When a tarot reading 'works': the cards or the sitter's belief? What the research says
Two small studies disagree on whether paranormal belief makes sitters rate a tarot reading as more accurate. The evidence stays thin and unreplicated.
Results for "psychology research"
Do Two People Born at the Same Time Share the Same Fate? What the London 'Time Twins' Study Says
The 1958 London 'time twins' study tracked over two thousand people born minutes apart and found none of the similarity Western astrology predicts for them.
How Psychologists Measure Spiritual Belief: The Paranormal Belief Scale and Surveys Since 1936
Psychologists use the Paranormal Belief Scale by Tobacyk and Milford, revised in 2004, with 26 items across seven subscales.
Hexagram Mountain over Water (Meng) in the I Ching: The Origin and Meaning of Innocence
Hexagram 4 of the I Ching, Mountain over Water, comes from Kan and Gen and speaks of innocence, enlightenment, and acting amid immaturity.
The Forer Experiment: A Whole Class Received the Same Personality Description and Everyone Felt It Was Accurate, Plus How to Test It Yourself in Ten Minutes
In his 1949 paper, Bertram Forer reports giving 39 students one identical personality sketch from an astrology book; the class still rated it accurate.
Do People Turn to Divination More When They Feel Anxious? Research on Stress, Control and Ritual
Anxiety and ritual seeking track together in observational data, but experiments that induced lost control have not replicated.
Reading Cheekbones in Chinese Physiognomy
Explore the physiognomic meanings of high, low, full, or bony cheekbones in Eastern face reading, along with a critical perspective from modern science.
Is Online Tarot Reliable and Worth Using? A View from History, Psychology, and Survey Data
Online Tarot's reliability examined through Tarot history, psychological evidence on perceived accuracy, and Pew 2025 survey data on who uses it and why.
Are Psychics Real? How Anomalistic Psychology Explains the "Sixth Sense" Experience
Controlled tests have not shown psychic ability. Anomalistic psychology links "sixth sense" experiences to misattribution and subjective validation.
How MBTI and Big Five differ, and why psychology uses Big Five
MBTI and Big Five measure nearly the same four personality dimensions, but MBTI splits people into 16 discrete groups while Big Five keeps continuous scores.
Why young people seek fortune tellers: pressure, uncertainty and the psychology of the Barnum effect
Young people turn to fortune telling, tarot or astrology amid study and work pressure and uncertainty about the future, not from full belief in the occult.
Does the Enneagram Really Have Nine Types? What an Overview of More Than One Hundred Research Samples Says
A review of 104 research samples found the Enneagram correlates reasonably with the Big Five, yet no study confirms a nine-type factor structure.
The Placebo Effect: Why Feeling Lighter After a Ceremony Is Real, Even When the Ritual Changes Nothing About the Condition
The placebo effect explains why feeling lighter after a ritual can be real, though it changes only subjective experience, not the disease itself.
Is AI Tarot Reading Accurate and How Does It Differ from a Human Reader? A Scientific and Practical View
Is AI Tarot reading accurate, and how does it differ from a human reader? An analysis based on 2025 psychology research on how accurate Tarot spreads feel.
The Gauquelin Mars Effect: The One Time Astrology Looked Right in the Data, and Why Researchers Still Reject It
The Gauquelin Mars Effect was astrology's strongest apparent hit in statistical data, but later independent tests failed to replicate it.
Does the Full Moon Make People Act Differently: Crime, Birth Counts and Sleep Through the Lens of Data
Large meta-analyses find no link between moon phase and crime or birth counts. For sleep, the evidence remains contested and depends on light exposure.
Why retaking the MBTI gives you a different type: the 16 personality types through the lens of psychometrics
The MBTI measures four real personality dimensions, but splitting people into 16 discrete types makes those near the midpoint shift type on a retest.
Why We Avoid the Belongings of the Dead and Seek New Year's Luck: Contagious Magic in the Modern Mind
Contagious magic rests on two laws: contact transfers properties, and similarity means shared essence. Rozin's 1986 experiments show they still shape us.
Why Drawing Your Own Hexagram or Picking Your Own Numbers Feels More Trustworthy: The Illusion of Control
The illusion of control explains why choosing your own lottery numbers or casting your own hexagram makes a random result feel more trustworthy.
What Science Says About Face Reading: From 19th-Century Criminal Physiognomy to Modern Research
How does science view face reading? From 19th-century criminal anthropology to modern psychology, plus the misconceptions to avoid.
What is pseudoscience, and why is drawing the line between science and pseudoscience far harder than it looks
What is pseudoscience? A look at the definition, Popper's demarcation criterion, critiques from Duhem, Quine and Kuhn, and the practical stakes involved.
Why Hanoi Apartment Buyers Consult Feng Shui: Research on Spiritual Security When Buying a Home
Trương Thị Thúy Hà's 2016 study found Hanoi apartment buyers consult feng shui when choosing and arranging a home, seeking spiritual security.
Why phrases like 'energy', 'vibration', 'the universe sends signals' sound profound: research on pseudo-profound statements
Pennycook and colleagues found that people rate vague, profound-sounding statements highly, and this acceptance links to lower analytic thinking.
Do 'lucky' house numbers and floor numbers raise property prices? Evidence from real estate market research
Studies in Vancouver, Auckland, Singapore, Hồng Kông and Russia show buyers pay more or less for house and floor numbers.
What Does MBTI Borrow from Carl Jung, and Where Does It Differ?
MBTI borrows Jung's two attitudes and four functions, adds the J/P axis and sixteen types. How does psychology rate its reliability and validity?
Can Astrology Predict Personality? What the Double-Blind Tests Say
Do astrologers matching charts to unknown people beat chance? Double-blind tests, Carlson 1985 to Hartmann 2006, found they did not.
Does Learning Astrology Make People More Certain About Themselves? Astrology as Self-Affirmation in Times of Crisis
Astrology students in a small 1998 study grew more certain about themselves, while psychology and German students did not.
What Is a Saturn Return, and Why Do People Often Face a Crisis Around Age 29?
Saturn return is the 29.46-year cycle when Saturn returns to its birth position: the mechanism, the ages 29 and 58, and research on the near-30 crisis.
Does carrying a lucky charm make us perform better: a famous experiment and its failed replications
A 2010 study reported that lucky charms improved performance, but larger replications found no such effect. What does this say about the evidence?
Choosing departure dates, blessing a new vehicle, hanging safety amulets: how do Vietnamese seek road safety through spirituality?
Vietnamese travellers use departure dates, vehicle blessings and safety amulets to manage risk on uncertain roads, an anthropologist finds.
Star-Offering Rituals for Averting Misfortune: Why Do Hanoians Attend, and What Do They Believe?
Hanoi field research shows sao giai han attendees span many ages and jobs, drawn by belief in inauspicious stars and peace of mind.
What Palm Reading Is: How Palm Lines Are Read and Why They Cannot Predict the Future
Palm reading is a folk divination practice that reads palm lines to infer personality and destiny, yet it has no scientific basis.
Hoa Cái Star in Zi Wei Dou Shu - Origins and Meaning
Hoa Cái in Zi Wei Dou Shu symbolizes solitude, nobility and wisdom, with roots in Eastern philosophy and a leaning toward spirituality and art.
Saying you don't believe yet still observing taboos: why 'abstaining brings good fortune' persists even among the highly educated
Many people know a taboo has no scientific basis yet still follow it. Psychology calls this acquiescence, a mechanism that reconciles intuition and reason.
Why Many People Find Their Zodiac Sign Description Fits Them: The Self-Attribution Effect
Surveys once linked fire signs to extroversion, but later research ties that link to whether people already knew astrology's traits for their sign.
MBTI INTJ Personality Type (The Strategist) - Traits, Strengths, and Career Paths
A comprehensive look at the INTJ personality type (The Strategist) in MBTI: origins, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and suitable career directions.
Is Finding a Partner Through Kinh Dịch, Tarot, or Tử Vi Reliable? A View from Origins and Evidence
Can Kinh Dịch, Tarot, or Tử Vi truly find you a partner? This analysis weighs their origins, reading methods, and experimental evidence so you can decide.
Do AI Face-Reading Apps Actually Predict Personality? What Machine Learning on 31,367 Photos Says
AI face-reading apps return Big Five profiles, but machine learning on 31,367 photos found only a modest group-level signal, not enough to judge one person.
What to Consult After Being Dumped: Tarot, Compatibility Reading, or Nothing at All, and the Questions No Card Can Answer for You
After a breakup, tarot can help name your feelings and review the relationship, but it cannot say whether your ex will return.
Good luck, bad luck, and the hot hand: why random streaks look like they follow a rule
Psychology explains why we read random streaks as good or bad luck, and how the basketball hot hand debate pushed researchers to revise an old conclusion.
Do Investors Who Favor the Number 8 Earn More? Evidence from Stock Exchanges
Evidence from Taiwan's futures exchange and IPO data shows that choosing prices and tickers by lucky numbers comes with lower returns.
Confirmation Bias: Why We Remember the Fortuneteller's Hits and Forget Every Miss
Confirmation bias explains why we remember a fortune teller's hits and forget the misses, plus its mechanisms and self checks.