In: Psychology
What is the Barnum Effect? Have you ever experienced the Barnum Effect? If so, what did you experience? If not, why do you think you have not experienced this?
Barnum effect refers to a psychological phenomena in which a well tailored personal description using generalized, vague or stereotyped statements will be accepted by most people as an accurate description of their unique personality. It was named after Phineas Burman an American showman who openly talked about the gullibility of people. This effect is the reason behind popularity of fortune telling or random personality quizzes we find online.
Yes, I have experienced the Barnum effect.I found a personality assessment online , which asked me to choose the first letter of my name and read the description of who I was in my personal life. The description suited me to the tee. I was filled with awe and curiosity.I also felt a happy since the description was full of flattering statements.I had almost believed it was genuine but my curiosity made me read the descriptions of all the alphabets and it struck me that most of them could have been me or even anyone else.It was then I realized that i had become a prey of a psychological trick.