Before you start reading my article, I would like you to read and evaluate a few sentences below that I think reflect your personality.
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The number of people you can truly call your friend and whom you can tell everything to without hesitation does not exceed 2-3.
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He has some weaknesses in his personality, but in general Thanks to your positive aspects, you manage to compensate for them easily.
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Sometimes you are extroverted and social; Sometimes you become an introverted box.
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You prefer a certain amount of change and difference; Staying within restrictions and limitations makes you unhappy.
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Sometimes you cannot be sure that you are doing the right thing and making the right choice.
Among these 5 statements, the items that you believe truly reflect your personality are: Can you keep the number in your mind throughout the article?
In 1948, psychologist Bertram R. Forer gave his students a personality test in his psychology class. In the next lesson a week later, he distributed envelopes written "Test Results" to his students. However, the papers in the envelopes were not test results, but horoscope interpretations taken from the astrology column of that week's newspapers. Forer had never analyzed personality tests and presented his chosen horoscope interpretations to his students as test results, without paying attention to which astrological sign they belonged to. In addition, the same items were written in the envelopes given to all students.
Students carefully read the papers, thinking that their personalities were analyzed by their teachers. Forer then distributed a survey to his students. In the survey, students were asked to evaluate how well the personality analyzes just distributed fit their personalities, on a scale of 0 to 5 points (0-Doesn't Fit at All, 5-Completely Fits). Students gave an average of 4.26 points to the analysis, which they thought was designed specifically for them. However, the items were taken as they were from a horoscope interpretation and were never personalized. The reason why people evaluated this fake analysis as a 'good guess' and thought 'these statements describe me exactly' was the 'Forer Effect'.
It was given at the beginning of my article. The 5 items I found were just 5 of the 13-item analysis that Forer distributed to his students. I estimate that most of my readers find at least 3 of these items compatible with their personalities. However, these items were so general and superficial that everyone could have them. The Forer effect is a phenomenon that describes the tendency of individuals to accept judgments that seem to be prepared for them, but are actually vague and general enough to suit most people, as unique to them. Forer effect; This is the reason why we believe in the analysis obtained as a result of horoscope interpretations, astrological analyses, coffee fortune telling, Tarot cards and many other non-scientific methods. A specific text presented to us as if it were specific to us may be so inclusive that it resonates with a large percentage of the general population. There are three main factors that make us not realize how general such analyzes are but feel like they are unique to us:
The person being analyzed thinks of the person doing the analysis as an 'expert'.
The person we can call the subject or victim; If a person believes that the person who tells his fortune, makes astrological interpretations, takes a personality test, or takes a photo of his coffee cup online and sends it to him is an authority on the relevant subject, he is more likely to believe that unscientific and general predictions that can suit everyone are special to him.
If the person being analyzed believes that the analysis is only for him/her
If the subject or the victim believes that the analysis is only for him/her, he/she is more likely to believe in the analysis. For example, if you had watched a dozen traits given to you as a result of your personality test in a magazine article titled "Most people feel this way" on a television program, you would probably have adopted them much less. Maybe this is the reason why, in famous fortune-telling cafes, people who come to have their fortune told are interviewed individually. We believe the fortune teller's 10 minutes of time reserved for us when he says, "This week, you will meet someone with the letter A in his name," because we think it is special for us. However, the fortune teller may be saying this to every customer, and a large part of the society has any letter in their name that the fortune teller says.
The analysis has proportionally more positive content. i to be
All people tend to affirm themselves. We want to believe that the attitudes and values we have are correct, and we expect to be validated by our environment. I told you about the sandwich method in one of my previous articles. Sandwich was a method that claimed that we should present our negative comments and criticisms about people in sandwich form by sandwiching them between positive ones. Here, we see that the Forer effect increases if the same method is used. We are more likely to believe an analysis with mostly positive content than we are to believe an analysis with more negative elements. However, it is also known that having a completely positive analysis will reduce credibility. For this reason, when positive and negative sentences are presented to the subjects in a balanced manner, their credibility will be greater.
Although the first person to notice this effect was Bertram R. Forer, it was used as a business model by the famous American entertainer Phineas Taylor Barnum. Barnum put forward the motto 'We have something for everyone', claiming that this effect was used as a sales strategy in industrial psychology and that people were deceived by this method. For this reason, the 'Forer Effect' is known as the 'Barnum Effect' in most sources and is used as Barnum in most sources. It is useful to know that both names basically mean the same thing.
You can make a person who comes to you ready to believe believe in anything. Believing does not always mean being deceived. Of course, the fact that fortune telling, astrology and many other similar methods are not scientific and real does not mean that they should not be done. Everyone may have different attitudes on this issue, depending on their own social, moral and religious beliefs. However, it is useful to know that 'psychic' environments decorated with magic spheres, mystical scents and strange jewelry are just an illusion. Seeing the future, knowing the life of someone you have never met, reading 20 years from now by looking at the palm of your hand, etc. actions are not possible. All such actions and all the items used in these actions are the source of people who want to make money by dealing with parapsychology or astrology. It creates. And as long as the person does not believe in the consequences of these actions, it does not pose a psychological problem. However, blindly believing what someone we don't know can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy and cause the things we believe in to come true.
''Human; "He was born to think, to love and to believe," said Rousseau. Of course, believing is an existential need for all of us. However, we do not realize that we have never questioned most of the things we believe in. Because believing is a much easier action than thinking.
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