Do you know why people believe in romantic horoscopes? It may seem that all this is already a relic of the past, people shouldn’t believe in mysticism. But, no matter how strange it may sound, recently, romantic horoscopes are becoming more and more relevant.
Horoscopes, in their essence, are a kind of prediction of the future, they provide an opportunity for everyone to look into something unknown, mysterious, into something that has not yet happened. And despite all their fears, people read horoscopes, believe and obey them. After all, humanity has always wanted to know what awaits them, and people give a lot of money for this information.
1. Compliments
In the description of the zodiac signs, as a rule, they write something very pleasant, and a few negative moments try to smooth out as much as possible. The most “bad” thing you can read about yourself will sound something like this: “You are too demanding of others, too stubborn, sometimes inattentive,” etc. Then they add pleasant compliments: “You attract people to you, you are a born leader. People can envy your perseverance. In difficult times, you will always come to the aid of a loved one. You are optimistic and always boldly look into the future.” It’s nice to read about yourself like that? That is why we sometimes reread some love and sex horoscope – to once again make sure that we are a wonderful couple.
2. Social stereotypes
We create an approximate scheme for ourselves from simplified images – stereotypes. Politicians lie, Italians are passionate, blondes are stupid, and lions love to be in the spotlight. Horoscopes offer a relatively simple explanatory and predictive scheme: who has what character, who marries whom, and who better not be friends with. If you think that you can predict how a person will behave, how the marriage will develop, and what will happen tomorrow – this gives confidence.
3. Barnum effect
In his activity, Barnum successfully applied methods that today can be found everywhere. His motto was the phrase “We have something for everyone”, and this explains why people love astrology, palmistry, and other pseudoscience. The essence of the Barnum effect is that people tend to believe in such descriptions of their personality, which, they think, are created specifically for them but, in fact, apply to a wide range of astrology fans since they are absolutely not specified and too generalized. We take romantic horoscopes seriously only because we think “This is exactly about us,” although the text can be quite vague, and the writing is suitable for at least half of the people around us.
4. Uncertainty
The uncertainty of our future is alarming. Certainty, on the contrary, calms. Therefore, any kinds of predictions are so popular, including horoscopes for relationships. If people are internally stable, have many resources and support around them, they don’t need the illusion of control over tomorrow that predictions give. The less stable a person is, the more difficult it is for him/her to endure anxiety, the more often he/she will turn for predictions and believe more in them.
5. Miracles
We want to believe that there are miracles, that our life is not an ordinary way of existence, not a set of accidents and our attempts to influence these accidents (rather ridiculous, in fact, and not always controlled process). No, our life is destined by the trajectories of heavenly bodies. So, for some reason, something had to happen. It is incomprehensible, but it sounds much more beautiful and feels more magnificent.
