.svg){kind=icon}
Before delving into this article, let us tell you what we already know about you:
People tend to like you, even if they don't show it. You also know how to get along with them, although it happens that someone gets on your nerves remarkably well. You are a person with great potential, although you are not yet using it one hundred percent. Sometimes you cut yourself off from people and need time for yourself, but there are also situations in which you become the real soul of the company. You have your own unique style, but you also sometimes rely on the opinion of others, especially people you consider to be authority figures.
Did we hit it? If so, it is a complete coincidence. We used classic tricks, used by the creators of horoscopes, pseudoscientific personality tests or lifestyle quizzes. A bit of truisms that describe standard human behaviors and reactions, spiced up with key words like “usually”, “sometimes”, “happens”, “happens”. All this makes our brain, which loves schemes and simplifications, get carried away by magic and as a result we gain the conviction that a given description applies to us.
Why do people believe in fairies?
The word magic appears here not by chance, because it was the sighting of fairies at fairs that led to the first attempts to describe a phenomenon that today is referred to, among other things, as the “horoscope effect”. This regularity was noticed by P.T. Barnum, an entrepreneur and impresario, active among others in the circus industry. He observed that people often came out satisfied with clairvoyants who gave them a horoscope that was de facto a collection of generalities describing human nature. He applied this knowledge to develop his business (so successful that Barnum is still considered one of the fathers of modern advertising).
The topic of the horoscope effect was picked up by psychologists and supported by a series of studies and experiments. They have shown that these types of personality descriptions are received particularly well in several situations. First, when we are convinced of the exclusivity of the result. If we feel that it concerns us and has been specially prepared for usWe are more willing to accept it as the truth. The next thing is faith in authority that tells us the “truth about us.” A person who generally does not believe in fairies and assumes in advance that he is dealing with quackery will most likely reject the received horoscope. The same person can simultaneously recognize the results of a test conducted by a “trusted influencer”, even if he says almost word for word the same as a fairy. And finally, the third criterion — the description must contain mainly positive qualities of our character.
What are pseudoscientific personality tests based on?
Fairies, horoscopes, numerology, reading from the hand - all this can be classified as unscientific methods, which “a reasonable person rejects in advance.” Unfortunately, the horoscope effect (also called the Barnum-Forer effect), does not apply only to esotericism or quizzes like “What kind of cake are you”. It goes beyond entertainment and even goes into the business area.
The Internet has opened the door for us to the land of self-development. Expert literature, webinars, tutorials and finally tests are available practically at hand. Thousands of tests to test our competence or score our personality. Very often, their execution is preceded by the presentation of substantive foundations and supposedly scientific foundations. Then we go through a large enough number of questions that eventually we have the feeling that the result will be matched to us (and a small select group) with enormous precision. Sounds familiar? These are the exact same fundamentals that drive the horoscope effect. First - the result is supposed to be “tailor-made”, specifically for the recipient. Secondly - talking about the methodology, the authority of the creators of the test in question is built.
Unfortunately, pseudoscientific tests of personality, talents or competencies are difficult to distinguish from proposals prepared by competent researchers. Unlike horoscopes, here we are dealing with a quite successful “science fake”.
So should we sound the alarm, as with other manifestations of quackery? Interestingly — not necessarily at all.
Why doesn't the “ideal test” exist?
It can be assumed that even failed tests, based on the effect of the horoscope, can actually contribute to the development. If we get advice that our strong point is empathy and the ability to understand the human psyche, and then we develop this area, turn to professional literature or take professional courses, then in the end we will achieve the intended goal, which is self-development. Worse, if based on the effect of the horoscope, we try to select project teams or employees for our company.
If there is such a high demand for the development and testing of competences, why do we not have more reliable scientific tests at our disposal? There are several reasons. The first and simplest is the difficulty in preparing an authentically working test (it is a long, expensive process, so we should not expect that its effect will be made available for free on a random site on the Internet).
Another reason for the lack of available qualitative tests is... the too general need to “acquire knowledge about oneself”. Professional tests are carried out with a very specific objective, duly specified and articulated and, in short, “they only measure what they are supposed to measure”.
And finally, the problem is ourselves, interpreting the results without the background of scientific knowledge. Unfortunately, all this makes even the super-popular MBTI or DISC tests, from a scientific point of view, as authoritative as graphology.
Learning and self-reflection the key to self-development
If so, is there a scientifically proven method of studying personality at all? Or are we doomed to the horoscope effect?
In addition to specialized tests tailored to the needs of, for example, recruiters or criminologists, there are actually also tests that simply target personality. They are based on a personality model called the Big Five. The title five refers to the number of factors studied: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. It is generally accepted that these factors exist in real life, are immutable for the individual, are universal for gender or cultures and, finally, are biologically determined. The Big Five is studied with two types of questionnaires Neo-Five Factor Inventory and PERSO.IN®. Unfortunately, their availability is limited and the results should be in the hands of experts before we begin to assimilate them.
In short, there is hardly any way to learn all the truths about your talents, competencies and personality traits on your own, for free and at hand.
However, it is worth remembering that even taking a test that is largely based on the horoscope effect can ultimately serve self-development, especially if we subject the results to reliable self-reflection. The key word here is inspiration — reading books and scientific articles, getting to work on yourself. After all, even Newton was supposed to create a work of life by simply watching a falling apple. So let even an amateur test be such an apple from which your development will begin.
