Test no 1 by Carlson (1985)
Test no 1
Volunteers
selecting their astrological chart
Test
volunteers were subdivided into two groups, a test group and a control group
with subjects matched to the test group according to sun sign.
Test volunteers
provided birth data, astrological charts were calculated by computer and
professional astrologers wrote their interpretations.
Each volunteer
was given three anonymized interpretations, one of which was his/her own and
attempted to select the right one.
According to
the laws of chance, each subject had a 33% probability of selecting the right interpretation. It was agreed that if the volunteers selected
the right chart at least 50% of the time, the data would be considered to
support the validity of astrology.
Each matched
subject was given the same three interpretations.
The selections
were correct in 33.7%of cases in the test group and in 44.7%in the
control group. The conclusion was that
the performance of the test subjects was not better than chance.
Volunteers selecting their CPI profile
Both the test
volunteers and the control group replied to the 480 true-false questions of the
California Personality Inventory (CPI), which is a standard personality test
that ranks subjects in terms of 18 personality attributes.
Each test
volunteer was given three CPI profiles, one of which was his/her own and
attempted to select the right one. The
same three CPI profiles were given to the matching subjects in the control
group.
Once again,
the test subjects did not do better what would be expected by chance: the
correct CPI profile was selected in 44.6%of cases by the test subjects and in 42% by the controls.
Do these results prove that astrology is FALSE?
According to me, they don’t
The researchers
themselves came to the conclusion that the test does not prove anything. The fact that the subjects were unable not
only to identify their astrological profile, but also their psychological
profile, shows that people have poor insight into themselves and cannot an recognize
accurate description of their personality
In other words,
this type of test is not suitable for the assessment of the validity of
astrology