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In another study examining the Barnum effect, students took the MMPI personality assessment and researchers evaluated their responses. The researchers wrote accurate evaluations of the students’ personalities, but gave the students both the accurate assessment and a fake assessment using vague generalities. Students were then asked to choose which personality assessment they believe was their own, actual assessment. More than half of the students (59%) chose the fake assessment as opposed to the real one.

Origin of Term - Barnum Effect
The Forer effect is more frequently referred to as "The Barnum Effect". This term was coined in 1956 by American psychologist Paul Meehl in his essay, "Wanted - A Good Cookbook". He relates the vague personality descriptions used in certain "pseudo-successful" psychological tests to those given by entertainer and businessman P.T. Barnum, who was a notorious scam artist.

Replicating the Study
Two factors are important in ensuring that the study is replicable. The content of the description offered is important, with specific emphasis on the ratio of positive to negative trait assessments. The other important factor is that the subject trusts the person who is giving feedback to give them feedback based on honest and subjective assessment.

The effect is so consistent because the statements are so vague. People are able to read their own meaning into the statements they receive, and thus, the statement becomes "personal" to them. The most effective statements contain statements based around the phrase: "at times." Such as: "At times you feel very sure of your self, while at other times you are not as confident." This phrase can apply to almost anybody, and thus each person can read their own meaning into it. Keeping statements vague in this manner will ensure high rates of reliability when repeating the study.

Variables Influencing the Effect
Studies have shown that the Barnum effect is seemingly universal - it has been observed in people from many different cultures and geographic locations. In 2009, psychologists Paul Rogers and Janice Soule conducted a study that compared the tendencies of Westerners to accept Barnum personality profiles to the tendencies of Chinese people. They were unable to find any significant differences.

However, gender has proven to play a role in how accurate the subject believes the description to be. Women are more likely than men to believe that the vague statement is accurate.

The method in which the Barnum personality profiles are presented can also affect the extent to which people accept them as their own. For instance, Barnum profiles that are more personalized - perhaps containing a specific person's name - are more likely to yield higher acceptability ratings than those that could be applied to anyone.

Recent Research
Belief in the Paranormal There is evidence that having prior belief in the paranormal leads to greater influence of the effect. Subjects who, for example, believe in the accuracy of horoscopes have a greater tendency to believe that the vague generalities of the response apply specifically to them. Other examples of beliefs in the paranormal, called schizotypies, include belief in magical powers, spiritual happenings, or other influences. Studies on the relationship between schizotypies and belief in the Barnum effect have shown high amounts of correlation. However, Rogers and Soule's 2009 study (see "Variables Influencing the Effect" above) also tested subjects' astrological beliefs, and both the Chinese and Western skeptics were more likely to identify the ambiguity within the Barnum profiles. This suggests that individuals who do not believe in astrology are possibly influenced less by the effect.

Self Serving Bias Self-serving bias has been shown to cancel the Barnum effect. According to the self-serving bias, subjects accept positive attributes about themselves while rejecting negative ones. In one study, subjects were given one of three personality reports. One contained Barnum profiles with socially desirable personality traits, one contained profiles full negative traits (also called "common faults), and the last contained a mixture of the two. Subjects who received the socially desirable and mixed reports were far more likely to agree with the personality assessments than the subjects who received negative reports, though it should be noted that there was not a significant difference between the first two groups.   In another study, subjects were given a list of traits instead of the usual "fake" personality assessment, . The subjects were asked to rate how much they felt these traits applied to them. In line with the self-serving bias, the majority of subjects agreed with positive traits about themselves, and disagreed with negative ones. The study concluded that the self-serving bias is powerful enough to cancel out the usual Barnum effect.