Do you resort too much to horoscopes or divination? Do you consult the predictions of your sign excessively? Do you usually go to see people who predict the future? If this conditions your life, you may be facing a problem. A psychologist explains what the Forer effect is and why you have to be careful.
What is the Forer effect? What are its consequences? Can it become something pathological? Are there people more sensitive to horoscopes and divination? What kind of people are they usually? We talked about it with the psychologist Laura Portaencasa, who explains how to recognize if we are victims of the Forer effect or if someone close to us is, and how to protect ourselves (or someone else) from it.
“The Forer effect or also known as the validation fallacy is a phenomenon by which people assume certain beliefs about themselves that another person does, either through reading letters, consulting the stars, or reading the sediment of the coffee, among other things.
The curious thing about this phenomenon – explains the psychologist – is that it is very easy to fall into it because the statements that are usually made are so ambiguous that they tend to fit almost all types of people. In addition, they usually describe an alternative and the opposite., for example, “You are very intelligent, but sometimes you do stupid things”.
Here we can see how they are launching a specific adjective “Intelligent” and in the same sentence the opposite “nonsense”. Who would not agree with this statement? Another important factor that influences the Forer effect, as Portaencasa points out, is the confirmation bias, “this means that if we have a slight headache or a small cold and at that moment we are reading in the horoscope that we must take care of our health, we are going to assume as true everything that you put that day in our horoscope”.
“Human beings love to control and be right, if at that moment a coincidence arises such as a cold and taking care of our health, we will have the perfect excuse to validate the rest of the aspects that appear in our horoscope”, he adds.
Are there people more sensitive to the Forer effect?
“The Forer effect is a phenomenon that has been observed all over the world and is quite prevalent regardless of culture or socioeconomic position.” “However – continues Portaencasa – there are some factors that make us more likely to fall into this type of phenomenon:
People with an external locus of control
That is people who attribute the things that happen to them in life to external factors and beyond them. They do not usually look for options or alternatives to change the situation based on their possibilities, but rather wait for something to happen for it to change. For example, imagine that our goal is to earn a lot of money. A person with an external locus of control might think ‘I wish I won the lottery.
However, a person with an internal locus of control would develop a strategy more like this: ‘If I want to earn a lot of money, I am going to study a profession that is very well paid’. People with an external locus of control look outside of themselves for options; divination is perfect because it is an alien alternative to them that tells them what can happen, it fits with their thought structure.
Analysis with positive feedback
Another factor to take into account is that the analysis of the divination has more positive evaluations than negative ones. Here the validation bias intervenes and, of course, we all like to be told our virtues, it will be much easier for us to validate the statements of divination if they are highlighting positive aspects.
People who have open-mindedness as a personality trait
Or the predisposition to try new things, with naive and trusting attitudes. Although these traits are very positive in themselves for a large number of aspects and are also socially well valued, in this case, they usually pose a greater danger when it comes to suffering the Forer effect.
This is because they are not usually skeptical people, nor do they need scientific validation to assume something is true since they usually understand that there are other ways of seeing life and other types of truths beyond science; and while this can be a very interesting approach, it also leaves room for almost anything to be accepted as true.”
What are the consequences of the forer effect?
“Apart from being able to spend a large amount of money on astrology, palm reading, and birth charts among other things, the problem is trying to make decisions based on these types of practices. We would all love to know what the consequences of our decisions are going to be, to be able to predict our future or to know if the person we like feels the same as us”, says Portanecasa. The problem, as this psychologist points out, “is that the solution does not lie in knowing the result, it lies in developing the internal resources and tools that allow us to face the circumstances of life in a coherent and beneficial way for ourselves and our environment. ”. And this is not done through predicting the future or fortune telling.
“However, I don’t think anything should be demonized, the birth chart or tarot reading, horoscope reading, etc… It can be used as a tool that allows you to ‘inspire’ yourself and perhaps see from another perspective or with a new vision of a problem or circumstance to solve that you may have at a given moment”, says Portaencasa. “In no case can it be claimed that divination or the horoscope can serve as an office to make decisions about our lives, that would be like throwing it to heads or tails, pure chance.
But I insist that it can be used so that at a given moment things can be seen from another perspective. The fact that in a horoscope they say that you are very intelligent and although that attribute is thrown at random, does not mean that it is false. Indeed, it may be that you are very intelligent and that connects you with an internal resource that you need to enhance at this time in your life, ”he adds.
Can it become something pathological?
As the psychologist points out, “of course, the Forer effect can lead to a kind of ‘addiction’, it can end up becoming a necessity where all day-to-day events are analyzed through the horoscope filter ”. “Divination is just another way of trying to control our environment by predicting it so we have the feeling, even for a moment, that by knowing what’s going to happen, we can somehow change it,” she explains.
The Forer effect -as the expert underlines-, can easily become an obsession, thanks to how easy it is to validate, since, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, it is usually based on statements so ambiguous that it is easy for everyone to world fits into them.
In addition, another aspect that validates this phenomenon, according to Portaencasa, is synchronicity and suggestion. “With regard to synchronicities, I mean that if, for example, we read ‘this month is going to be very conflictive because the astral moon is aligned with Mars’, it is very likely that we will unconsciously pay attention to all the conflicts that we see around us and therefore, let’s see many more than usual.”
In this way, as Portaencasa continues, “the theory that we have read in the horoscope is confirmed and we give it more validity; On the other hand, suggestion plays a very important role in this phenomenon., the placebo effect exists and if they tell us, for example, that it is going to be a month where we are going to make important decisions, it is much more likely that we will do so”.
“That is to say, there are many factors that influence to validate of this phenomenon to the point of turning it into an obsession or even an addiction that can make us invest large amounts of money and make wrong decisions that are not taken from reflection. , coherence and maturity and, therefore, assuming the consequences can have a much higher psychological cost”, says the psychologist.
How to recognize if we are victims of the Forer effect?
As the psychologist underlines, “at the moment in which we take this type of tool as true or valid, we are already being victims of the Forer effect”. “By the time we are misusing this tool and taking it out of context, we have already fallen prey to this well-known effect. If we use divination to ‘play’ as an ‘entertainment’ or even as a source of inspiration, there is no problem. Now, if we give it a validity beyond those mentioned above, we are already being victims to a greater or lesser extent of this effect”, concludes the psychologist Laura Portaencasa.
How to protect yourself (or someone else) from the Forer effect? The psychologist gives us some keys:
-“Through the Socratic argument, that is, looking for logical and deductive reasoning, it is easy to dismantle the possible irrational beliefs that the Forer effect can cause.
-Another way is to look for an empirical check on the divinations, taking into account the biases mentioned above.
-It can also help us to inform ourselves and read more about this phenomenon to know its effects in greater depth.
-Finally, what will protect us most is the development of internal resources and the generation of new options and alternatives to solve problems. This development can be done in many ways, it is important that each one finds his own, either through reading, seeking the help of a psychologist or a therapist, or developing our introspective capacity”.