Forer Effect - Recent Research

Recent Research

Belief in the Paranormal There is evidence that having prior belief in the paranormal leads to greater influence of the effect . Subjects who, for example, believe in the accuracy of horoscopes have a greater tendency to believe that the vague generalities of the response apply specifically to them. Other examples of beliefs in the paranormal, called schizotypies, include belief in magical powers, spiritual happenings, or other influences. Studies on the relationship between schizotypies and belief in the Barnum effect have shown high amounts of correlation. However, Rogers and Soule's 2009 study (see "Variables Influencing the Effect" above) also tested subjects' astrological beliefs, and both the Chinese and Western skeptics were more likely to identify the ambiguity within the Barnum profiles. This suggests that individuals who do not believe in astrology are possibly influenced less by the effect.

Self Serving Bias Self-serving bias has been shown to cancel the Barnum effect. According to the self-serving bias, subjects accept positive attributes about themselves while rejecting negative ones. In one study, subjects were given one of three personality reports. One contained Barnum profiles with socially desirable personality traits, one contained profiles full negative traits (also called "common faults), and the last contained a mixture of the two. Subjects who received the socially desirable and mixed reports were far more likely to agree with the personality assessments than the subjects who received negative reports, though it should be noted that there was not a significant difference between the first two groups. In another study, subjects were given a list of traits instead of the usual "fake" personality assessment, . The subjects were asked to rate how much they felt these traits applied to them. In line with the self-serving bias, the majority of subjects agreed with positive traits about themselves, and disagreed with negative ones. The study concluded that the self-serving bias is powerful enough to cancel out the usual Barnum effect.