What is the "Barnum Effect": examples and explanation of the phenomenon

Greetings, friends!

The Barnum effect is a common cognitive bias that prevents people from critically evaluating horoscopes, prophecies, and other vague descriptions about their own lives. Alternative names are also found in the specialized literature: “subjective confirmation effect” and the Forer effect (in honor of the psychologist who first described it). Today we will look in detail at what the Barnum effect is, why it occurs and how it manifests itself.

Forer's experiment

Back in 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer conducted a simple experiment. He gave his students a supposedly special test, the results of which would tell about their personality. Instead of a real psychological test, he gave everyone the same vague text taken from a horoscope. After reading it, he asked each student to rate the text based on their opinion of themselves on a five-point scale—the average rating was 4.26. This experiment was then carried out hundreds of times by other psychologists and gave approximately the same results.

During the experiment, Forer said that the student is disciplined and confident in appearance, can sometimes be an introvert, sometimes an extrovert, thinks independently, prefers variety, and sometimes feels insecure. The options may vary, but the essence remains the same.

History of origin

This phenomenon was named after the American private theatrical entrepreneur who had his own circus, Phineas Barnum. He believed that people were hungry for entertainment and were willing to pay for their excitement. That's why every visitor could find something he liked in his circus. Regardless of what is in it and what presentations are organized. Perhaps it was thanks to this life-affirming opinion that he was popular among the population.

If you're interested in learning a little more about his personality, you can watch the movie The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman. True, some facts are slightly distorted there, but you will get a general idea of who he was. Phineas is also mentioned in the film Gangs of New York. This man has done quite a lot for the development of not only show business, but also politics and marketing. He was friends with Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. Overall, he deserves to be known.

Barnum effect

Despite the existence of the official author of the experiment, the effect itself is named after the American showman Phineas Barnum, known for his psychological manipulation.

The Barnum effect is the tendency for people to perceive as reliable personality descriptions that they believe were written exclusively for them, but in fact are vague and quite generalized.

The occurrence of this effect can be explained by the interest of each person in his own personality.

Conditions necessary for the Barnum effect to occur:

The description should contain vague, abstract language.
The description contains personality traits that suit most people.
A person should consider this description to have been obtained from an authoritative source.
The description should characterize the person in a positive way.

Influence

Has it ever happened to you that some statements from the same astrological forecasts came true? Or did they turn out to be very close to your life situation? This happens because a person focuses on specific information that “hooked” him. And he tries to act in accordance with it.

In psychology there is such a thing as selective attention. This is when an individual unconsciously passes by a large amount of material coming from the outside. And he reacts, “turns on” at the moments when he hears or sees something related to his current topic. This is discussed in more detail in the article about the secrets of the subconscious.

So, to prove the influence of the Barnum effect on personality, Richard Petty and Timothy Barnum conducted a corresponding experiment. Having organized similar manipulations with predecessors, with tests and their results, psychologists made some adjustments.

They gave half of the subjects a characteristic indicating a certain closedness of thinking. What does it mean, the ability to firmly defend your opinion and not change it under any circumstances. And the other half is completely opposite. Indicating that guys are open-minded and can adapt and change their point of view depending on the situation.

Everyone, of course, confirmed the quality and accuracy of the conclusions. But the experiment did not end there. Next, they were asked to speak out regarding the problems identified by the researchers. By providing two opposing positions. So, the “closed” guys took one side and defended it to the last. But the “open” ones, also trying to correspond to the characteristics received, assumed that both positions had the right to exist.

What kind of people are prone to such trust?

It should be said that people's behavior during this experiment is influenced by so-called psychological artifacts. Artifacts are the result that arises in a psychological experiment as a result of the unplanned behavior of the experimented person, that is, when the researcher himself cannot predict all the factors that will influence the result.

For example, “helpful” people try in every possible way to please the experimenter, “cautious” people want to present themselves in the best light and avoid mistakes in every possible way, “selfish” people are simply trying to increase their self-esteem, “suspicious” people hide their true reactions, and “transparent” people are ideal for experiments. - they are ready to cooperate and show their true reactions and emotions.

Therefore, people who are not very happy, who are worried and irritated about something, overcome with anxiety, who want to get rid of depressing experiences and uncertainty, people who are looking for any support, are more likely to perceive this lengthy description as reliable. That is, a person must be mentally prepared in order to perceive such a positive and extensive description, because it helps him and gives him hope. By the way, such gullibility is equally inherent in both women and men.

Forer himself explained his effect by ordinary human gullibility, but even this explanation is quite vague. Vanity, thinking with desires and the desire to gain hope, the tendency to attach importance to everything that concerns the person himself - these are just some of the factors that influence the trust of the subject. The fact is that a person is inclined to trust even false statements if he considers them sufficiently acceptable or positive for us. Moreover, such descriptions trigger flights of fancy and we tend to interpret them as we wish. In some cases, you can even dilute positive descriptions with negative ones - it is quite possible that the person himself will filter out the negativity and focus only on the positive description of his personality.

Stanger Research

Ross Stanger decided to repeat the experiment in the late 1950s. He collected 68 subjects, some of whom were related to testing and personnel selection. That is, people had a general understanding of psychology and the procedure itself. And they themselves did this more than once in their activities.

Ross, like Bertram, distributed questionnaires and, as a result, a text of 13 phrases that could well characterize each of us. A third of the subjects confirmed a perfect match with their personality, while the rest indicated an almost complete match, if you do not take into account the smallest details.

Thanks to Stanger, it turned out that people tend to trust statements that describe them in a positive way. Since not everyone is able to accept their shortcomings and imperfections, especially if someone from the outside points them out. Here are examples of statements that raised doubts among the subjects: “You have some minor difficulties in the sexual sphere,” or “You are not always able to make rational decisions.”

Areas of application of the Barnum effect

Many people are familiar with this effect and use it for their own purposes - often for their own profit (though not always). Compilers of astrological horoscopes, astrologers themselves, palmists, homeopaths, psychics, mediums, fortune tellers, mind readers, even marketers - all these people in one way or another use this effect for profit. Even if we assume that there are people with the gift of foresight, they are negligible compared to those who pretend to be so.

For example, so-called cold reading is simply a set of techniques that these people use to create the illusion that they know more about people than they actually do. But in this case, cold reading is a stronger technique than long description because it uses a person's physical characteristics to make assumptions. With cold reading, this is also all packaged in a foggy shell of descriptions and predictions, and since external factors are also taken into account, the effect is sometimes very strong.

A fine line

As you know, people are very fond of mysticism, magic and predictions. For weak people, this is the only way to gain hope that everything will be fine. Predictions give them strength and confidence in the future. This is what charlatans play on, deceiving their victims with various fortune telling. It’s probably not worth denying that there may be something mystical and mysterious in the world, but all those horoscopes that we see every day on the Internet or read in magazines create more of a Barnum effect than are truly true. This also applies to most tests that can be found in print publications and on various websites. The materials compiled by experienced psychologists and doctors of science are in most cases far from the truth.

Can the Barnum effect be used for good purposes?

The Barnum effect smoothly follows the Rosenthal effect - a person’s tendency to behave according to prediction, description and prophecy. On the other hand, a person may feel different from who he really is, which will lead to a deterioration in his psychological state.

You should understand that many people take money from you or try to profit from their descriptions. In addition, after communicating with such people, you are left with an extremely unpleasant feeling, as if someone has crawled into your soul and trampled around there well.

The Barnum effect can be used for your own purposes (albeit in a modified form) in self-development. For example, affirmations are very good at helping you become more confident, calmer and more relaxed. Meditation does the same thing. There is no reason to listen to a stranger to increase self-esteem and list good qualities - you can achieve all this yourself.

If you have encountered this effect in your life, share your stories with us in the comments.

Example for self-control

I suggest you verify the effectiveness of this effect. Below is a list of wordings. You need to choose whether each of them suits you personally, or is not correct. Then count how many positive answers coincide.

Statements

You are somewhat self-critical and need to be admired.
You always have your own opinion on events, which does not prevent you from sometimes agreeing with your interlocutor in order to prevent conflict.
You are not perfect, but you strive to control your shortcomings and compensate for them.
You are quite careful in terms of frankness with unfamiliar people.
At times you want bright events and adventures, and at times you want peace.
You have great potential, but you have not yet used it to its fullest.
You know how to hold back your feelings for your own good.
There are times when you doubt the correctness of a decision.
It happens that you have desires that are quite difficult to realize.
You are quite freedom-loving and feel uncomfortable within strict boundaries.

Is it possible to protect yourself from deception?

Of course it is possible, and there are a huge number of ways. The first and most effective is to become a skeptic. Why rely on the forecast of strangers if you can decide your own destiny? Many skeptics are convinced that only a person is responsible for what happens to him or will happen in the near future. They do not look for excuses in the full moon or a weak zodiac sign, because they know for sure that if they made a mistake, then it is only their fault and shortcoming.

However, not everyone is born a skeptic. There are a lot of romantics and dreamers in the world. People live and believe that miracles surround them. It seems to them that, knowing their future, they will be able to prevent mistakes. They dream of finding out everything about themselves and their loved ones and preventing all bad events. Superstition adds color and new sensations to people's lives. Well, it's their choice. But in order for the dreamer not to fall for the bait of charlatans, you need to know a few very important things.

Modern demonstration

Nowadays, experiments demonstrating the Barnum effect are also regularly carried out. Derren Brown from the UK spoke about it most clearly and intelligibly. He works as a hypnotist, mentalist, illusionist and magician. The Englishman filmed an entire program on the topic discussed in this article called “The Barnum Effect from Derren Brown.”

In a transfer to several groups of subjects (each of five people), he suggested doing the following: circle your hand on a piece of paper, write your date of birth and place it in an envelope. Derren also asked to put some personal item with the sheet. After this, the magician collected the envelopes and left for an hour to make individual forecasts. Upon returning, Brown handed out leaflets to people and asked them to read them in privacy. All subjects were surprised by the accuracy of the description of their personality. Naturally, the text was the same for everyone. At the end of the program, the test takers found this out by exchanging sheets of paper.

Only positive

A very interesting factor influencing the Barnum effect is positive affirmation. That is, the phrases that sound in horoscopes and predictions are usually positive. They are the easiest to believe. The human brain is designed in such a way that it is not always ready to accept self-criticism and not from everyone. If you tell someone about some negative character trait (which is actually present in this individual), then most likely he will deny it. Another thing is positive characteristics that are flattering to everyone who hears them.

Origin of the term

The effect described above was named after Phineas Barnum, a popular circus performer from America. He was unscrupulous and known for his penchant for deceit. The term was proposed by the eminent psychologist Paul Meehl. He is one of the creators of the legendary MMPI test.

In scientific circles, there is another name with a double surname - the Barnum-Forer effect. And in honor of whom the postscript appeared, we will tell below.

Avoiding the Trap

You must definitely pay attention to the person who is advising you or making predictions for you: how he is dressed, what his manner of communication is. As a rule, charlatans talk a lot and quickly. They are in a hurry and very impulsive.
Never provide any information about yourself. The bare minimum is the name and date of birth; the astrologer must say everything else himself. If he does not name any specific events in your life, but beats around the bush, limiting himself to hackneyed, template phrases, rest assured: you have ended up with a scammer.
A good astrologer or magician must first tell you what you already know: your marital status, number of children, area of work, existing problems that bother you. If he gives all the information only in general phrases or jokes, then, most likely, he is deceiving you. For example, an astrologer asks: “Are you married?” You answer in the negative, and he says: “I see that this is about to happen” (even though you don’t really have a fiancé), you should know that this is hardly a prediction, rather the Barnum effect. After all, any unmarried woman would like to have a family.
Try to apply the prediction to another person. If what you heard can be easily said to anyone else, you are definitely being fooled.
A good technique in the Barnum effect are phrases such as “You will succeed”, “If you persist or put in the effort, you will get what you want.” All these phrases are general and suitable for almost any person.