ericksonian vague language that makes it difficult to not be relevant because o its lack of specifics.

The flipside of this is that we as humans are roughly 70% water and as we know the celestial bodies like the moon have a great effect on wate ron the planet.

As regards starsigns themselves, you may find that somepepole fit the profile of their starsign because of the power of suggestion, e.g. Leos know they must be fiesty. More in depth studies will find enough fiesty Piscians and Aquarians to buck the trend.

As far as I know, there has not been any certifiable study done to show the accuracy of this presupposition. But that doesn;t mean it isn't true. Maybe you wil prove a link!

Good luck with your studies.

Answer 2

Try the link below. It contains some detailed info on sun/star signs and personality traits (and lack of correlation). They include:

Dean G., Mather, A.
Recent Advances in Natal Astrology
p113
The Astrological Association
1977

Silverman, B., Witmer, M.
Astrological Indicators of Personality
Journal of Psychology, 87, 89
1974

Per Dalen,
Season of Birth
American Elsevier Publishing
1975

Pellegrini, R.,
The Astrological Theory of Personality
Journal of Psychology, 85, 21
1973

Answer 3

I did try some basic research (and have looked on and off for years) but have trouble finding any sort of extensive exploration of astrological personality reading. I don't think most scientists take it seriously enough to bother researching, to be honest.

As far as I can tell, any sort of personality reading based on the position of orbital bodies millions of miles away at one's birth isn't really accurate.

Usually any personality descriptions (or daily horoscopes) based on such readings are worded in a vague way that can be applied to anyone at any stage of life.

(This is based on my own experiences and what others have said when I've talked to them about it.)

The human mind also has the wonderful tendency to ignore items in the description that might or might not match up, but latch up on any items that can be somehow applied to one's situation.

Examine the Chinese horoscope concept and things become even more obvious. While there are obvious traits and generalizations that can be made about every "generation" in a given country (for example, Baby Boomers vs. Gen X vs. Gen Y, etc.) based on changes in the economy and technology levels, the Chinese zodiac attempts to give a rotational personality assessment stating that every arbitrary year/360 days lumps you and everyone born that year into a given category.

(Think about all the different personalities in your high school class; it doesn't even make sense.)

In the end, what I see is that astrological charts and the like are usually just the result of people's search for significance, hoping for some sort of external meaning that can be discovered and controlled in order to lay down a successful gameplan for one's life. I just haven't had any real success when looking at astrology for a consistent definition of people's personalities.

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Interestingly, I think horoscopes (like fortune cookies) can be good for something -- they basically offer a "thought for the day" that acts like a mini-devotional, something you can focus on, think about during the day, choose to work on. While they don't predict personality or the future, they can give some people a "direction for the day." (For what it's worth.)

Answer 4

Yes, there was one NIH funded one prob. still in Entrez pub med, it demonstrated only a seasonal correlation of birth with life outcome, which supports star signs only marginally.


http://www.hallisystem.bravehost.com (noncommerical)

Answer 5

Yes. But only as a statistical analysis. which is not much help. There is a link below which may help broaden your horizons. Regards Steve

http://www.toequest.com/?referrer=AdWords

Have fun

Answer 6

Well there probably hasn't been one as star signs are all a load of crap.