New Study Shows That People Who Believe In Astrology Tend To Be More Narcissistic

A new study has found that narcissism is the strongest predictor of people who believe in astrology, and that the IQ levels of believers tend to be lower.

The study — “ Even the stars think that I am superior: Personality, intelligence and belief in astrology” — was published on November 20 in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

It was conducted by a team of researchers at Lund University in Sweden.

Why do people who believe in astrology choose to believe?

As the study points out, astrology is becoming more and more popular.

According to a 2018 Pew Research poll, about 29% of American adults now believe in astrology, and women are more likely to believe in it than men.

Scientists do not know why astrology is undergoing what these researchers call a “revival.”

But they do point out that past research has found people are more likely to embrace astrology and other scientifically questionable beliefs when they are under stress.

Prior studies, for example, have found a link between personal turmoil and a belief in astrology.

The authors suggest that current “stressors” which might explain the increasing popularity of astrology include climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

And understanding why people believe in astrology matters. Although astrology in itself may seem harmless, it also correlates with belief in other pseudosciences and conspiracy theories.

So the researchers wanted to find out whether individual personality traits might play a role in understanding why people who believe in astrology hold that belief.

“To the best of our knowledge,” they write, “no earlier studies have been conducted on narcissism and intelligence regarding belief in astrology.”

Known links between Big Five personality traits and belief in pseudoscience

Past research has found that that the Big Five traits of Openness, Extroversion, and Neuroticism are (weakly) positively correlated with belief in the paranormal.

Conscientiousness, on the other hand, is the personality trait least connected to pseudoscientific beliefs. Evidence is mixed on the trait of Agreeableness.

The researchers also wanted to investigate the links between astrology and narcissism, “due to the self-focused perspective” at the core of both.

Finally, the researchers wanted to measure the participants’ IQ levels, as intelligence has been found to correlate negatively with belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal. Intelligence also correlates negatively with apophenia, which is the tendency to see connections or patterns between unrelated things.

Measuring belief in astrology and the Big Five

To find out more about the correlations between individual personalities and belief in astrology, the researchers assessed the personalities, IQ levels, and astrology beliefs of 264 English-speaking participants who were recruited via Facebook.

Most of the participants (87%) were women, and their age range was 25–34.

To measure the subjects’ belief in astrology, the researchers had them complete a shortened eight-item version of a psychometric assessment tool called the Belief in Astrology Inventory.

Participants were asked to rate the truth, on a scale of 1 to 5, of statements such as “Horoscopes predict a person’s future” or “The way I relate to other people depends on my zodiac sign.”

Subjects also completed several personality assessments. One was a standard 30-item personality test.

Another was a tool specifically designed to measure narcissism. It asked participants to respond to statements such as “People see me as a natural leader” or “I get bored hanging around with ordinary people.”

Finally, the participants completed a brief intelligence test.

The researchers also collected information on the subjects’ age and gender.

Results: narcissism was the strongest predictor of belief in astrology, and IQ was negatively linked to this belief

In terms of personality traits, narcissism was the strongest predictor of “Belief in Astrology” (β = 0.29).

The traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism showed no correlations, while Agreeableness and Extraversion showed small positive correlations.

Intelligence had a small but significant negative effect…

Read the entire article about how “People Who Believe In Astrology Tend To Be More Narcissistic And Less Intelligent” here!