What is the Barnum Effect?
The Barnum effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people will highly identify with some vague, general, and universal personality descriptions, thinking that these descriptions are specially tailored for them, but in fact these descriptions can apply to many people. The name of the Barnum Effect comes from a famous American circus owner, Phineas Taylor Barnum (PT Barnum). He was good at using people’s psychological cues to attract the audience, and was considered to be ’every minute.’ Creator of ‘There Was a Fool Born’.
How was the Barnum Effect discovered?
The Barnum Effect was first discovered by American psychologist Bertram R. Forer through an experiment in 1948. He conducted a psychological test on 39 students and told them that each of them would be given a personality analysis report based on the test results. A week later, Fowler gave each student a report and asked them to rate its accuracy from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest). In fact, every student received the same report, which contained the following 13 statements:
- You have a strong need for other people to like and appreciate you.
- You tend to criticize yourself.
- You have a lot of untapped abilities that can be turned to your advantage.
- Although you have some character flaws, you are usually able to make up for them.
- Your sexual conditioning is causing you some problems.
- You usually appear to be disciplined and in control externally, but internally you tend to feel worried and insecure.
- You sometimes doubt whether you have made the right decisions and things.
- You prefer a certain degree of variety and resent being restricted.
- You consider yourself an independent thinker and will not accept statements from others that lack sufficient evidence.
- You believe it is unwise to be overly candid with others.
- Sometimes you are outgoing, kind, and sociable, and sometimes you are introverted, cautious, and conservative.
- Some of your wishes are often unrealistic.
- One of your main goals in life is safety.
Fowler found that the average rating given by the students was 4.26, indicating that most of them thought the report was a very accurate reflection of their personality. After the scores were submitted, Fowler told the students that the reports they had received were identical and that he had excerpted them from an astrology book.
What is the impact of the Barnum Effect?
The Barnum effect can explain why many people believe in some pseudosciences, such as astrology, divination, psychological testing, etc., because these methods all use people’s psychological cues to provide people with information that seems professional but is actually ambiguous. , making people feel known and cared about. The Barnum effect can also be used in marketing and advertising, by using some common, positive, and attractive words to describe products or services, making consumers feel that these products or services are tailor-made for them. Increase their desire to buy.
The Barnum Effect also has some negative effects, such as making people lack self-understanding and critical thinking and blindly accept some unreliable information and suggestions, thus affecting their decision-making and behavior. For example, some people may give up some opportunities or make some wrong choices because they believe in horoscopes, some people may spend a lot of money or make some dangerous moves because they believe in fortune tellers, and some people may do so because they believe in psychological tests. And ignore your true feelings or change your personality.
How to avoid being affected by the Barnum Effect?
To avoid being affected by the Barnum Effect, we need to cultivate our own critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities. We should not easily believe in information and suggestions that have no scientific basis and evidence. We must learn to distinguish between true and false, good and bad, and have a clear understanding of ourselves. and objective understanding, and do not be fooled by some vague and general descriptions. We can also use the following methods to test whether we are affected by the Barnum effect:
- Consider the opposite: When we see some information that describes our character or destiny, we can try to think about whether the opposite of the information can also apply to us, or whether it can also apply to other people. For example, ‘You very much need other people to like and appreciate you.’ Can this sentence also be said as ‘You very much don’t care what other people think of you?’ Or can it also be said, ‘You really hate what other people say about you’? If the answer is yes, then this sentence is a typical Barnum statement and there is nothing special about it.
- Compare frequency: When we see some information describing our character or destiny, we can try to estimate the frequency or probability of this information appearing. For example, ‘Sometimes you are outgoing, kind, and sociable, and sometimes you are introverted, cautious, and conservative.’ How many people does this sentence appear to you? Do many people have this characteristic? If the answer is yes, then this sentence is a typical Barnum statement and there is nothing special about it.
- Request specificity: When we see some information that describes our character or destiny, we can try to request more specific and detailed information from the source that provided the information. For example, ‘You have considerable untapped potential that has yet to be used to your strengths.’ This statement sounds encouraging, but what kind of potential is it exactly? Can you use some examples or evidence to illustrate? If the answer is no, then this sentence is a typical Barnum statement, nothing special about it.
Summarize
The Barnum effect is a common psychological phenomenon, which means that people will highly identify with some vague, general, and universal personality descriptions, thinking that these descriptions are specially tailored for them, but in fact these descriptions can be applied to many people. people. The Barnum effect can explain why many people believe in some pseudosciences, such as astrology, divination, psychological tests, etc. It can also be used for marketing and advertising by using some common, positive, and attractive words to describe it. Products or services that make consumers feel that these products or services are tailor-made for them. The Barnum Effect also has some negative effects, such as making people lack self-understanding and critical thinking and blindly accept some unreliable information and suggestions, thus affecting their decision-making and behavior. To avoid being affected by the Barnum Effect, we need to cultivate our own critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities. We should not easily believe in information and suggestions that have no scientific basis and evidence. We must learn to distinguish between true and false, good and bad, and have a clear understanding of ourselves. and objective understanding, and do not be fooled by some vague and general descriptions. We can also test whether we are suffering from the Barnum Effect by considering opposites, comparing frequencies, asking for specificity, etc.
Free Online Psychological Test
Do you have decision-making skills?
Test address: www.psyctest.cn/t/PDGmWlxl/
Link to this article: https://m.psyctest.cn/article/gq5Am95O/
If the original article is reprinted, please indicate the author and the source in the form of this link.
