Based on the very specific personality type that would buy this book and read this far into it, here is a personally tailored horoscope:
You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.
Spooky, huh? On a scale of one to five (five high), how accurate do you consider this horoscope? Isn’t it amazing how precisely the books you read describe who you are?
In 1948, psychologist Bertram R. Forer did a similar experiment with his UCLA students, having them take personality tests and then offering personalized horoscopes based on the tests’ very specific results. When he asked students to rate the horoscopes’ accuracy, students gave them an average of 4.26 out of five. Only, he gave all his students exactly the same horoscope … which was exactly the same as the one you just read above.
This experiment is a favorite of psych 101 classes and tends to return results very similar to Forer’s original numbers.