European

Psychologist

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Belief in Astrology as a Strategy For

Self-Verification and Coping With
Negative Life-Events
Outi Lillqvist and Marjaana Lindeman
Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland

This study investigated the role of astrology in self-concept verification verified the participant's self-concept by increasing certainty of the self-
and coping with negative life-events. Forty students in elementary cours- descriptive attributes and the assumptions of self-control and perceived
es of astrology, psychology, and German language rated their certainty luck. In addition, interest in astrology was positively correlated with the
about 20 self-describing attributes and three assumptions related to the number of personal crises, but not with the number of past traumatic
self. The subjects were also asked to mark whether and how many times events. The motivational mechanisms underlying astrological beliefs and
they had experienced particular crises and traumatic events. Participa- the enormous popularity of astrology are discussed.
tion in an astrology course, but not in psychology or German courses,

Keywords: Astrology, self-verification, self-concept, stress.

Despite the lack of empirical evidence for astrological Besides the cognitive shortcomings and the person-
claims (for a review, see Hines, 1988), belief in astrology ality traits that dispose people to believe in astrology
as a theory of person perception and self-perception re- and other pseudosciences, it is possible that belief in as-
mains highly popular. Only a few studies, however, trology serves some important motivational functions.
have been performed to investigate the psychological It seems especially plausible that astrological informa-
grounds behind this widespread and persistent belief. tion, although illusory, helps the individual to compre-
In previous literature, belief in astrology has been hend both self and the world. Many researchers (e. g.,
explained with potential biases in social information pro- Baumeister, 1987; Epstein, 1990; Janoff-Bulman, 1989;
cessing, such as a theory-driven and selective approach Smith, 1994; Stevens & Fiske, 1995) agree that these two
to person perception (Glick & Snyder, 1986; Rooij, 1994) motives—understanding oneself and the world—are
or susceptibility to illusory correlations (Tobacyk, 1991). among the most basic human needs that have developed
In addition, some studies analyzed personality differenc- over millions of years because of their high survival val-
es between skeptics and astrology believers. For exam-
ple, Glick, Gottesman, and Jolton (1989) suggested that
belief in astrology is related to authoritarianism and cer- Outi Lillqvist is a psychologist, now preparing her PhD thesis on every-
day thinking. Marjaana Lindeman, PhD, is researcher and lecturer in
tainty orientation, such as an intolerance for ambiguity. the Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. Her
Compared to skeptics, believers might have a greater major research interests lie in everyday thinking and personality psy-
need for information that would reduce the uncertainty chology.
associated with making attributions about self and oth- Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
ers. The study cited above found that believers were Marjaana Lindeman, Department of Psychology, Applied Division,
more likely to accept vague self-descriptions as being ac- University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 4, FIN-00014 Finland (tel. +358
9 1912-3249 (office), +358 9 802-6161 (home), fax +358 9
curate, which gives some empirical support for Glick et 1912-3379 (office), +358 9 813-4931 (home), e-mail Marjaana.
al.'s hypothesis (see also Hamilton, 1995). Lindeman® Helsinki.Fi).

European Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 202-208

202 © 1998 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers
 Belief in Astrology

ue. The present study rests on the general assumption and luck. According to the astrological worldview, an
that astrological information is popular because it ful- individual's experiences are reflections of the interaction
fills these needs. of celestial bodies. It is claimed that people, through
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Knowledge of self has been considered fundamen- their actions, are able to contribute to the way those
tal to psychological well-being for decades (e. g., All- planetary influences are realized in their lives. In other
port, 1961; Erikson, 1968). This consideration has been words, astrology suggests that we live in a meaningful,
verified by a number of modern personality psychology predictable world in which events can be controlled by
studies, which indicate that a strong sense of identity, or our own actions.
certainty in self-attributes, is associated with positive Besides fulfilling the need to comprehend self, a sta-
self-affect, high self-esteem, and well-being (Baumgard- ble and coherent worldview serves the vital function of
ner, 1990; Campbell, 1990; Campbell & Fehr, 1990; Mar- buffering the anxiety that results from the awareness of
cia, 1980; Pelham & Swann, 1989). basic human vulnerability (Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Solo-
In everyday life, people engage in various cognitive mon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). It provides us
and behavioral strategies in order to verify their self- with expectations about ourselves and the world and
concept (see Swann, 1990, for a review). For example, makes effective functioning possible.
people are more likely to pay attention to and remember The function of worldview as an anxiety-buffer be-
social feedback verifying their self-conceptions (Swann comes salient especially in major life crises. Serious set-
& Read, 1981a). Moreover, self-confirmatory feedback is backs, such as life-threatening illness, accidents, or vic-
easily regarded as especially informative (Swann & timization by a crime may challenge an individual's
Read, 1981b), whereas disconfirmatory feedback is in- whole conceptual system of self and the surrounding
terpreted so as to minimize its impact (e. g., Markus, world (see Janoff-Bulman & Frieze, 1983). To cope with
1977). personally threatening events, people search for mean-
It is possible that astrology is a strategy that verifies ing in those events, attempt to regain control over them
self-concept. Astrology offers personality descriptions and to make an effort to enhance their self-esteem (see
that are ambiguous and positive (Glick et al., 1989; Sil- Taylor, 1983, for a review). Some of the coping mecha-
verman, 1971) and thus easy to accept as self-descrip- nisms may be illusory (Friedland, Keinan, & Regev,
tive. Moreover, purportedly being computed from an in- 1992; Taylor, 1983), but nevertheless people will put
dividual's date and place of birth, the information about great faith in them.
one's personality would appear to be factual (Snyder, A few studies have pointed out a positive relation-
1974; Snyder, Larsen, & Bloom, 1976), a necessary and ship between an experienced threat and the emergence
essential condition in the self-verification process of magical or superstitious thinking. Sales (1973), for ex-
(Baumgardner, 1990; Pelham, 1991; Swann, Stein- ample, found a significant increase in the number of ar-
Seroussi, & Giesler, 1992). ticles on astrology published in the United States during
We hypothesize that astrological information veri- the economically depressed 1930s. Correspondingly,
fies self-concept. Four aspects of self-concept, namely, Padgett and Jorgenson (1982) counted the number of ar-
self-descriptive attributes, self-worth, self-control, and ticles on astrology, mysticism, and cults that appeared in
luck, are considered. First, we assume that after individ- Germany between the two world wars and found that
uals have learned about astrology, they are more certain interest in astrology increased with increasing political
of the attributes that describe themselves than they were and economical threat. In a recent study, Keinan (1994)
before developing an openness toward astrological in- reported that superstition and magical thinking
formation. The certainty of worthiness of self is assumed emerged more frequently in people living in highly
to be verified in a similar vein. We utilize here Janoff-Bul- stressful conditions than in those under low-stress con-
man's (1989) work, where self-worthiness is character- ditions during the Gulf War.
ized by three basic self-related assumptions: self-worth, These reports are plausible, for astrology consti-
self-control, and luck. Belief in one's self-worth involves tutes a conceptual system based on predictability and
the extent to which people perceive themselves as good, controllability; it claims to provide meaningful explana-
moral, worthy, and decent individuals (Janoff-Bulman, tions for various unexpected or negative events, and of-
1989). Given the positivity of astrological information, it fers an ideology according to which all events or indi-
is plausible to assume that astrology verifies one's per- viduals form an integral part of the cosmos. As a conse-
ceived self-worth. However, it is also possible that as- quence, people in stressful situations may feel that
trology verifies such self-related concepts as self-control astrology helps them understand what is happening
European Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 202-208
© 1998 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers 203
 Outi Lillqvist and Marjaana Lindeman

and why. In other words, belief in astrology may have were excluded because they did not completely fill in the
the function of an anxiety-buffer that serves to protect questionnaire. The final number of subjects in psychol-
the individual from anxiety. If this the case, interest in ogy group was thus 21. Their ages ranged from 16 to 59
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astrology may increase together with negative or stress- years old (M = 37.1), and three of them were male.
ful life-events. The subjects in the German group were recruited
In sum, then, the aim of the present study is to in- from two courses of elementary German in the City of
vestigate the role of astrology in self-concept verification Helsinki Adult Education Center. The courses lasted 13
and in coping with negative life-events. It is hypothe- and 14 weeks. Originally 30 voluntary students partici-
sized that astrological information will clarify self-con- pated in the study, 18 of whom were excluded because
cept by verifying conceptions about self-attributes, self- they attended only the first part of the study. Three were
esteem, self-control, and luck. More specifically, we as- excluded because they did not completely fill in the
sume that the participants in an astrology course would questionnaire, leaving three male and six female Ger-
be more certain of their self-concept after taking the man students (age range 21-50, M = 33.3).
course than they were before. Our second hypothesis
was that there is a positive relationship between interest
in astrology and the amount of personal crises and Measures
traumatic events.
The Latitude of Self-Description Questionnaire (LSDQ,
Baumgardner, 1990) was used to measure self-verifica-
tion. The scale has been successfully applied in previous
Method studies to measure certainty of the self-concept (Baum-
Participants
gardner, 1990). It consists of 20 traits (e. g., happy, hu-
morous) rated on a 0 percentile to 100th percentile scale
One hundred and twenty-three astrology, psychology, with end points "much less than average" and "much
and German-language students originally participated more than average." After being presented with each
in the study. Seventy-three students were excluded for trait adjective, subjects were asked to rate themselves in
reasons described below, leaving 50 subjects. relation to others in the general population. First, they
Students of astrology were recruited from two ele- were asked to mark where they believed they fell, then
mentary courses in astrology in the City of Helsinki they were asked to indicate the latitude surrounding
Finnish-language Adult Education Center and from an that judgment by marking the percentile at which they
elementary course arranged for the present study. The were certain they were above, and the percentile at which
courses varied from 4 to 13 weeks' length, but the they were certain they were below. The mean latitude av-
amount of hours was approximately the same. Previous eraged across the 20 items indicated the certainty of the
knowledge of astrology was not necessary. The teachers belief: A wider latitude was considered an indication of
of these courses were professional astrologers who were greater uncertainty about the self-descriptive attributes.
unaware of the aim of the study. Originally, 47 voluntary The LSDQ was presented before and after the courses
students participated, 22 of whom were excluded be- (see Procedure below), and the verification of self-de-
cause they attended only the first part of the course. Five scriptive attributes was operationalized as the difference
subjects were excluded because they did not completely between pre- and post-test scores.
fill out the questionnaire. Thus, the final number of sub- To measure the verification of self-worth, self-con-
jects in astrology was 20, ranging in age from 22 to 55 trol, and luck, we used the dimensions related to self-
years old (M = 40.2). Two of the subjects were male. concept in the World Assumption Scale (WAS, Janoff-
The two reference groups were psychology and Bulman, 1989), modified to the same format as the
German students. The subjects in the psychology group above-described LSDQ. We included the items original-
were recruited from three introductory psychology ly involved in the WAS: four items concerned self-worth
courses, two in the City of Helsinki Finnish language (e. g., "I often think I am no good at all"), four concerned
Adult Education Center and one at the University of self-controllability (e. g., "I take the actions necessary to
Helsinki's Open University. The courses lasted from 6 to protect myself against misfortune"), and four items
12 weeks. Originally 46 voluntary students participated measured luck (e. g., "I am luckier than most people.").
in the study, 22 of whom were excluded because they (The other dimensions of WAS were also presented to
attended only the first part of the study. Three subjects the subjects. However, no significant or meaningful
European Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 202-208
204 © 1998 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers
 Belief in Astrology

results were obtained for these scales, so that these re- tions were high and significant, r = .42 (p < .05) - .80 (p <
sults are not considered here further.) . 01), the questions were combined into one variable: "In-
Subjects were asked to answer the items on a 0 per- terest in Astrology." In the astrology group, familiarity
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centile to 100th percentile scale with endpoints "strongly with astrology was evaluated by asking the subjects
disagree" and "strongly agree." First, they were asked to how long they had studied astrology.
mark where they believed their opinion fell; next they
were asked to indicate the latitude surrounding that
Procedure
judgment in a similar way as in the LSDQ. The scores on
each scale were summed, and the verification of self- The data were collected at the beginning and at the end
control, self-worth, and luck were operationalized by of each course. At the outset of each session the experi-
the average difference between pre- and post-test scores. menter told participants that the study concerned "peo-
To measure experienced traumatic life-events, we ple's perception of themselves and the world," that par-
asked the subjects to mark whether and how many times ticipation would be voluntary, and that any information
they had experienced the following events: given would be confidential. During the first part of the
1. The death of a close relative or friend, study, the subjects were given a packet of questionnaires
2. A serious illness of a close relative or friend, containing the LSDQ, the WAS, and questions about de-
3. A life-threatening situation, e. g., an accident or a fire, mographic variables, traumatic life-events, and crises.
4. Rape, incest, physical assault or robbery. During the second part of the study the subjects were
given a packet of questionnaires containing the LSDQ,
To measure experienced crises, we asked the subjects to the WAS, and questions about their astrological interest
mark whether they had recently experienced the follow- (the control group) or how long they had studied astrol-
ing situations: ogy (astrology group). The instructions for completing
5. Menopause or mid-life crisis (commonly expressed the questionnaires were given orally.
in Finland as a crisis of 30- or 40-year-olds, respec-
tively ),
6. Divorce,
7. Infidelity, Results
8. Children leaving home,
9. Notice to quit or unemployment,
10. Economic difficulties, The psychology and German groups were combined in-
11. Re-qualification or change of profession, to one control group, as they did not differ significantly
12. Some other crisis. in the verification of self-descriptive attributes, F(l,28) =
0.01, ns, self-worth, F(l,28) = 0.05, ns, self-control,
These negative life-events and crises were chosen ac- F(l,28) = 1.85, ns, or in luck, F(l,28) = 0.43, ns.
cording to the previous literature, where they have been The effect of the astrology course on the verification
considered as a risk to psychological well-being (Janoff- of the self-concept was tested separately for the four self-
Bulmann, 1989; Cullberg, 1985). The number of traumat- concept variables as dependent variables, with two-way
ic life-events and crises was studied separately because analyses of variance (ANOVA) of repeated measures,
previous studies have suggested that traumatic life- with study group (astrology versus control group) as
events may have a long-term impact on the victim's lives between-subjects variable and measurement time (be-
(Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Lehman, Wortman, & Williams, fore and after the course) as within-subjects variable. All
1987), whereas acute crises will increase the tendency to means are presented in Table 1.
cope immediately with the stressor (Keinan, 1994). Because the omnibus F for the interaction between
In the reference groups, interest in astrology was study group and measurement time for the self-descrip-
evaluated by asking the subjects to rate the following tive attributes was not significant, F(l,47) = 1.42, ns, and
questions on a 5-point scale (1 = Not at all and 5 = Very because we had only one degree of freedom, the two
much): "Do you believe in astrology?"; "Are you or have planned comparisons were conducted with Bonferroni's
you been interested in astrology (e. g., visits to an astrol- method by controlling the error rate by setting the alpha
oger)?"; "Have you studied astrology by reading books level at .01. The pairwise f-tests revealed that self-
or attending courses?"; "Can you interpret an astrologi- descriptive attributes were marginally verified in the
cal chart?" Because the correlations between the ques- astrology group, t(19) = 2.29, p < .03 (effect size, GO2 =
European Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 202-208
© 1998 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers 205
 Outi Lillqvist and Marjaana Lindeman

Table 1
Certainty of the four self-concept variables before and after the course in astrology and control groups.
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Astrology Control
Before After Before After
Variable M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)
Self-describing
attributes 24.13 (11.89) 21.55 (11.96) 24.19 (12.20) 23.60 (11.65)
Self-worth 23.33 (13.51) 21.46 (12.70) 23.80 (10.97) 24.69 (11.93)
Self-control 23.40 (12.55) 20.12 (10.94) 24.23 (9.41) 25.72 (11.00)
Luck 26.23 (15.33) 22.49 (13.25) 22.90 (9.81) 24.00 (12.51)

-0.51; Cohen 1988), but not in the control group, £(29) = cept by increasing the certainty of self-control and per-
0.52, ns (co2 =-0.09). ceived luck. In addition, the certainty of self-descriptive
For the verification of self-control, F(l,47) = 4.67, p < attributes was increased in the astrology group, though
.03, and for the verification of perceived luck, F(l,47) = this result was only marginally significant. No signifi-
5.99, p < .01, this interaction was significant. The specific cant changes were found for the certainty of self-worth
comparisons showed that self-control was verified in the in any group.
astrology group, i(19) = 1.99, p < .03 (co2 = -0.45), but not Belief in astrology has previously been related to
in the control group, t(29) = 1.04, ns (co2 = 0.19). Similarly, cognitive biases and personality traits such as intoler-
perceived luck was verified in the astrology group, ance for ambiguity and a greater need for information
f(19) = 2.72, p < .01 (co2= -0.61), but not in the control that reduces uncertainty about self and others (Glick et
group, t(29) = 0.82, ns (co2= 0.15). As regards self-worth, al., 1989). Furthermore, increasing uncertainty in the en-
no significant differences were found. vironment has been found to increase interest in astrol-
Next, the relation of interest in astrology and nega- ogy and other paranormal phenomena (Keinan, 1994;
tive life-events was examined. First, two one-way ANO- Padget & Jorgenson, 1982; Sales, 1973). The results of the
VAs, separately for crises and traumatic events, were present study qualify these observations: It seems that
conducted with the study group (astrology group and astrology not only appeals when uncertainty is experi-
control group) as between-subjects variable. The signif- enced, but that astrological information actually also
icant main effect for the study group indicated that the verifies an individual's self-beliefs and thus possibly
astrology group had experienced more crises recently reduces the negative feelings typically linked with
uncertainty.
than the control group, F(2, 47) = 8.00, p < .001. Differ-
ences in the number of traumatic life-events between The finding that the astrology students felt their
astrology and control group were not significant, F(2, self-concept had been verified may be a consequence of
47) = 0.10, ns. the confluence of, several factors. First, astrological per-
For the control group, a correlation between interest sonality descriptions are specially derived for an indi-
in astrology and the amount of crises and traumatic vidual based on factual information about date and
events was also noted. It turned out that interest in as- place of birth. Perceived accuracy, in turn, has been
trology was positively correlated with the number of cri- shown to increase the perceived validity of personality
ses, r = .44, p < .05, but not with the number of past trau- descriptions (Snyder, 1974; Snyder et al., 1976) and to be
mas, r = .17, ns. a necessary condition for self-concept verification
(Baumgardner, 1990; Pelham, 1991). Second, astrology
operates largely with personality traits that seem to ap-
Discussion ply to nearly anyone, at least in some situations. In other
words, astrological statements seem to be true because
The first hypothesis, that exposure to astrological infor- they have something for everybody (e. g., Dean, 1987;
mation verifies self-concept, was largely supported. Hoorens, 1993). Similarly, character descriptions in
Whereas psychology or German courses had no effects modern astrology, and obviously in astrology courses as
on the course participants' self-concept, participation in well, tend to stress positive factors and avoid implica-
an astrology course did verify the participants' self-con- tions of unfortunate or negative destinies (Nikula, 1987;
European Psychologist, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 202-208
206 © 1998 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers
 Belief in Astrology

Numminen, 1994; Tanhua, 1992), which increases the ac- To date, the psychological importance of astrology
ceptance of astrology (Glick et al v 1989). for the individual has been somewhat unclear. The in-
Our second hypothesis suggested a positive rela- creasing interest in astrology during politically or eco-
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tionship between interest in astrology and the number nomically turbulent times as well as among security-ori-
of personal crises and traumatic events. The hypothesis ented individuals has been pointed out. The present
was supported as regards crises but not as regards trau- study gives some empirical evidence of the basis of as-
matic events. First, students of astrology had experi- trological beliefs. To the extent that it verifies assump-
enced more crises recently than students of psychology tions of self, astrological information seems to have the
and the German language. In addition, interest in astrol- function of fulfilling the basic need for self-comprehen-
ogy among psychology and German students was pos- sion in general and in stressful situations in particular
itively and highly correlated with the number of recent (e. g., Smith, 1994; Baumeister, 1987). Hence, although
crises. However, there were no differences in traumatic there is no reason to accept astrology as a reliable or ad-
events between the study groups, nor did the number of equate methods of self-examination, our results may
traumatic events correlate with astrological interest. help to shed more light on the mechanisms that underlie
Traumatic events and recent crises were investigat- the enormous popularity of this illusory autotherapy.
ed separately because acute stressful situations have
been shown to increase the need for immediate coping
(Keinan, 1994), whereas traumatic events experienced
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