Psychology and ELT - The Forer Effect 1
997 views · Published 16 July 2014 · 2:19 · Indexed 7 October 2026
Channel: Nick Michelioudakis · 2014 · Comedy
What is your zodiac sign? Do you think the description of the sign is a reasonably good reflection of who you are? If so, you are not alone. Watch this amazing clip to see how this Astrologer analyses a Psychologist's personality (it could have been you!) The second part of the clip is even more fascinating: the Psychologist gave his students a description of their inner world ostensibly based on their zodiac sign and then asked them how accurate they thought it was. What they did not know, was that they all got the same one! This phenomenon (our tendency to think that vague statements actually apply to us) is called the Forer (or Barnum) Effect. What makes it so widespread are three key factors: a) we are extremely self-focused and we tend to try to relate everything to ourselves; b) we have a build-in tendency to discover patterns and connections -- even where none exist, and c) we tend to focus on 'hits' (instances when something happens to be true) and ignore the 'misses' (all the other cases). OK -- how is all this relevant to ELT? For an excellent demonstration of how we can make use of this effect to get our students to develop their fluency while also engaging them in cohesion-building 'humanistic' activities, you need to watch 'Psychology and ELT -- The Forer Effect 2'. [NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have uploaded it here for educational purposes].
