Skyscript Astrology Forum

Here is a recent study by researcher Ida Andersson of Lund University, Sweden.

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Belief in astrology is on the rise around the world, and the personality trait most often associated with those who adhere to it is… narcissism, according to a small Swedish study that is making waves. Explanations.

Rising astrology

Belief in astrology, the study of the influence that the stars are supposed to exert on human behavior and earthly events, has been on the rise in recent years, especially among young people. So much so that we can speak of a "return" of this pseudoscience whose practitioners have failed independent tests for decades to demonstrate its validity. How to explain this increase? "When societies or individuals are under stress or threat, people are more likely to turn to astrology and other unsubstantiated epistemic beliefs," note the authors of a new study called Even the Stars Think That I Am Superior - Personality, Intelligence and Belief in Astrology (Even the stars think I'm superior - Personality, intelligence and belief in astrology), published in the most recent issue of the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences . The authors cite the stress of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic as possible catalysts.

Personality traits

To learn more about the personalities of people who believe in astrology, researcher Ida Andersson, of Lund University, Sweden, and her colleagues gave 264 people a personality test in an anonymous survey, in more than questioning them about their attitude towards astrology. Researchers were surprised to find that narcissism was the strongest predictor among people who believed astrology had scientific foundations, while personality traits like openness, self-awareness, and neuroticism didn't showed no effect. They were also able to establish a negative relationship between belief in astrology and the intelligence of those surveyed. In an interview, Ms. Andersson notes that she was surprised to see narcissism at the top of the list. “We expected to find a link, but not for it to be the strongest predictor of personality traits,??? she says.

Co-Star Phenomenon

Proof of Astrology's Return: The Co-Star Astrology App , launched four years ago, has been downloaded over 20 million times, reaching one-quarter of American women Aged 18-25 Today . Ms Andersson notes that the application "hyperpersonnalized" minimalist design encourages users especially to reflect and focus on themselves. "So it's possible that it attracts people with more narcissistic traits, who need to feel special and important ('tell me more about myself") and that it reinforces this need by constantly encouraging them to think. to themselves, ???she said. Ms Andersson stresses, however, that the results of her study cannot be generalized to the general population. "We are not claiming that all people practicing astrology are more narcissistic (or have a lower IQ), because we can only talk about our sample ... More research should be done, with larger and more diverse samples. . "

Risky Business

Giving importance to what his horoscope announces may seem benign, but the authors believe that other behaviors may be related to it. “Although astrology may seem innocent, it is nonetheless possible that it facilitates non-critical thinking and promotes prejudice. Additionally, belief in astrology correlates with belief in many other pseudosciences as well as conspiracy theories, indicating that it may not be that harmless, ???they note. The conclusions of the study caused a stir on the Internet, especially on the popular Reddit site, where many users did not like to be described as narcissists ... According to Ida Andersson, this is part of the risks of the job. “Our intention is obviously not to offend anyone, we just report our results.

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Nicolas Berube
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2022 ... siques.php
Ida Andersson
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 6921007686#!

Wouldn't it be interesting to see a study of whether trying to find out why other people insist on believing things that you don't correlates with an overly anxious personality?

I'm sure there are certain psychological traits (as well as certain demographic, economic, and other forms of data) that correlate statistically with certain types of belief in a particular historical and cultural context (such as the 21st-century 'western world'), whether those beliefs are in astrology or in materialist scientism. But I do wish more people would read C.S. Lewis's short essay on Bulverism: [...] you can only find out the rights and wrongs by reasoning - never by being rude about your opponent’s psychology.
http://www.barking-moonbat.com/God_in_the_Dock.html

Awesome article!

Being astrologers, we know everything about narcissism, of course!

We even understand...

thanks ouranos!

our skyscript member martinn gansten lives in lund if i am not mistaken.. would he happen to know this ida andersson lady at lund university??

i am confused by the article... for example this quote - "didn't showed no effect." seems very poor english! have they translated it from swedish?

2nd - "The Co-Star Astrology App , launched four years ago, has been downloaded over 20 million times, reaching one-quarter of American women Aged 18-25 Today . " is she drawing her conclusions off a particular segment of the population - women aged 18-25?

basically it seems like a real rubbishy article! its the kind of article that would get some traction in cheap pop psychology outlets, which perhaps was the whole point of ida andersson's exercise? .

I'm a docent at Lund University, but it's a big university, and I'm not in the Dept. of Psychology, so no: I don't know any of the authors.

For reasons already indicated, I'm not overly impressed with the article, but I couldn't find the ungrammatical phrase you refer to. In any case, whatever the language difficulties, I do think the authors manage to make their point. It's just not a very relevant one: the psychological traits that make people more likely to believe something have little or no bearing on whether that something is true. (You can believe in mainstream science because you are timid, conformist, fearful of authority, etc., just as, in a different cultural setting, you can believe in fundamentalist forms of religion for precisely the same reasons.) Besides, I would argue that an undefined 'belief in astrology' is almost as vague, and therefore almost as meaningless, as an undefined 'belief in religion'. I dare say my astrological beliefs and those of most people even on this forum are mutually exclusive in more than one respect.

The publication of Ida Andersson on Science Direct is her personal point of view with the tools she has been trained with.
And they have 1.4 million open access articles mostly on Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life, Health and Social Sciences and Humanities.
James, if you look at the end of Andersson's article, you will find plenty of references she draws from to fill in your sleepless nights!

And as you pointed out Martin belief in astrology or science can show similar (or different traits of personality)

"We are born at a given moment, in a given place and like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more." Carl Jung

thanks martin and ouranos..

i am not going to give the link any merit.. i am unwilling to click it!

perhaps the first part was a google translate that ouranos generated.. i don't know...

here is where my quote - 'didn't showed no effect' is from in ouranos original post... i am not sure why i even bother reading crap like this... less work, but mind numbing non the less!

"Personality traits

To learn more about the personalities of people who believe in astrology, researcher Ida Andersson, of Lund University, Sweden, and her colleagues gave 264 people a personality test in an anonymous survey, in more than questioning them about their attitude towards astrology. Researchers were surprised to find that narcissism was the strongest predictor among people who believed astrology had scientific foundations, while personality traits like openness, self-awareness, and neuroticism didn't showed no effect. "

Sorry James,
I put the article in the grinder of Google and overlooked this one.

I am always curious to see what science thinks of astrology even with the bias in the approach. I was convinced that everybody at Lund University were pro-astrology.
Martin, I am sending you bodyguards right now to prevent them from burning your books.

thanks ouranos! it's all good... that is not science, lol... that is pseudo mumbo jumbo cloaked in some scientific looking cloak! those swedes are a strange bunch!

Ouranos wrote:"We are born at a given moment, in a given place and like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more." Carl Jung

Oh yes it does!

james_m wrote:those swedes are a strange bunch!

Yep, that must be it. The worldwide grip of materialist scientism, with its concomitant rejection of non-physical correlations: all due to the cultural imperialism of the Nordic superpower. The Swedish are coming!

Whoa, langsam reiten Cowboy. (Whoa, slow down there, cowboy)

How are these surveyed people being classified as narcissistic? Self-chosen in the survey? Based simply on profiles, but using answers the polled people themselves chose?

Most people don't see themselves clearly, and of the ones that do, only a percentage accurately portray and openly share what they see in themselves. This survey seems extremely questionable...but I haven't read the particulars, nor do I feel really motivated to do so. (GO often follows GI)

Also, I think there are LEVELS here that are being completely ignored. If we surveyed professional boxers or runway models, the average narcissism will likely be above and beyond the highest levels found amongst astrologers.

For the person who asked me about it: My previous post was entirely tongue-in-cheek!

The one statement I truly found "awesome", though, was this:

Belief in astrology, the study of the influence that the stars are supposed to exert on human behavior and earthly events, has been on the rise in recent years, especially among young people.

Whereas a claim like:

Researchers were surprised to find that narcissism was the strongest predictor among people who believed astrology had scientific foundations, while personality traits like openness, self-awareness, and neuroticism didn't showed no effect.

serves to demonstrate that those researchers' methodology was flawed to begin with. For narcissists are among the least self-aware people around, as any psychologist knows!

As with all surveys of that type, the rule is: Garbage in, garbage out!