Geoffrey dean astrology study

The research began in London in , and has just been published in the current edition of the respected Journal of Consciousness Studies. It is hailed as the most thorough scientific study ever made into the subject. Astrologers have for centuries claimed to be able to extract deep insights into the personality and destiny of people using nothing more than the details of the time and place of birth. The research debunks astrology's central claim - that human characteristics are moulded by the influence of the Sun, Moon and planets at the time of a person's birth.

The findings caused alarm and anger in astrological circles. Roy Gillett, the president of the Astrological Association of Great Britain, told The Telegraph the study's findings should be treated "with extreme caution" and accused the researchers of seeking to "discredit astrology. In the course of the study, researchers tracked more than 2, people over several decades - most of them born within minutes of each other. Finally, I added 24 multiple choice questions that I had taken from the Berkeley Personality Profile. Eight experienced astrologers were asked for their opinion about the questionnaire.

They had no major objections against it. At the suggestion of one of them I added three multiple choice questions covering the family background of the subjects. Finally, the questionnaires and the list of birth data were sent to a few skeptics who tried to find the matching pairs. Although one of them scored 3 hits, there was no reason to suspect that any of the pairs could be identified by using hidden clues.

Is there any science in astrology? - BBC Science Focus Magazine

Expectations vs results. In the beginning of December all data were sent to the 50 participants of the Astrotest. They had ten weeks to complete the test. I allowed them to formulate an additional question after studying the charts, but only one person did. Eventually, 44 astrologers completed the test. Many of them had much experience. Half of the participants had read at least fifty books on astrology. Three quarters had taken a course in astrology and one quarter was training others.

At least half of the participants had analyzed over a hundred astrological charts and one-third was frequently paid for its services. The astrologers were asked to indicate how many correct matches they would have expected. There were 36 participants who revealed their expectations. Half of them predicted that they had matched all subjects with the correct charts.

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Only six astrologers expected less than four hits. In fact, the most successful astrologer achieved only three correct matches, whereas half of the participants 22 did not score a single hit.

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The average number of hits was 0. This is 0. Moreover, there was no evidence that the most experienced astrologers did any better than beginners. It is interesting to compare the entries of the participants with each other. Because they all had received the same information, one would expect many similar responses. Actually, the lack of agreement was striking. Each of the seven charts could be paired with seven questionnaires. Of these 49 possible combinations, none was selected more than twelve times.

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It was as if each astrologer had used a random generator to determine the correct matches. Two other entries were also identical, but in this case the participants had joined forces. Afterwards, I sent all participants a short questionnaire to find out more about the impact of their negative results. Nine of the 22 respondents confessed that they were surprised by the lack of agreement between the participants. Four admitted that the possibilities of astrology were more limited then they had thought, and seven came to the conclusion that astrology only works in actual practice.

Nevertheless, sixteen respondents still believed that science can prove astrology right. I asked the astrologers which factors might be responsible for the disappointing results. Ten respondents found the horoscopes too much alike. They pointed out that Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were nearly always located in the same astrological sign. Uranus, for instance, was always in Leo. This is not surprising because Uranus needs seven years to move from one sign to the next. The age differences between the test subjects were necessarily much smaller, because the questionnaires contained much information that could be used to estimate their age.

Anyhow, the horoscopes showed numerous differences that were hard to overlook. Ten respondents complained that the answers of the subjects were often similar. For instance, in reply to a multiple choice question about their job, all subjects claimed to be reliable workers. But again, there were many more differences than similarities.

Moreover, even in those cases when most subjects expressed a similar opinion, there were usually dissenters. For example, although four subjects had a vivid imagination and were fond of aesthetic experiences, there was one subject who showed not the slightest appreciation for such experiences.

Why didn't his chart stand out from the others? Nine respondents suspected that the questions were not always answered truthfully. Perhaps the subjects had a lack of self-knowledge or tried to present a flattering image of themselves. However, in spite of this potential bias, most questions concerned verifiable facts. There is no reason to assume that the subjects lied about their hobbies or the date of their wedding.

Even if all facts were false including the birth dates , this would not explain why the astrologers failed to demonstrate mutual agreement. The majority of the respondents 13 asserted that the subjects had not supplied enough information. We cannot rule out the possibility that the chance results were due to a lack of relevant details. It should be remarked, however, that nearly all participants had asked for less information than they actually received.

One might just as well argue that they could not see the wood for the trees. If astrology really works, it should be possible to design a test that satisfies both scientists and astrologers. Unfortunately, astrologers never specify what kind of test would be acceptable to them.

They argue that astrological research is very difficult because scientific methods are too crude, intrusive or mechanical. National Science Foundation. Archived from the original on Retrieved 28 July About three-fourths of Americans hold at least one pseudoscientific belief; i.

Archived from the original on 18 March The Humanist, volume 36, no. Bok, Bart J. Jerome; Paul Kurtz In Patrick Grim ed. Philosophy of Science and the Occult. Astrology School Accredited".

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The Washington Post. Science Communication.

This underlies the "Barnum effect". Named after the 19th-century showman Phineas T. For example, the more birth detail is used in an astrological prediction or horoscope, the more credulous people tend to be Furnham, However, confirmation bias means that people do not tend to pay attention to other information that might disconfirm the credibility of the predictions.

Astrology and science

Chicago: University of Chicago Press. The Cambridge concise history of astronomy Printing Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. New York: Oxford Univ. Iranian Studies. Zalta older edition Chicago [u. Imre Lakatos ; Alan Musgrave eds. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. London: Routledge. The relevant piece is also published in, Schick Jr, Theodore Lanham, Md. Social Studies of Science. A concise introduction to logic 9th ed. Belmont, Calif. Patrick Grim ed. Philosophy of science and the occult. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Bibcode : Natur. The Telegraph.

Retrieved 13 July Journal of Consciousness Studies. Nexus Network Journal. The "Mars effect": a French test of over 1, sports champions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Retrieved 13 May Physics Today.