I used to like fortune-tellers.

Why do so many people like fortune telling?

Psychological research reveals that it is easy for people to believe that a general and general personality description is particularly suitable for them. Even though this description is empty, he still thinks it reflects his personality.

There was once a psychologist who used a common sentence that was suitable for almost anyone to let college students judge whether it was suitable for them. Results Most college students think that this sentence describes themselves in detail and accurately.

A famous technician named Shoman barnum commented on his performance, saying that he was very popular, because the program contained ingredients that everyone liked, so he made "people get cheated every minute". People often think that a generalization and general description of personality reveals their own characteristics very accurately, which is called "Barnum effect" in psychology.

A psychologist completed the Minneapolis Multiphasic Personality Questionnaire (MMPI) for a group of people, and presented two results for participants to judge which one was their own. In fact, one is the result of the participants themselves and the other is the average result of most people's answers. Participants actually thought that the latter expressed their personality characteristics more accurately.

Barnum effect is very common in life. Take fortune telling as an example. After consulting a fortune teller, many people think that what the fortune teller said is "very accurate". In fact, those who turn to fortune tellers are easily influenced. When people are depressed, they lose control of their lives, so their sense of security is also affected. An insecure person's psychological dependence is also greatly enhanced, and the suggestibility is stronger than usual. In addition, fortune tellers are good at trying to figure out people's inner feelings and can understand the feelings of help seekers a little, and help seekers will immediately feel a kind of spiritual comfort. The fortune teller's next general and harmless words can convince the helper.

We also have the feeling that when we are eager to know the answer to something, the other party only said a little, so we nodded hard. By the time someone was halfway through, we had completely admired each other.