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The tragic events of September 11, 2001 shocked the entire civilized world — but none of the astrologers warned about it on the eve of the tragedy. Several thousand people died under the rubble of the twin skyscrapers — they were usually predicted to have minor domestic accidents, ailments like a runny nose, squabbles with colleagues or disagreement in the family, but no one was warned of imminent death. It seems that astrology does not predict serious things.
Popular astrology
Each of us knows what popular astrological interpretations and schemes exist. Today, almost every newspaper contains astrological currency. We randomly open one of the fresh newspapers and read, for example, the advice that is given to those born under the constellation Cancer: “Avoid controversial topics. An older, more experienced person will give you useful advice.” Born under the constellation Capricorn, it is predicted: “Stay away from unrestrained and irritable people, as communication with them can bring great grief. A phone call will bring unexpected news from an old acquaintance. In a magical way, both predictions are true, but at the same time, each is more or less applicable to the other person! Cancer can get a phone call from a former classmate or former colleague, and Capricorn can get good advice from an elderly friend or relative (it’s no secret that advice is a favorite hobby of old people; probably because they love to give good advice so much that they can no longer serve bad example). Other recommendations (avoid controversial topics and nonsensical people) are so general and contain so much simple common sense that they are of little value.
American psychologists R. Solso, X. Johnson and K. Beal conducted a small experiment with their students studying experimental psychology. Students were given «their» horoscopes three times a week, and two weeks later they were asked to evaluate the reliability of the predictions received. Most students rated the predictions as more accurate than inaccurate. The peculiarity of the experiment was that only half of the group received the «correct» horoscopes, and half received horoscopes that did not correspond to their date of birth, that is, they received horoscopes compiled for other people. However, no differences were found in predictive value between the two groups. People willingly accepted any version of the forecast on faith.
With the passage of time, the predictions seem more and more justified. Freud drew attention to this feature of memory: a person tends to remember positive statements about himself and his future and forget the negative ones. It is also important that the services of an astrologer, as a rule, are quite expensive. Having paid for a personal consultation or for a horoscope magazine, you subconsciously do not want to admit that you have wasted your money.
And one more effect, known to psychologists as a «self-verifying prophecy.» Horoscopes have a certain effect on the people they are written for. So, having read that your zodiac sign is characterized by special honesty, you will try not to lose face and maintain the reputation of your constellation.
As numerous studies have shown, people who do not know their zodiac sign do not correspond to it in any way. Those who know and read horoscopes in magazines and newspapers — to a sufficient extent, and students of astrological courses — to the fullest. Draw your own conclusions.
Influence of astrology
One way or another, any attempt to make a psychological portrait of a person based on zodiac affiliation runs the risk of being far from the truth. Even in ancient times, the famous orator Cicero, in a polemic with astrologers, pointed out the obvious fact: people born at the same moment have very dissimilar characters, not to mention fate.
We can only judge one thing for sure. If someone treats astrology with indifference or irony, then for sure we have a sober, sane person, not subject to illusions, not inclined to succumb to suggestion, strong enough and self-confident.
Does everything that has been said mean that astrological interpretations and forecasts are completely devoid of any meaning and are in no way connected with a person’s worldview and his fate? Let’s not rush to a categorical answer. For some dependence is nevertheless established, although it also has the character of a prejudice. As stated by the French magazine «Science vie», which published research by scientists from the University of California, superstitious people’s knowledge of their horoscope can significantly affect their health and even shorten their lives. California psychologists surveyed a large sample of Chinese Americans. Many of them fully assimilated in their new homeland and moved away from Eastern traditions. Others, on the contrary, retained their adherence to many of the beliefs of their ancestors, in particular, faith in Eastern astrology. In Chinese astrology, a series of years is divided into cycles, in each cycle each year passes under the sign of one of the natural elements — fire, water, earth, metal and wood. The same elements are “responsible” for the functioning of certain organs of the human body and determine the diseases of these organs. Thus, fire in Chinese astrology is associated with the heart. Therefore, it is believed that a person born in the year of fire will be prone to cardiovascular diseases and, most likely, will die from them, and in the year of fire. If a person sincerely believes such a forecast, then he is also able to turn into a «self-fulfilling prophecy.» After all, the path from self-hypnosis to illness is not long. The analysis of scientists showed that people who firmly believe in horoscopes in the sample they surveyed live an average of five years less than those who are skeptical about astrology.
Impact on fertility
However, one cannot deny the fact that certain differences due to the date of birth (to link which or not with the sign of the Zodiac is a matter of taste) still exist. Psychologists largely admit that factors such as the influence of solar activity on the embryo, as well as the time of conception (winter, spring, summer, autumn — which is associated with the nutrition of the mother and her still-born child), can determine some psychological characteristics of a person. For example, the following hypothesis is put forward. After the modern climate was established on Earth, the entire ANIMAL world of the planet adapted itself from generation to generation to a stable “love schedule”. Of the offspring that were born at different times of the year, only those cubs that were born at the end of one winter and managed to get stronger before the next winter survived in the middle latitudes. Accordingly, the animals “used” to feel the surge of love energy precisely when conception guarantees spring childbearing.
Impact on life expectancy
And the American professor D. Fickling was not too lazy to analyze the biographical data of tens of thousands of people mentioned in modern encyclopedias. He set the task of establishing the average life expectancy depending on the date of birth, that is, on belonging to a particular zodiac sign. It is clear that only those who died of natural causes were used in the calculations. Based on rigorous calculations, Fickling compiled the following table of life expectancy for men and women, depending on the zodiac affiliation.
Capricorn (December 22 — January 20) — men — 77,5, women -80 years.
Aquarius (January 21 — February 19) — respectively 70,5 and 71,5.
Pisces (February 20 — March 20) — 71 and 75.
Aries (March 21 — April 20) — 79 and 78.
Taurus (April 21 — May 21) — 81,5 and 79,5.
Gemini (May 22 — June 21) — 78 and 81,5.
Cancer (June 22 — July 23) — 68 and 73.
Leo (July 24 — August 23) — 74 and 74,5.
Virgo (August 24 — September 23) — 76,5 and 80,5.
Libra (September 24 — October 23) — 73 and 77.
Scorpio (October 24 — November 22) — 68,5 and 72,5.
Sagittarius (November 23 — December 21) — 62 and 63,5.
It is difficult to impartially assess the revealed dependence, however, statistical facts are a stubborn thing. However, the study of Professor Fickling has an indirect relation to psychology. Another thing is purely psychological parallels, which, it turns out, have also been identified.
Dependence of personality type on the sign of the zodiac
In 1978, an article by D. Mayo, O. White and G. Eysenck was published in the Journal of Social Psychology, in which the authors suggested that there is a connection between two main personality characteristics measured using the test of the English psychologist G. Eysenck: extraversion — introversion, instability-stability and the zodiac month in which the person was born.
The first characteristic divides people into extroverts («outward-looking») and introverts («inward-looking»). Extroverts require constant stimulation from the external environment, they are sociable, eager for new experiences, risk-averse, like change, ready for quick reactions. They are characterized by looseness of behavior, optimism, cheerfulness, as well as irascibility, some aggressiveness, superficiality in the perception of people and phenomena.
Introverts, on the contrary, draw stimuli for vital activity from within, live in their rich inner world. They are closed, uncommunicative, slow, serious, restrained, love order, prone to self-contemplation, make friends faithfully, but with few, avoid noisy companies.
The second characteristic divides people into anxious (unstable), that is, highly sensitive to failures and mistakes, prone to self-blame, constantly striving for improvement, and emotionally stable, that is, balanced, stress-resistant.
English psychologists have found the following relationships: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius are predominantly extroverts, and Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces are introverts. At the same time, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces are more emotional than other signs of the Zodiac.
Domestic psychologists also tried to identify the dependence of the severity of personality traits on the zodiac month of birth. According to psychologist V. N. Druzhinin, women born under the signs of Taurus, Virgo, Aquarius are more extroverts than those born in other months, and Leo and Capricorn are more introverts. Aquarius men, unlike women of this sign, are introverts. As for the second personal characteristic, women born in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio are more likely to have emotional stability, and Aries, Cancers, Libra — anxiety. Men, Aries, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, are distinguished by their balance and stress resistance. In addition, both men and women — Lions, Taurus, Scorpions, Aquarius, as a rule, have high intelligence and self-control, they rarely give up in difficult situations.
Perhaps new research will reveal to us other, no less interesting points of contact between psychological and astrological knowledge about a person. In the meantime, let’s be careful in our judgments on this matter.