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