Forer Effect

We accept vague, general personality descriptions as uniquely accurate descriptions of ourselves — the basis of astrology, cold reading, and many forms of charlatanism.

• Bertram Forer gave all students in a class the same generic personality profile — 87% rated it as an accurate description of their unique personality.
• Horoscopes are written to apply to virtually everyone — yet readers feel personally seen.
• Cold readers use generic statements ('you sometimes feel misunderstood') that apply to almost everyone, and subjects fill in the specific meaning themselves.