Those who are fond of reading horoscopes tend to fall victim to the Barnum Effect. Even though the descriptions or descriptive terms used in the inventories, typologies, and tests can apply equally well to other people, some individuals are gullible enough to believe they are unique to themselves.
"Barnum statements" are the bread and butter of psychics and palm readers. In fact, there is no better way to make a complete stranger believe that you know and understand them quite well.
Some of the examples of Barnum statements include:
“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.”
Obviously ambiguous, individuals nonetheless attach personal meanings to them.
At a psychological level, the big driver behind the Barnum effect is confirmation bias. (Theorypedia: Confirmation bias theory) Barnum statements are vague and generally positive statements about one's self.
The ingrained desire of confirmation bias to "remember the hits and forget the misses" about ourselves primes us to believe Barnum statements and fall prey to the Barnum Effect.
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Acquiescence bias or acquiescence effect states that individuals will tend to answer in a positive manner to a given question, especially if they are asked leading questions. This 'need to please' is driven by a need to be viewed positively by the person or organization asking the question.
One major theory for explaining SAD involves the circadian rhythms of the body. In effect, reduced daylight causes a 'phase shift' of the body's circadian rhythms which affects when and how much melatonin is produced. During sleep, melatonin acts affects the amount of hormones secreted by the body's 'master gland' -- the pituitary gland. The result is a cascade of symptoms common to SAD.
Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that describes the tendency to notice and seek out information that confirms your beliefs, while ignoring or undervaluing the relevance of things that contradict them. (See: Bush WH's case for the war in Iraq.)
Those wisps in the sky aren't simple airplane condensation trails: they're 'chemtrails.' Some theorists (including Prince) believe they're evidence of gov't backed chemical and biological testing on the unsuspecting population.
Turns out, the meteorite that supposedly killed the dinosaurs may have been 300,000 years late.
Human motivation exists in a five-tiered structure. The five tiers from lowest to highest are sociological needs, personal security needs, social needs, esteem needs and the penultimate need: self-actualization.
Great man creat history through their actions, leadership, art, and innovation. At least, Carlyle thought so in the 19th century.
Want to know the secret to personalities and personal success? Use hair part theory. It worked for Margaret Thatcher.
A theory developed by Pavlov that shows one can change a stimulus part of a stimulus-response pattern (like a flinch from a loud noise) to something neutral (a blue light turning on) and generate the same response. In this example, the blue light could cause the subject to flinch.
The explanation for 'Lost' is Jason Hunter's Time Loop theory. But you have to see it to really get it.
The island used to be connected to the rest of the Earth, but was detached during electromagnetism experiments conducted by the Dharma Initiative. It is capable of traveling anywhere with the only parameter being gravity
The most widespread and enduring conspiracy theories—British intelligence killed Princess Diana, the U.S. government orchestrated 9/11—are completely absurd. But that doesn’t stop them from drawing a vast and vehement audience. David Aaronovitch picks apart 12 grand conspiracy theories to conclude that they are concocted and promoted, in large part, by educated losers. (Yes, he actually calls them losers.)
'Gravity' hints at the passion behind Newton's theoriesDetroit Free PressBY JOHN MONAGHAN It's an image planted in the mind of every schoolkid: Isaac Newton sits beneath an apple tree as a shiny red orb bonks him on the noggin. ... ABC's Lost: Lighthouse Episode Recap & TheoriesMetrowny.com...
The island used to be connected to the rest of the Earth, but was detached during electromagnetism experiments conducted by the Dharma Initiative. It is capable of traveling anywhere with the only parameter being gravity
Now that they've had two days to think about it, what can the Internet's brainiest 'Lost' theorists tell us about the show's final season?
Inflation theory, which posits that the universe ballooned from subatomic scale to the size of a soccer ball during its first 10-33 seconds, has had great ...
There are a million different ingenious theories out there that explain this or that certain phenomenon and many are very complicated. See which one are surfacing on the interwebs today.
Nick Jonas (and the Administration) has just released a new song and it's called "Conspiracy Theory."
Listen to the newest single from his upcoming album "Who I Am" below:
Amateur historian Rick Rogers has spent decades developing a theory that either Dutch or Spanish traders visited Hawaii before Captain Cook's 1778 arrival. Maps from 1589 showing an approximation of Hawaii's shape and location; remains of a 1664 women indicating she had syphilis and the disappearance of 5 Spanish ships plying the Manila to Acapulco trade in the 1500 and 1600s make his case.
Scholars at the global warming skeptics thinktank, "The Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI)" say ocean acidification theory is a scare tactic ignores Cambrian data, the chemistry of CO2 and the alkaline affect of ocean rocks.
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