Heavenly Truth

Astrology vs. Personality Tests

This is a paper I recently wrote for my personality psych class. Thought some readers may enjoy it. Mind candy, to say the least!

 

Summary of Science Versus the Stars: A Double-Blind Test of the Validity of the NEO Five-Factor

Inventory and Computer-Generated Astrological Natal Charts

Authors Wyman and Vyse consider their study to be a repetition of the Carlson 1985 study on astrology’s validity with significant updates. In the 1985 study, participants were asked to correctly identify their true astrological personality description and their true CPI (California Personality Inventory) descriptions from false descriptions. The study in this article updates the 1985 study by testing the subject (self)-rated accuracy of the Five Factor Model of trait theory versus the subject-rated accuracy of computer-generated astrological natal chart descriptions.

52 college students between the ages of 18-22 were given one real and one bogus description of both an astrological personality description and a NEO-FFI personality description and asked to rate them for accuracy on a 9-point scale. Several hypotheses were made as to the results of such a study, such as an expectation that participants would be able to identify their correct NEO-FFI personality description with a greater frequency than the false one, and that all descriptions, both true and false, astrological and psychological, would be rated “somewhat favorably” across the board due to the Barnum effect.

In addition to a brief questionnaire that gathered information such as the students’ beliefs about the accuracy of astrology and personality tests in general, whether they knew their accurate sun sign prior to participating in the study, a 60-question NEO-FFI questionnaire was administered to gather the psychological data. Birth data (exact date, time, and place) was also requested from the participants to compile the astrological data. The questionnaires and birth data were then evaluated to produce reports. After a 3-week period, participants came back and were handed a packet with an instruction sheet and four personality summaries: a false natal chart report, a correct natal chart report, a false psychological profile, and a correct psychological profile. Each pair of incorrect and correct descriptions was labeled either Astrological Report or Psychological Report. Participants read and rated the accuracy between the bogus and real natal chart reports and between the bogus and real psychological reports and identified which one of each pair they thought was their own. They were also asked to rate the accuracy of all four reports overall, and asked which of the four seemed the most accurate description of their personality.

Some results: Participants correctly identified their NEO-FFI profiles at “greater-than-chance” levels (78.8%). Participants correctly identified their astrological profiles at a “not significantly better than chance” level (46.2%). In selecting the most accurate description out of the four, 54.9% of participants chose their correct NEO-FFI description, 19.6% chose their correct astrological description, 15.7% chose the bogus astrological description, and 9.8% chose the bogus NEO-FFI description. Further examinations of the data were also made on topics such as Sun-Sign Bias (bias “partially” found), and Odd-Numbered Sign Bias (no bias found) and the Barnum Effect. Finally, the article compares the results and methods to that of the 1985 Carlson study.

Reaction

These results are not surprising as these experiments have been conducted multiple times with similar results. I am also not disappointed in these results as I am able to hold both a belief and a disbelief in astrology simultaneously (somehow!). It was pleasing to see the researchers acknowledge things like the tendency of some people to perpetually rate everything more positively as a whole, and that it can be argued with some validity that self-evaluation may not be the most reliable way to judge accuracy of personality statements.

A few procedures in this study are questionable, however. First, it is common for people to provide an astrologer with only an approximate time of birth, such as “around 4 pm,” and since a natal chart can change in as little as four minutes, an accurate time of birth is essential. Even if the researchers screened for this and required an exact hour and minute of birth from the participants, the researchers should have collected or at least verified the birth data themselves to prevent flaws in the data at the very beginning. The researchers did remind them not to violate the ‘honor code’ by providing false data, but it’s all too easy to do this unintentionally.

                Another questionable procedure is the fact that the researchers labeled the reports “astrological” and “psychological.” They went to great effort to eradicate or account for participant biases, such as acknowledging the likelihood that people who were familiar with their sun signs prior to participating in the study will likely have better accuracy in guessing which is their true and false astrological description, and also when they removed all planetary and sign labels from the astrological reports. However, by designating which set of descriptions was which (astrological or psychological), they introduced the potential bias of the participant. If certain participants were more prejudiced against astrology, for example, they may already be inclined to rate the astrological descriptions lower in accuracy before they’ve even read them because they know which descriptions are determined astrologically.

                Finally, unlike standardized personality tests, astrological descriptions are not standardized. They vary in at least two ways. First: every astrologer can come up with their own description of any astrological component and have it potentially be considered valid. That is not to say there aren’t typically accepted characteristics of each astrological component, but that there does not exist, for example, an authorized and official Taurus description out there somewhere. There is no official source, judge, or committee from which all astrological descriptions are handed down to astrologers and the public. The Meyers-Briggs, for example, is copyrighted and standardized, so that every written result for an ISTJ, for example, reads exactly the same.

The second way astrological descriptions can vary is due to chart interplay. While each sign, for example, has common characteristics that a majority of astrologers are likely to agree upon, the degree to which any given characteristic is likely to manifest in a personality is directly related to every other factor in the natal chart. An astrologer evaluating a natal chart may avoid describing a Taurus sun-sign person as “stubborn” (a typically accepted Taurus characteristic) if the person has other significant factors in their natal chart that reveal flexibility and open-mindedness (such as a natal chart with the planet Mars in Gemini) but may greatly emphasize stubbornness upon seeing the Taurus sun person with a natal chart that has other significant factors emphasizing rigidity or fastidiousness (such as the moon in Virgo). A computer-generated report has little-to-no ability to consider this chart interplay.

References:

Johnson, J. T., Cain, L. M., Falke, T. L., Hayman, J., & Perillo, E. (1985). The "Barnum effect" revisited: Cognitive and motivational factors in the acceptance of personality descriptions. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 49(5), 1378-1391. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.5.1378

Fichten, C. S., & Sunerton, B. (1983). POPULAR HOROSCOPES AND THE 'BARNUM EFFECT.'. Journal Of Psychology, 114(1), 123.

Wyman, A., & Vyse, S. (2008). Science Versus the Stars: A Double-Blind Test of the Validity of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and Computer-Generated Astrological Natal Charts. Journal Of General Psychology, 135(3), 287-300.

Happy Birthday Carl Jung! An Astrological Vignette

It's Carl Jung's would-be 135th birthday today, so in celebration, I'm taking a look at his natal chart. According to Astro.com's calculations, he has about 1-1/2 degrees Aquarius Rising with an "A" birth time accuracy rating. Click the image to enlarge the chart.

For more on Carl Jung, be sure to follow the links below to read my posts about Carl Jung and the Publication of his Red Book. All charts interpreted throughout this blog are done so via the Evolutionary Astrology philosophy and methodology, which you can read more about here and here.

Starting with the south node and the past/prior-life carryover influences, his south node is found in Libra in the 8th house, indicating a strong ability and predisposition toward awareness of the nuances of the hidden layers that take place in any human transaction. He would rarely take refuge in certainty, but be more inclined to recognize that for everything he observed and every conclusion one could come to, there were always more possibilities and equally opposite possibilities. He came into this world with an inherent understanding of how to balance these possibilities by committing to none wholeheartedly, at first.

On a personal level, a south node in the 8th house in Libra carries double partnership themes: first through the obvious association of Libra, being the sign of relationship, but secondarily through the 8th house, commonly referred to as the place of "other people's resources." Often a south node in the 8th house finds someone who tends to take shelter in another, whether it's financially, emotionally, or multiple levels, and/or is at least very influenced by the presence of another, as either a symbiotic relationship or a one-sided dependence.

Venus, the ruler of the south node, is found in the 6th house in Cancer. The 6th house experience may find him with a tendency toward subservience or deference to others, especially those who he perceives to be an authority to him in some way. There is an innate humility that may have often worked against him, since the planet that rules his south node also squares it. In Cancer, perhaps this was most often done with family members; or a not so literal translation may be a tendency to withdraw into himself, perhaps to hide a feeling of shame, unworthiness or a sense of not measuring up.

Given the overall amount of 7th house, Libra, and Venus importance in his chart, the tendency toward a being split inside himself or a tendency to project part of what he may see in himself onto another instead, seems great. An example of this is his well-documented feeling of living in two worlds: one in the present as a normal schoolboy, the other as a sort of melancholy, 18th century hermit, studying the mysteries and living in "God's World"¹.

Mercury is also squaring his nodes, indicating his opinions, intellect, and ability to communicate what he intuitively knew was at stake in how he was to evolve in the current life. His 'voice,' or lack of voice/speaking up', could have given him some karmic problems in the past.

His north node lies in Aries in the 2nd house, which speaks to a need to end the second-guessing, playing too nice, and hesitating/indecisive tendencies that might accompany a Libran south node, and to be less invested in what others think or will accept (and hiding what they won't accept) and just putting it out there, standing behind it and himself, developing enough confidence in himself to be able to stand on his own without 'backup' or endless justifications, proof, explanations or hand-holding. There no longer needs to be an investment in convincing others to be on his side and supporting him (Libra, 8th house), but a trust in one's own support, power, and will to be more than enough. To go out on a limb for himself, so to speak.

The Venus and Mercury conjunction in Cancer in the 6th house might have him going through the work and study to gain enough skill and practice to be able to back that confidence up. Teachers/partners would probably come along that would spark his own intellect, which he would then carry forward with until it was time to move forward into independence (toward the north node lesson) instead of backward into reliance on the shelter that the teacher's theories and opinions might provide, even if Jung himself differed (which he did, often, the most famous case, but not certainly an isolated one, being the split between he and Freud).

Everything in his chart conspired to move him forward in his soul work, with his cooperation and choice (more or less; some things just land on us and force us forward!) Here are just a few of them:

• His Sun on that 7th house cusp, which indicates a need to develop a strong sense of ego awareness and identity within the context of relationship, but often as an outgrowth of it, as a way to contrast what he is from the person he is trying to relate to. Of course a Leo Sun helps to have a healthy sense of self-referencing. Uranus not too far away ensures a constant need to detach from partnership when it threatens his freedom or forces too much compromise to his integrity.

• Aquarius Rising presents a view of the world that is markedly set apart from 'the norm', a unique filter that is always set apart, seeing what is different as objectively as possible. Saturn in Aquarius in the first house indicates the challenge of creating a new, internal (Rx) structure that reflects this difference, the ability to detach from expectation to be in integrity with oneself and one's true nature. Saturn is widely opposed Uranus (as it is exactly in the sky today at the time of this writing, on Jung's birthday), indicating the dance between breaking free of someone's hold on him and recognizing that the freedom only comes from creating the internal rules of true independence, without the shelter of another's approval or dependence on the rebellious urge at their disapproval to propel him into that autonomy that must be built brick by brick on his own. Saturn's location in our chart often reveals where we must stand alone ('on our own two feet').

• Pluto in the 3rd house reveals a potential attachment to ideas and the seeking of new ideas, which would constantly have one pulling ideas apart and constantly questioning, something that can work poorly (or TOO well, depending on your perspective) with a Libra south node, which can have a tendency to vacillate. However, Pluto is in Taurus, along with the Moon in this house and sign as well, indicating that the comfort zone is more likely to be in fixed ideas and/or hard data. It is in a T-square with the Saturn Uranus opposition, indicating that his views, his ability to form conclusions as well as renew them when needful, is a huge factor in resolving the "your way/my way" dilemma for him.

• Finally, the Yod, involving Pluto's quincunx to Jupiter and Mars (and the sextile between those two). A Yod tends to produce a feeling of 'mission', a feeling of being propelled/compelled forward, almost as if one's will is overridden by a higher will like a monkey on one's back (or the 'finger of god' as the Yod is often referred to). The Yod's top two points have a personal, spiritual truth component to them. Jupiter, representing one's sense of larger truth is in the 8th house, indicating that these truths have a gut/intuitive feel to them, and come from the unconscious, from dreams, from archetypes and mythology, from hidden messages and symbolism, and a natural talent with those things.

Mars, in Sagittarius, echoes Jupiter here, but also has it's own meaning: the will and resultant actions that need to be taken to deliver one's truth to the masses, through publication, speaking, or any number of methods. But it all hinges on the Pluto work: detaching appropriate from the security of only presenting the facts and common sense and provable, and discounting other ways of knowing, while all the while they surge in him.

This may be why the Red Book was such an intense and frightening undertaking for him (which actually began with black books), for it represented a voluntary dive into the madness he perceived that was creeping up on him from around the edges of his sanity. Read more about the Astrology of the Red Book here. Read more about Carl Jung here or here.

1 Reference: Red Book, page 195

Part 2 of Carl Jung's "Red Book": The Astrology Behind the Publication of Jung's Most Personal Work

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist that helped bring forth the birth and development of psychology. In 1914 he began a journal in which he described his personal journey, his "confrontation with the unconscious," as he called it. From 1914 to 1930 he wrote in this Liber Novus (new book) with a red binding and cover, which he simply called his "Red Book." It has remained mostly unseen, even during his life and certainly after his death, until it was taken from a safe deposit box in Zurich in November of 2007. It's long-awaited publication date is October 7th, 2009.

In part 2, I'll discuss the astrology of the publication date, both on its own and in Jung's chart specifically. Then we'll move on to his natal chart.

October 7th, 2009: The Date of Publication

Mercury catches up with Saturn in Virgo after turning direct. The words (Mercury) become real (Saturn), in black and white for all to see. The moon also trines the two that day, adding the element of the subconscious coming into consciousness and reality.

In Jung's own chart, the transiting Sun sextiles his Uranus exactly, seeming to indicate the light shining on Jung's true self, warts and all. We are all likely to get a view of Jung that may challenge the view we'd like to hold of him and how we've adjusted his views and his work to suit our own perspectives. This is a view of the man in a truer sense than the work he chose to publish and reveal, but perhaps due to the nature of a sextile, that light will reveal delightful surprises into the man, as well as challenge the ideas we've settled into about him. The moon conjuncts his Pluto in the third house that day as well. Two symbols of the unconscious coming together indicate the intensity of the moon that may prevail as the pages are opened, and in the third house, new ideas will be presented to be investigated and pulled apart. The third house's opposite, the ninth house, is about pulling ideas together to form meaning, a larger understanding. But the third house is about new data coming in and pulling things apart that we thought we knew. To truly SEE without judgment or filter is highlighted here.

Jung's Natal Chart: Why Was He Here? An Evolutionary Astrology Perspective

The placement of the south node in the 8th house seems to reflect the second nature of Jung to dig deeper into the motivations behind the behavior of others and therefore his life's work of mining the unconscious. With that sound node in Libra, it's quite likely that he benefited greatly from seeing the contrasts between people and himself from 'the other' in relationship as the primary incubator for what he brought forth in this life in his work. On a personal level, though, he may have entered this life with a vulnerability to deferring to much to the other or depending too much on the other in relationships of all kinds. Mercury and Venus square his nodes from Cancer in the 6th house, signifying the importance of filtering his observations and beliefs through his own subjective mind (Cancer/Mercury) and through right relationship dynamics (Venus), especially in work partnerships (insert the obvious Freud reference here). It also indicates that it was important for him to really dig in to the emotional nature of the work (cancer) in a tangible and detailed way (6th house) on a daily basis by simply talking to his patients and what he could really learn from them. His 3rd house planets in Taurus would have assisted him in a willingness to take in the data from his patients as it appeared without an agenda, however with those planets being the Moon and Pluto, he would have to work hard to maintain a sense of the objective as he took in that information. His heart was in the learning and the surprise of what he uncovered though, and his natural Libran ability to see more than one perspective would be of assistance, although with a lot of energy in Taurus and Cancer, it seems that he was trying to get out of the bottomless tendency to second guess or consider 'the other hand' so often that he could not come to the intuitive connections that he would otherwise. Seeing the Moon and Pluto in the 3rd house and Mercury in a water sign seems to be an indicator of the astrological source in his interest in dreams and the subconscious as well, not to mention Neptune squaring his Sun and ascendant, always reminding him of the 'other world' and perhaps representing his willingness to eventually explore 'alternative' theories and systems such as astrology.

Considering the Sun and Uranus in the 7th house in Leo, Aquarius rising, and Saturn in the 1st house, in the light of his south node in Libra in the 8th, these placements represent the perfect incubator of relationship being the actual modality through which he expressed his individuality and his need to be heard and seen. The 8th house classically represents the resources of the other, and with Libra energy there in addition, a tendency toward relying on the validation or sanction of others rather than one's own resources or merit is what he may have come to resolve. Saturn in Aquarius in the 1st shows the difficulty in walking one's own path as it comes to the very essence of who he is. To 'be yourself' sounds simple until we realize how isolating it can feel when there is no beaten path; something he would need to work with for self-actualization.

The famous break with Freud proved to be very traumatic in the light of a south node that needs validation and the ruler of that south node in the 6th house, associated with work but also heavily with unequal relationships: mentor/mentee relationships. This was part of the work he was meant to do, to break away from giving his power away in unhealthy relationships of this apprentice/master nature, but not an easy thing to do. The beginning of this period also marked his beginning of his Red Book. His exploration into his own darkness and the phoenix dying and rising from the 3rd house is about to be made visible.

With his north node in Aries in the 2nd house, developing courage to come to believe in his own capability and empowerment outside of the shadow of another was the gist of his soul's task. Risk taking (Aries) would have been a key factor in his journey to, as Steven Forrest has said, "prove himself to himself." The ruler of his north node is Mars, in Sagittarius in the 11th house, suggests that a primary method through which to do that is to share his own beliefs, philosophies, and truths (Sagittarius) with the world/public (11th house) with the courage of conviction. His progressed Midheaven (evolving role in the world) has been crossing over his own north node beginning with the Red Book's removal from the safe deposit box. Looks like one's work is never done!

To read a fuller analysis of his chart, see my July 25th 2010 entry, Happy Birthday Carl Jung: An Astrological Vignette.