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School Project about superstition

LaoDecmius

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Hello I'm a 12th grade high school student that is working on a project about superstition.

One part contains an investigation about horoscopes. I would like to do a similar investigation that James Rand once did. Of some reason I'm not allowed to post URLs before I have made 15 posts so if you go on youtube and write "James randi on astrology" it should be the very first hit. He hands out a horocope to each student and ask them to rate them 1-5.

I wonder if anybody knows what horoscope Randi used. If you don't know I'm very open to recommendations of other horoscopes that could also be used for this purpose. I need something that describes the personality of the person not the kind that you find in the newspapers. I think the video says most of it.

PS. If you feel generous I'll also happily accept any other suggestions of tests that can be performed that relate to superstition. I already know about B.F Skinners experiment with the superstitions pigeon.
 
Forer (1949) did the original study. http://www.skepdic.com/forer.html

Forer, B. R.. (1949) "The Fallacy of Personal Validation: A classroom Demonstration of Gullibility," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 44, 118-121.
 
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Try this, its the passage Bertram R. Forer used in his experiment.

You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. 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. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect
 
I think, but am not certain (no time to watch the youtube all the way through), that Randi did not use just any generic horoscope. He used the horoscope of a serial killer, Ted Bundy, iirc.

Even if it was not Randi who did this, I like the idea. It drives it home all the more that the idea is bunk.
 
The original Forer horoscope was cobbled together from a bunch of actual horoscopes, as I recall. You could do much the same by picking vague parts from each of the signs in the daily paper/online. I'd stay away from the "You will have a challenge today, but with the help of friends, you will overcome." type of thing and stick to the noncommittal personality descriptions. Or you could just use Forer's horoscope and have a good reference for your project. :-)

I don't know what type of classroom environment this is, or whether you have potential accomplices in the room, or how long you have to complete the assignment, but if you have enough time, you could actually establish a superstition in the rest of the class. It would help, of course, if you are the only one in the room doing superstition. You could talk with your teacher and arrange to be tardy/'get in trouble' whenever he or she is wearing a red shirt, or something silly like that. If it happened a few times in a row, and you (or better, an accomplice) commented on it, then people would start to look for it. I've had that sort of thing happen with my students by chance alone, it's amazing how quickly people catch on to the most ridiculous patterns.
 
jasonpatterson said:
The original Forer horoscope was cobbled together from a bunch of actual horoscopes, as I recall. You could do much the same by picking vague parts from each of the signs in the daily paper/online. I'd stay away from the "You will have a challenge today, but with the help of friends, you will overcome." type of thing and stick to the noncommittal personality descriptions. Or you could just use Forer's horoscope and have a good reference for your project. :-)

I don't know what type of classroom environment this is, or whether you have potential accomplices in the room, or how long you have to complete the assignment, but if you have enough time, you could actually establish a superstition in the rest of the class. It would help, of course, if you are the only one in the room doing superstition. You could talk with your teacher and arrange to be tardy/'get in trouble' whenever he or she is wearing a red shirt, or something silly like that. If it happened a few times in a row, and you (or better, an accomplice) commented on it, then people would start to look for it. I've had that sort of thing happen with my students by chance alone, it's amazing how quickly people catch on to the most ridiculous patterns.
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A friend and I tried something similar in high school. Everytime we entered a classroom, we'd reach up and touch the top of the door frame. When asked why, we'd say "For luck."

Inside of two weeks, 75% of the class was doing it.
 
666 said:
Welcome! Here it is for you:
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I remember seeing this years ago when it was relatively current. This was waaaay before the internet on regular tv. The internet version has been edited right at the end. Just after the ending of that clip on of the students challenges Randi and says something to the effect, "Yeah, but you haven't disproved anything, all you done is show and interesting psychological quirk." Randi was momentarily taken back and said something to the effect of, "Well, that' true, but..."
 
Garrette said:
I think, but am not certain (no time to watch the youtube all the way through), that Randi did not use just any generic horoscope. He used the horoscope of a serial killer, Ted Bundy, iirc.

Even if it was not Randi who did this, I like the idea. It drives it home all the more that the idea is bunk.
Click to expand...

I believe that one was done by Gauquelin http://books.google.com/books?id=Kg...page&q=Michel Gauquelin mass murderer&f=false

Although Randi may have done so as well

ETA This will only work if you send the horoscope to a 'real' astrologer. I am not sure how this can be replicated in a classroom

ETA again: reading further in my link it may well work in a classroom, you would have to find the complete reading for Petiot
 
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LaoDecmius said:
Hello I'm a 12th grade high school student that is working on a project about superstition.

One part contains an investigation about horoscopes. I would like to do a similar investigation that James Rand once did. Of some reason I'm not allowed to post URLs before I have made 15 posts so if you go on youtube and write "James randi on astrology" it should be the very first hit. He hands out a horocope to each student and ask them to rate them 1-5.

I wonder if anybody knows what horoscope Randi used. If you don't know I'm very open to recommendations of other horoscopes that could also be used for this purpose. I need something that describes the personality of the person not the kind that you find in the newspapers. I think the video says most of it.

PS. If you feel generous I'll also happily accept any other suggestions of tests that can be performed that relate to superstition. I already know about B.F Skinners experiment with the superstitions pigeon.
Click to expand...

Are you aware of how unlucky it is for grade 12 students to come on this board and ask for help?
 
You might find this interesting, too. http://www.skepdic.com/truebeliever.html

From the article:

wishful thinking?

A study done by psychologists Barry Singer and Victor Benassi at California State University at Long Beach illustrates the will to believe in psychic powers in the face of contrary evidence. They brought in a performing magician, Craig Reynolds, to do some tricks for four introductory psychology classes. Two of the classes were not told that he was a magician who would perform some amateur magic tricks. They were told that he was a graduate student who claimed to have psychic powers. In those classes, the psychology instructor explicitly stated that he didn't believe that the graduate student or anyone else has psychic abilities. In the other two classes the students were told that the magician was a magician. Singer and Benassi reported that about two-thirds of the students in both groups believed Craig was psychic. The researchers were surprised to find no significant difference between the "magic" and "psychic" classes. They then made the same presentation to two more classes who were explicitly told that Craig had no psychic abilities and that he was going to do some tricks for them whereby he pretends to read minds and demonstrate psychic powers. Nevertheless, more than half the students believed Craig was psychic after seeing his act.

Singer and Benassi then asked the students whether they thought magicians could do exactly what Craig did. Most of the students agreed that magicians could. Then they asked the students if they would like to change their estimate of Craig's psychic abilities in light of the negative data they themselves had provided. A few did, reducing the percentage of students believing in Craig's psychic powers to 55 percent. Then the students were asked to estimate how many so-called psychics were really fakes using magician's tricks. The consensus was that most "psychics" are frauds. The students were again asked if they wished to change their estimate of Craig's psychic powers. Again, a few did, but the percentage believing in Craig's psychic powers was still a hefty 52 percent. [Benassi and Singer; Hofstadter]
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