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Subjective validation

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Subjective validation, sometimes called personal validation effect, is a cognitive bias by which a person will consider a statement or another piece of information to be correct if it has any personal meaning or significance to them.[1] In other words, a person whose opinion is affected by subjective validation will perceive two unrelated events (i.e., a coincidence) to be related because their personal belief demands that they be related. Closely related to the Forer effect, subjective validation is an important element in cold reading. It is considered to be the main reason behind most reports of paranormal phenomena.[2] According to Bob Carroll, psychologist Ray Hyman is considered to be the foremost expert on subjective validation and cold reading.[3]

The term subjective validation first appeared in the 1980 book The Psychology of the Psychic by David F. Marks and Richard Kammann.[4]

Subjective validation is a concept used to help describe an effect that is commonly seen. People tend to believe or accept an idea or statement if it presents to them in a personal way or in a positive way.[5] A great example of subject validation effect would be horoscopes, they state very vague things that can apply to many situations in one's life[6], such as: "something good will happen today." Then as you are on your way to work you find a coin and you contribute this good thing to the horoscope and how true they are.

Many of the validations that are given are not necessarily because they are true about ourselves but because people wish it was true about themselves[7]. When we think about all the fortune cookies we open, how many people don't wish that they are "a cheerful person everyone wants to be around." People tend to think of themselves in terms of values that are important to them, even if they don't show those values. They tend to believe they do, and they tend to believe it the more they hear it and read it about themselves.

This effect can be seen when it comes to health. For example, if someone enjoys eating bacon and they were to come across an article that talks about how healthy bacon is for you, they will tend to believe it more because this "validates" eating more bacon.[8]

Examples

One test was performed by Michael Gauquelin, a French astrologer. He offered people free horoscopes to anyone that read Ici Paris on the condition that provided feedback on how accurate the horoscope was related to them. He sent out thousands of the same horoscope to people with various astrological signs. Ninety-four percent of the readers respond that his readers were "very accurate and insightful."[6][9]  What the people did not know what that the horoscope was for Dr. Petiot a convicted serial killer of 63 people. This is clearly another case of subjective validation where subjects focus on the hits of some general analysis that’s supposed to be unique to them.[6]

Another test is the Bertram R. Forer personality test. Forer would give his students a personality test and regardless of his students' answers he would give them all the same personality results and ask them how well the personality result described them on a scale of 0-5, the average score was 4.26. This test has been repeated many times and the average is still around 4.2.[10][7]

Personality test, even with science backing them up, has subjective validations. Take the sixteen personalities test[11] as a great example. When people first get to the home page, they can see quotes from all these people saying how accurate it is, and it describes them to a t. Having looked at a lot of results they are still vague that it can apply to many people. People can find out a lot about themselves from these tests, but they are still an example of subjective validation, in which that people find what they seek. To learn more about the personality tests click here at the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

See also

References

  1. ^ Forer, B.R. (1949) "The Fallacy of Personal Validation: A classroom Demonstration of Gullibility," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 44, 118-121.
  2. ^ Cline, Austin. Flaws in Reasoning and Arguments: Subjective Validation, Seeing Patterns & Connections That Aren't Really There Archived 2007-12-13 at the Wayback Machine, About.com, September 10, 2007. Accessed January 10, 2008.
  3. ^ Carrol, Bob. "Hope in Small Doses". Skepticality. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  4. ^ Frazier, Kendrick (1986). Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 101.
  5. ^ admin. "Subjective Validation | Psychology Concepts". Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  6. ^ a b c "Astrology and Horoscopes Uncloaked". Relatively Interesting. 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  7. ^ a b Carroll, Robert Todd (2012-05-07). "Unnatural Acts that can improve your thinking: subjective validation". Unnatural Acts that can improve your thinking. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  8. ^ "Subjective Validation definition | Psychology Glossary | alleydog.com". www.alleydog.com. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  9. ^ McGrew, John H. (1990). "A Scientific Inquiry Into the Validity of Astrology" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 4: 75–83.
  10. ^ "What's the Forer effect?". HowStuffWorks. 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  11. ^ "Free personality test, type descriptions, relationship and career advice | 16Personalities". www.16personalities.com. Retrieved 2019-12-07.


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