New study shows that people who believe in astrology tend to be more narcissistic and less intelligent

So no different than organized religion or cults?

There is no such thing as "narcissism". Narcissism troll cunt. Fuck off.

OP must be a Capricorn. They are very judgemental.

I resemble that remark!

Eh, I don't know. I know plenty of wickedly intelligent people who can nail someone's sign within five minutes of meeting them, won't date certain signs, etc.

Who knows. Makes as much sense as most soft-science stuff out there.

R5 The chicken bones will tell me how to live my life.

Humans just like to believe in some type of higher power or just like to see some mystical patterns or connections that go above hard scientific facts. Even if it's just confirmation bias or broad enough to be inclusive. Life is scary and people need some comfort. Given less Americans identify as religious, it's natural that something like astrology would take the place of church.

I don't mind this unless it used to stereotype and discriminate against others. I've seen some astrology junkies do that.

The archer is going to shoot OP

Yes that’s why women are the principal adherents to this buffoonery.

I hate astrology because it's so stupid with zero evidence for it and people actually use it to discriminate.

Whenever I read my horoscope I'm like wtf, this would fit anybody.

I’m setting myself up as The Pythia in Delphi, Ohio next year. Bring me offerings and I’ll answer any question you have.*

*specific, easily understood answers not guaranteed

R2 is a narcissist.

I know two people whose IQs are easily in the 130+ range who subscribe. They both claim that it's mostly "symbolic" and not at all useful for "prediction".

You don't need to be stupid to believe in things.

Isaac Newton believed in alchemy.

R9 Same with religion. The most dogmatically religious people you will ever meet are women especially older. I think it has to do with the fact, women feel less powerful in a male-dominated society.

Set to music.

Didn't Isaac Newton also lose a ton of money in the stock market?

Proof that genius in one area doesn't guarantee even competency in another.

R14 Yes. Many intelligent people are religious or involved with cults. Many though because they were indoctrinated at birth. Also, religions fulfill some personal needs that science cannot. Science is hard evidence and methodology. Not exactly personally comforting. Plus the more intelligent you are, the more you can convince yourself and others your religion is true.

Pure science is devoid of meaning. Humans have emotions (which are not scientific) and they crave meaning.

As for "intelligent people" believing in astrology, The Marquise de Merteuil said it best.

It's embarrassing to me when people take astrology seriously. I can't with that silliness.

I could see how it would attract that type. I admire people who very seriously study astrology and have done so for decades but most people who follow it today and shallow and following trends.

R22 "I admire people who very seriously study astrology and have done so for decades" Why the fuck do you do that?

Guy goes to the doctors.

Man: Will I be OK Doc.?

Doctor: "I doubt it, Mercury is in Uranus right now."

Man: "I don't do that Astrology stuff."

Doctor: "Me neither, my thermometer just broke!"

omg Henny Youngman is a DLer

"New study shows that people who believe in astrology tend to be more narcissistic and less intelligent."

Ya think?!

I work in academia and it's pretty amazing how many people with PhDs believe in astrology, snake oil, etc

Soooooo many gay guys believe in it - it's kind of disheartening sometimes. Especially when they're otherwise well-educated. Even though I'm a square-looking Wally Cleaver type, (atheist, who loves me some science) I tend to be attracted to punks, hippies, artists etc...basically "Portland queers" - and let me tell you, they ALL subscribe to this drivel. It's not always easy to keep my mouth shut, but damn - crazy people are great in bed, so I really try to bite my tongue!

I don’t know every dark obsessed sex guy I have met tends to be a Scorpio. That could be coincidence, but it is weird that it always seems to fit them.

Google confirmation bias, r29

it makes sense.

264 participants through an anonymous online survey shared on social media

Sounds legit.

Every time I've even halfheartedly looked at astrology stuff, it is so way off, not even any fun coincidences.

I am fascinated by astrology. I don't really believe it, but I love hearing about the dates, times, locations and lineup of the sun, stars and planets and how it may affect people. For something that is more of an art than a science, it certainly sounds scientific. In addition, so many learned people throughout the ages have devoted a huge amount of time, effort and thought defining astrology's rhymes, reasons and rationale.

Like others have said, astrology is not all that different than standard accepted organized religions.

I think some gays are astrologically obsessed because it’s fun. Like Waugh and Catholicism. He knew it was bullshit (I’d bet the farm on it!) but he liked the pageantry and the medievalism of it.

Of course people who believe their fates are written in the stars are narcissistic

I love reading about astrology. It’s like personality quizzes - makes me think about my behaviors or things I dislike about myself and other people. Of course - I would be interested in astrology because I’m a Sagittarius. 😉

Astrology has been really helpful in my life. My natal chart describes me perfectly

I'm not into it. I don't knock people who are. I imagine another reason so many women and gays got into is also unlike majority of world religions and cults, astrology has nothing misogynistic or homophobic about it. Gays are human beings and would naturally still want some type of spirituality. Christianity and Islam certainly aren't gay friendly and Buddhism and Hinduism have their faults.

Astrology isn't fated, but an indicator. There's always free will.

What's so spiritual about astrology? It's just a parlor-game.

Some things are tur, like what it say about us Scorpios. Never cross us unless you want to feel our wrath.

It's about a lot more than just the sun sign.

Unintelligent people tend to be close-minded.

Psychologists tend to be crazy.

Shysters take advantage of stupid people.

Yes and I find unintelligent people ironically accuse intelligent people of being close-minded because they demand evidence or a source from them. I've encountered so many people on the streets who proselytize and get offended when I ask them heavy questions about their religion.

Astrology is as crazy as Scientology to me

That's nice.

I did a favor for my cousin and in return she said she would do my horoscope. I told her not to bother and she looked really crestfallen, but I just don't buy into that shit.

But if it's not real how will I know if my love is truly meant for me?

Please don't take this from me.

I have no brain of my own.

Though the narcissism part of it - I haven't figured out yet. Wouldn't a narcissist reject it because they know best above all else? Surely a narcissist would insist on control of their life and not leave it to a bunch of animals dancing across the heavens.

R49 fascinating story

“Participants were recruited via word-of-mouth on Facebook”.

Really? You recruited 264 morons on FB to participate in an anonymous study to prove that people who believe in astrology are stupid narcissists?

Please fuck off, kindly. I don’t care if you believe in astrology or not, but as someone who believes in science and scientific methodology, I find it insulting to call this pile of shit a “study”.

What about Crystals? They are the same people who believe in crystals...are they a crock of shit?

NO SHIT.

The Crystals were one of the great rock groups. I believe in them.

BREAKING NEWS: "People Who Believe Absolute Nonsense Are Less Intelligent."

I find that there's some useful information in a specific birth chart, as well as "larger" (rarer. I suppose) transits, but I have more trouble with folks who latch on to transits that last a day or a week, or even the dreaded Mercury retrograde, where are they feel either terrified or elated at the prospect of transactions, difficult to grasp.

What's the harm?

I don't take it seriously but astrology is fun.

I've never met anyone who takes Astrology seriously

There are lots of them on twitter R59

If you step back just a foot or two, you realize how utterly ridiculous and indefensible the entire premise of astrology is.

To me, the real wonder is that we, in this dark corner of a universe with at least 100,000,000,000 other individual galaxies, on this unassuming little planet, evolved consciousness, and through that awareness of ourselves saw it fit to devise systems to explain it all.

I don’t understand how a person can believe in lots of pseudosciences. I mean I know someone like that. Homeopathy, astrology, Crystal healing, tarot cards, is this a mental disorder. They are also anti vax. When I mention all the pseudosciences they believe in I am accused of being closed minded. But in my opinion it’s my closed mindedness that has probably saved me from being taken in by snake oil salesmen. Besides I’m gay, love all kinds of different things, am atheist and well traveled and not got a racist bone in my body so not exactly closed minded.

It’s always funny to me how people believe in God without the need for any proof, but judge those who believe in astrology.

People who go out of their way to declare how much they hate astrology, are usually always religious.

Astrology, just like your belief in some kind of sky fairy, is really not that serious ir important.

I get that people are seeking a sense of order in the world but I gave up long ago. I mean I figured there’s no sense to anything really it’s a matter of luck mostly and good fortune. No amount of astrology or whatever is going to make any difference especially in our lifetimes. So just get on with living instead.

You're making pretty large assumptions, r63.

I'm an agnostic.

All bossy bottoms are Scorpios.

I’ve been offered readings and astrological charts throughout my life by someone I’m close to. I refuse every time, probably to her annoyance. I don’t want to know. Firstly I don’t believe in it, secondly I think it can cause a self fulfilling prophecy and thirdly I actually prefer the unpredictability of life. The person is very neurotic and anxious about all kinds of things that haven’t happened. I think that’s a lot of it too- fear of the unknown and inability to control situations.

I agree with you R63, will such study make the same claim about jews,christians, muslims,hindus,buddhists?

Technically is all mythology and nothing else, but only the people who like astrology,which usually are the less homophobic and misogynistic get picked on. I wonder why.

R61, are YOU the ONLY person that I referred to? Pretty narcissistic of you to think that. Are you sure you don’t believe in astrology?

When you look at the history of astrology, it’s obvious the negative sentiment towards astrology stems from Christian and Muslims scholars, who declared that the practice of astrology is a sin and forbidden.

Theology is a pseudoscience just like astrology, with the distinction that astrology is harmless fun, while religious dogmas have killed people.

R62 Everyone has racist bone in their body.

r69, et al: I think your defensiveness about astrology betrays your deep-seated fear that it's pseudoscience.

R70, nope. And now you can stop projecting.

R71, just because I don’t believe some non-scientific FB “study” that declares that millions of people around the globe who believe in astrology are narcissists with low IQs, does not make me defensive.

The first thing to do when you don’t want to be a narcissistic idiot, is to delete your FB account. And if you want to discuss scientific studies, you need to cite one that is actually scientific. Then we can talk about it like intelligent adults.

[quote] And now you can stop projecting.

Big talk from someone who labels all these people who believe in concepts he doesn’t as “anti-vax,” among other things.

Astrology is harmless, religion is not.

R74 Actually r70 didn’t write that. I did. And I don’t label everybody who believes in pseudosciences as anti-vax, but this person really is. I just find it interesting that she distrusts the scientists and medical profession and instead believed quack doctors… and astrologists and all these people who believe in the unprovable. I mean it’s just senseless to me.

The grifters who traffic in astrology appreciate your sentiment, r75

Princess Diana's astrologist used to advertise the fact after Diana's death. Really? You didn't see her life ending in August 1997 and tell her to stay away from Paris and tunnels and black Mercedes? Who the fuck would go to her for advice?

[quote]All bossy bottoms are Scorpios.

Erm, no. I'm a Sag.

[quote]New study shows that people who believe in astrology tend to be more narcissistic and less intelligent

And this comes as a surprise?

She said to me she saw this Covid event happening from her readings. I would like to know what the point of knowing of such an event is if there’s no solution provided too. I mean that’s like telling someone they’ll meet an untimely end and not telling them how to avoid it. So what’s the point?

I could see, maybe, MAYBE, some link in behavior between people who grew up in the same sequence of seasons, i.e. between those who were born in the heat of summer and started to learn how to walk a year later in the summer sun, that kind of thing. But even in the U.S. the seasons differ from region to region so much that a Cancer from California wouldn't be the same as a Cancer from South Dakota.

The truth is that there are patterns in the stars but they have nothing to do with us, and horoscopes and astrology simply take common human behaviors and experiences and present them in a way that attracts the kind of people who are inclined to see patterns where none exist.

How do you explain twins who are completely different in personality.

People look for ways to make sense of their own existence and try to find order within the chaos that is the unknown.

Tarot Card readings and horoscopes are deliberately vague, so people get triggered by a word or symbol that "speaks" to them personally (matching a personal issue, condition, or their current state of mind, or an unfulfilled desire). We are all individuals and that is why we tend to interpret, or respond to, the same image, message, or tune differently (beyond the, you know, "sky is blue, water is wet, etc." general truths).

Studies like the one OP mentions are a means to create a hostile "us vs. them / right vs. wrong" environment.

My brother and I are fraternal twins born one minute apart and you could not find two siblings who are more different and who have had vastly different life experiences. You can't tell me that that one minute could bring about such differences when every other planetary alignment was exactly the same.

I’m “less intelligent”

I’m “narcissistic”

I’m “Boris”

I’m anti-trans

I’m anti-Islan

I’m “racist”

I’m pro-vaccine

*Islam

My former next door neighbor won a scholarship to Smith. She believed in astrology and crap like burning sage to cleanse a house of negative something-or-another. She was antivax and wouldn’t allow her kid to have sugar or anything artificial. He had to have wooden toys. She didn’t allow plastic in her house. She didn’t even use vegetable dye for Easter eggs. All clothing and linens had to be made of cotton, wool or silk. She had a succession of wealthy boyfriends who owned their own businesses while she did her “artist” thing. She wound up in a nice spread in NM with a couple of horses just before real estate went insane.

So being an anti vax kook didn’t hurt her. While I, who paid my way through public college with no cachet for many years while working full time and finally got a masters in science degree wound up disabled from my job. I got no workers comp, no settlement nor anything else except a few hundred a month from SS.

I'm not an astrologer, though I do know a fair bit about astrology in general. So, I'm going to take a stab at the twins issue...

The components of the chart, are not simplistic fixed, rigid definitions for each person having that attribute; similar to tarot cards having a few possibilities. As an example of give two people with Mercury in Scorpio, which I happen to have myself: one of the twins could express that in the typical Scorpio resentment, grudge aspect dwelling on unearthing negative information, while the other could be terrific at research, say a genealogist with a records for breaking through "brick walls" thought dead ends. I guess the best way I can put it would be to think of astrological placements like a set of non-physical chromosomes?

No not a twin, my closest experience was that senior year in high school I sat down next to another kid with whom I had barely exchanged a handful of words over the previous three years (out of a small class of 100 kids). Filling out forms for driver ed, I noticed that his date of birth was also mine.

[quote] You recruited 264 morons on FB to participate in an anonymous study to prove that people who believe in astrology are stupid narcissists?

Fair question. I could concur with the thought that the fact that they're on Facebook in the first place is a pretty good indication that they're stupid narcissists.

Astrology is just for fun. I don't REALLY believe in it but it provides a set of reference points.

I don't think they're more narcissistic. Narcissistic people tend to think they're smarter and more powerful than any belief system. They're certainly less intelligent, though. And they tend to be people who feel they have little control over their lives.

Naysayers get your birthchart done,its full of shocks for your kind

This thread title made me laugh out loud.

My main issue with astrology is that it can become a very elaborate form of OCD, constantly worrying if it's the right time to do anything, avoiding Capricorns, etc. Mercury goes retrograde 3 times a year, fer chrissakes.

It also freaks me out a little how many people are taking it really seriously now, especially young people. I thought it was fun when I realized I could calculate my chart online 20 years ago, but I know it's not science. It just seems ripe for people to take it in all sorts of questionable directions.

All that said, I don't take this "study" seriously either. At least astrology is fun sometimes. It's cool to look up at Jupiter in the sky and think "hey, there's that Greater Benefic."

Astrology?

Fortune cookies are much more accurate.

When asked how they came up with big lottery jackpot winning numbers, some have responded that they played ones from a fortune cookie.

I was watching a reality show where a couple went to an astrologer. He whipped out his computer, typed in a few things, and told them their horoscope. There must be astrology programs and websites now that make the actual astrologer obsolete.

[quote] There must be astrology programs and websites now that make the actual astrologer obsolete.

But they can't replace what matters to the customer the most or makes him believe in the astrology or tarot card reading in the first place: A dazzling performance by a New Age astrologer, tarot card reading gypsy, or fortune-teller with an appropriate performance stage.

Same goes for people who believe in studies posted on "Psychic News Daily".

The astrologer probably typed in their data in order to get a screen showing their natal charts, which he interpreted for them.

"Oh I'm such an [insert zodiac sign here]"

Giant red flag.

[quote]who believe in astrology tend to be more narcissistic and less intelligent

It's probably true. The most common sign in America is Scorpio after all...

Astrology seemed to work for that cock sucking cunt Nancy Reagan

Just last week, I woke up early and pressed the on button to brew my prepared coffee. I poured myself a cup, sat in front of the window, raising it slightly to have a smoke. I then made a personal declaration which I won't bother recounting here. I then used my tablet to see if one of my preferred tarot readers had uploaded a new reading. She had at around 11:30pm that night. I played it, and just a few minutes into the reading, she dropped the bomb. "I'm getting that one of you are going to make a declaration to yourselves very early in the morning. You're declaring it to no one but yourself. I'm getting that you're going to say blankety blank blank blank!" She nailed it. Verbatim. She's in Long Beach. I'm in Pittsburgh. She's fucking incredible!

I watch a few tarot folks, more for entertainmebt, but there's one (out) gay fellow who is quite professional.

There's one astrologer who identifies as straight, but I get vibes off him; the guy is good looking, but I don't fantasize there.

I was at a bar and there was this nutty girl making an ass of herself. I said to the other people at my table “I’ll bet she’s a Leo” and when she walked by I asked her when her birthday was, and sure enough, it was august 10. I don’t swear by it by any means and usually would never be able to guess anyones sign, this was just funny because she was like a walking cliche of how a Leo behaves. . I look at astrology as just an entertaining way to pass time and make conversation. It only starts to bother me when people take it too seriously and think they’ve got some special insight into your motivations and behavior.

As a trans astrologist of color, I'm offended and exhausted by the implication in OP. Do better! It's not my job to educate you on astrology.

As soon as someone starts using a star sign to explain someone's behavior, I stop listening or reading right away.

[quote] Eh, I don't know. I know plenty of wickedly intelligent people who can nail someone's sign within five minutes of meeting them, won't date certain signs, etc.

You can be "wickedly intelligent" and narcissistic simultaneously.

I find it goes hand in hand with mental illnesses or people who suffer from mental disorders.

I worked in Salem, MA. Psychics, witches, pagans, etc. A lot of it is boring people trying to feel special, like people who get tattoos and piercings. And they all suffer from depression or drug addiction or something miserable.

I trust a non-scientific "study" of people who "believe" in astrology, when the overwhelming majority of individuals involved know nothing of astrology?

No.

This is the same as asking people if they believe in Jesus as God (for Christ's sake) based on "scriptures" when the know nothing of actual Christian history, or any other group of low-level fantasists desperate for something other than cause and and effect (including the butterfly effect) controlling their lives.

The truth will set one free, but it takes some education, don't it now, OP, ye narcissist of the non-astrological type?

r111, why are you attacking the OP for posting the story? It's not like he's personally endorsing it. You're attacking the messenger.

Chill out, Blanche.

r112 Um, not r111 but OP's post text shows he is endorsing the story.

Strictly for dipshits.

BUMP

R3 must be a tarot reader above a Chinese takeout restaurant.

[quote] Given less Americans identify as religious . . .

Oh, dear. Who are [italic] they[/italic]; recent immigrants?

🤪😆😆😆😆😂 R117

In the film "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", there's a scene between the Dean of the university (Bob Newhart), where Yves Montand is teaching when he discovers that one of his patients is slipping in and out of a past life under hypnosis, and another official. Newhart, who describes his contempt for reincarnation as a belief that is encourages laziness and a few other things. But to the official's surprise, Newhart agrees to keep supporting Montand's project exploring the revelations.

When the official asks why, if Newhart has such contempt for the belief, he is allowing the university to support Montand's work, Newhart shrugs and says, "I could be wrong."

Aaron Rodgers is a big believer of astrology, so this makes sense.

Stealth “I’m not really an an astrologer, but I’m an astrologer and I’ll develop your birth chart” thread.