Astrological signs show little significance
In the pseudoscience astrology, the alignment of stars and planets affect a person’s life, mood and behavior. Personalized horoscopes are created by one’s birth date and make vague predictions about the future, health and success of individuals under the same astrological sign.
With all the Earth’s axial changes, the accuracy of astrology has greatly shifted. Approximately 3,000 years ago, the Babylonians selected 12 constellations from space and assigned one to each month of the year, discarding the fact that the sun moves through 13 constellations. This further proves that ancient estimates fail to hold up to modern astronomical observations, proving that predictions for personality based on these stars are false. As for the actual meaning of zodiacs, they are actually just constellations of stars.
I have always been quite wary of astrology, as the concept of stars, huge celestial bodies made up of gas and helium defining our personalities sounds quite bizarre. When I took Psychology, I learned about the Barnum effect, which is the phenomenon that people tend to believe in descriptions of their personality that supposedly are descriptive of them but could in fact describe almost anyone. In other words, the Barnum effect tricks the everyday reader into believing that a particular horoscope was meant for just them, aiding the individual to forge connections between the extremely vague texts and their own daily life.
A popular reason as to why many people believe in astrology is because of a concept called confirmation bias. If someone already has set identities for themself, they can use astrology to simply confirm their beliefs. This shows that horoscopes “resonate” with us because humans enjoy categorization. In terms of astrology, this could be grouping people into their respective signs.
Speaking from personal experiences, I have been put in situations where someone will randomly ask me what my zodiac sign is. Once I tell them my sign, the other person will sound quite pensive or even judgemental. To judge someone based on a sign that assigns random traits to a person that may not even be accurate is ridiculous. There is no way that people can truthfully believe that the time you were brought into this world impacts your personality or future. I could have lied to the person asking me what sign I was, and they most likely wouldn’t have known the difference. It is very easy to trick someone in believing that you are of a star sign other than your own, leading to inaccuracy.
Even though astrology can be a fun hobby, conversation starter and ice breaker, it is important to keep in mind that astrology is not exactly scientific and should not be used to form opinions about people, guide life decisions or even used as a crutch to explain your shortcomings. In my opinion, everyone possesses unique personality traits that go beyond a daily horoscope that is applicable to millions.
