Astrology and horoscopes or zodiacs continue to be popular, even believed by some people. This surprised scientists at Lund University, Sweden. Why is that?
"Astrology continues to increase in popularity despite the lack of scientific support," wrote the researchers, led by Petri Kajonius, a psychology expert at the university.
"It is not clear why this ancient practice of studying the position and movement of extraterrestrial objects, in the belief that it affects human nature, is reviving," they added.
Dr Kajonius and his team wanted to find out if belief in astrology was connected to certain personalities. They recruited 264 volunteers through social media and asked them to answer several questions.
Phase one questions explored how much confidence each participant had in the zodiac and whether they understood that it lacked scientific support. Then the next question is to determine the level of intelligence and the level of narcissism of the respondents.
"The main results show that the more narcissistic a person is, surprisingly, the higher their belief in astrology," they concluded.
In addition, the team also mentions 'the higher the level of intelligence, the lower the belief in astrology'. Or in other words, those who believe in zodiac signs tend to be lower in intelligence, although this matter still needs further research.
Further studies are still needed as to why the narcissistic personality is related to this belief in astrology. But perhaps because they are more ignorant of facts and the positive side of astrology makes them interested.
"Narcissism correlates with the belief that astrology is backed by science, which has led to speculation that they are generally more resistant to facts," the research team quoted us as saying in the Daily Mail.
