Pseudoscience: People who believe in horoscopes tend to be more narcissistic ...

People who subscribe to astrology and horoscopes tend to be more narcissistic and less intelligent and than their counterparts who don't believe in the pseudoscience.

This is the conclusion psychologists from Lund University, who surveyed more than 250 people about their beliefs in astrology and their personality profiles.

Narcissists may be more susceptible to horoscopes because they are more 'fact-resistant' and find the positive framing appeals to their grandiosity, the team said.

The researchers — noted that astrology has seen a resurgence of late — also found that belief in horoscopes was linked to traits of agreeableness and extroversion.

The study was undertaken by psychologist Petri Kajonius of Sweden's Lund University and his colleagues. 

'Astrology is increasing in popularity, despite the lack of scientific support,' the researchers wrote in their paper.

'It is not clear why this ancient practice of studying positions and movements of celestial bodies — with the conviction that they influence human behaviour — is going through a revival.'

Dr Kajonius and his colleagues wanted to see if a belief in astrology was associated with any particular personality trait.

To this end, they recruited 264 people via social media and had them complete a series of questionnaires.

The first explored the extent to which each participant believed in astronomy and whether they understood it to be supported by scientific research.

Subsequent questions provided a general personality assessment — according to the 'Big Five' taxonomy — along with specific tests for levels of intelligence and narcissistic traits.

'The main result showed that the higher the narcissism, perhaps surprisingly, the higher the belief in astrology,'

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