Department
Psychology
Advisor
Joel Frederickson
Document Type
Poster
Version
Preprint
Abstract
A natural tendency of humans is to categorize things, including personality. Personality tests and types seem to be scarily accurate at times, but why? This study examines the Barnum Effect, a phenomenon in which individuals are overly accepting of vague, general personality statements, even if they are not specific to any one individual. College students were asked to take a shortened version of the Big Five Inventory analysis, and then either given results that were consistent with the test, or results that were the same for everyone in that condition-- vague and nonspecific.
Recommended Citation
Mugglin, Gretchen and Frederickson, Joel, "The Barnum Effect and Acceptance of Personality Test Results" (2024). Science Symposium. 49.
https://spark.bethel.edu/science_symposium/spring2024/schedule2024/49
Terms of Use and License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
The Barnum Effect and Acceptance of Personality Test Results
A natural tendency of humans is to categorize things, including personality. Personality tests and types seem to be scarily accurate at times, but why? This study examines the Barnum Effect, a phenomenon in which individuals are overly accepting of vague, general personality statements, even if they are not specific to any one individual. College students were asked to take a shortened version of the Big Five Inventory analysis, and then either given results that were consistent with the test, or results that were the same for everyone in that condition-- vague and nonspecific.
Comments
personality test, barnum effect