Is Romance Really in the Stars?

Astrology dates back to at least 1650 BCE, and may have been first practiced in the first dynasty of Mesopotamia, a time well before the Copernican revolution. While our understanding of the world, and our general intelligence, has increased considerably since that time, astrology remains perplexingly popular.

In fact, basing the romantic compatibility of two people on astrology is becoming more and more popular. According to a recent study conducted in Arizona, 78% of undergraduate university students believe that astrology is either "very" or "sort of" scientific (1). A cursory examination of social media sites suggests that star-sign matching, as it is referred to by astrological practitioners, is very popular among celebrities.

Astrology is a system of divination loosely based on the premise that some tangible relationship exists between the position and movement of celestial bodies and actual events in the human world. Astrology has faced criticism for offering no mechanism of action, consistent with our understanding of physics, to explain exactly how the movements of stars and planets affect situations on earth.

A horoscope generally refers to an astrologer’s interpretation of a diagram indicating the position of celestial bodies at the time of someone’s birth. Astrologers believe, for example, that this has explanatory power about a person’s personality characteristics.

There are plenty of online repositories of misinformation dedicated to "scientifically" matching you with an astrologically-compatible partner. This over-supply suggests that there is considerable demand. But why do people believe in astrology? It probably has something to do with the sheer saturation of information about it in our lives—astrological opinions proliferate popular magazines, and celebrity endorsements are common.

But there is a deeper reason.

The Forer effect refers to the finding that individuals will often rate vague generalizations of their personality as highly accurate and specific to them. In the late 1940s, psychologist Bertram Forer gave his undergraduate students what he described as a personality test. Each believed they would receive a personality analysis uniquely tailored to them. In reality, they all got the same set of 13 statements, including statements such as: “You have a tendency to be critical of yourself”; “You find it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others”; and “While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them” (2). Students were asked to rate on a 5-point scale (from "very poor" to "excellent") how accurately their profile described them. Surprisingly, the average mark given was 4.26. After the students had rated their profiles for accuracy it was revealed that they were all the same.

Non-specific astrological statements can be difficult to disprove. Any scientist will tell you that proving a negative is generally harder than proving a positive, and can, under certain circumstances, be logically impossible. A vague statement such as, "You will encounter financial troubles," can be interpreted so many ways and on any given day would apply (somehow) to the majority of people alive.

The Forer effect is just one of many reasons that astrology is popular. However, the fact is that it has been consistently demonstrated that astrologers are unable to predict personality characteristics any better than blind chance should be reason to be highly skeptical of any astrological claims.

What you have in common with a partner—attitudes, beliefs, educational level—is the best predictor of how compatible you are. Celestial orbits and planetary alignment have no bearing on the relationship you will have. Basing romantic or other major life decisions on these cosmic events is misguided, to say the least.

Once you find a potential partner, ask yourself two questions: Do I like them? Do they like me? If the answer to both is yes, then give it a go, regardless of what astrologers may advise.

Source: Image Source: image from vashikarantantriksamrat.com

References

1. Sugarman, H., Impey, C., Buxner, S., & Antonellis, J. (2011). Astrology Beliefs among Undergraduate Students. Astronomy Education Review, 10(1).
2. Forer, BR (1949). "The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility". Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (American Psychological Association) 44 (1): 118–123
3. Kelly, I. W., Dean, G. A., & Saklofske, D. H. (1990). Astrology: A critical review. Philosophy of Science and the Occult, 2, 51-81.