Chapter 6 astrological prediction

Professor Hans Eysenck was probably one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.Before his death in 1997, he was also the most frequently mentioned living psychologist in scientific journals and magazines.One of his favorite quotes is: "What cannot be measured does not exist." Eysenck devoted much of his life to figuring out how to quantify aspects of human nature that were generally considered beyond the reach of scientific methods. Measured, such as poetry, sexuality, humor, and talent.However, his fame may also be due to his contribution to the analysis of human nature.The personality questionnaire he invented is still the most widely used in modern psychological research.

In order to fully understand Eysenck's research on astrology, it is necessary to have some understanding of his research on personality analysis.Eysenck had thousands of people fill out questionnaires, and then analyzed the results with the help of powerful statistical techniques to find out the main dimensions of personality differences between people.The results of the study show that people's personalities are not as complex as imagined.In fact, in Eysenck's view, they differ only in a few of the most basic traits, and Eysenck defines the two most important traits as "extraversion" and "neuroticism".The Eysenck Personality Inventory is used to measure these traits, and the entire questionnaire includes about 50 different descriptions.Respondents were asked to circle "yes" or "no" to each description to see if each sentence was describing themselves.

The first dimension defined by Eysenck is "extroversion", that is, how much vitality people show in their lives.Those who scored higher were called "extroverted people."This kind of person is more impulsive, optimistic, cheerful, likes to get along with others, pursues instant enjoyment, has more friends and extensive contacts, but at the same time is more likely to deceive his partners.Those who scored lower were called "introverts."This kind of person appears to be more cautious, good at restraining himself, and relatively more conservative.Their social circle is often limited to a few very close friends, and they have little interest in the colorful nightlife, preferring to stay at home with a good book.Generally speaking, most people's personalities fall somewhere between "extroversion" and "introversion".The Eysenck Personality Inventory often uses such descriptions when measuring this dimension: I am the soul of the party, I feel at ease among the crowd, and so on.

The second dimension defined by Eysenck is "neuroticism", which measures a person's emotional stability.Those who scored higher reported more anxiety, less self-confidence, often set unrealistic short-term or long-term goals for themselves, and reported more frequent feelings of resentment and jealousy.On the contrary, those with lower scores are more likely to maintain a stable mentality, relax themselves, and recover emotionally after a failure. Such people are very good at using humor to resolve anxiety, and sometimes they even feel more emotional when they are under pressure. High morale.The Eysenck Personality Inventory often uses such descriptions when measuring this dimension: I am always worried about certain things, I can easily get rid of stress, and so on.

According to ancient astrological legends, six of the twelve zodiac signs are related to extroversion (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius), and the other six are related to introversion (Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces). In addition, the three earth signs (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) seem to be more emotionally stable and peaceful, while the three water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) are more neurotic. Mood and state of mind are also more prone to fluctuations. Eysenck teamed up with the respected British astrologer Geoff Mayo to find out whether the legend was true.Mayo founded the Mayo School of Astrology a few years ago and soon recruited a large number of students from all over the world.More than 2,000 of Mayo's clients and students were asked to provide their dates of birth and fill out the Eysenck Personality Inventory.What skeptics of astrology expect from surveys is that there is no connection at all between the personality of the subjects surveyed and the ancient astrological lore.In contrast, proponents of astrology believe that the position of the stars at birth undoubtedly has some influence on the way a person thinks and behaves.

To the astonishment of skeptics, the results of the investigation were in perfect agreement with ancient astrological legends.Signs associated with extroversion did score higher on extroverted traits than others; compared with earth signs, people from the three water signs also scored significantly higher on neuroticism.The astrological journal Phenomenon therefore declared that these discoveries "may be the most important development in astrology this century." However, Eysenck himself had doubts about the results of the survey, when he suddenly realized that the people who took the survey had, in fact, believed in astrology.These people knew in advance what astrology predicted for their personalities.Eysenck worried that such preconceptions could lead to inaccurate findings.Could it be that the respondents chose the wrong answer because they thought they were supposed to have the personality that astrology assigned them, leading to the survey result that surprised the skeptics?In other words, this survey result may only be the result of psychological effects, and has nothing to do with the astrological position of the survey subjects at birth.

With this idea in mind, Eysenck conducted two additional experiments. The first experiment involved 1,000 children, almost none of whom had ever heard of the relationship between personality and zodiac signs.This time, the findings turned upside down and apparently did not fit the old astrological lore.The children's scores on extraversion and neuroticism had nothing to do with their zodiac signs.To further test whether there was a relationship between birthdays and personality, Eysenck switched from children to adults, this time with varying degrees of knowledge about astrology.It turned out that if the respondents were well aware of how the zodiac sign affects personality, the degree to which their questionnaire results matched the astrological legend was very close.Conversely, if respondents did not know much about astrology, their questionnaire results would not be as consistent with astrological lore.The conclusion is clear that the astrological position at birth has no magical effect on a person's personality.However, there are indeed some people who, because they are very familiar with the relationship between zodiac signs and personalities in astrology, actually become people with certain zodiac characteristics.At a conference on science and astrology, Eysenck presented the results of his follow-up research.The writer who wrote his biographer later described the scene as follows: "Many astrologers reacted violently, and there was a strong emotion among them. They felt that Eysenck had deceived them. At first Eysenck seemed to be their spokesperson and patron saint, but later put on some embarrassing gestures, which is undoubtedly a betrayal of them."

Eysenck's experiment proved that some people do become who they "should be," and it wasn't the only time researchers had such evidence.In the 1950s, the psychologist Gustave Jahata studied the life of the Ashanti people in central Ghana.According to tradition, every Ashanti child is given a Christian name after birth, which is determined by the date of birth and is closely related to a series of personality traits.Children born on a Monday, given the Christian name Kwadwo, are generally considered to be quiet and peaceful, and not to cause trouble.Children born on Wednesday are given the name Kwaku and are generally considered mischievous.Jhata wanted to know, would the personality brand artificially branded at birth have a profound impact on the personality and life of Ashanti's children in the future?To find out, he looked at juvenile court records, and found that personality traits branded at birth do affect children's behavior, and that Kwaku appears far more often than Kwadwo in court records.

So, will Eysenck's findings lead millions of astrology believers to convert?Obviously not. On the contrary, many advocates of astrology argue that the horoscope can only provide a rough guide to a person's personality traits, and that more accurate information must be obtained by careful study of the exact time of a person's birth into the world.At present, this view has attracted great attention from researchers all over the world.