Horoscopes - predictions of the life, fate and character of a person depending on the location of stars and planets in space - are very common today, although modern science claims that astrology is a prejudice. The vague and general proposals of horoscopes are suitable for almost any situation, although in some cases they help indecisive people find a way out of the current situation.
What is a horoscope?
Astrologers call a horoscope the image of the position of the planets in the sky at a certain moment in time, most often the location of the planets is described depending on the signs of the zodiac, which divide the celestial sphere into twelve parts. Since ancient times, people believed that those born under the same sign have similar characters and fates, their lives are influenced by the location of the planets and constellations.
The first astrological beliefs appeared several millennia ago in Mesopotamia, and the first individual horoscopes began to be drawn up around the fifth century BC.
Surprisingly, the confidence that what is happening in space affects the smallest details of a person's life - up to minor troubles and mood swings - has survived to this day.
Why can't you trust horoscopes?
Astrophysicists, astronomers and other scientists confidently declare that you should not trust horoscopes, since astrology is a pseudoscience. Their explanation is very simple - astrologers often rely on the location of the constellations, while from a scientific point of view, constellations do not exist: the stars in their composition are at very far distances from each other, some of them no longer exist, just the light from them is too long reaches the Earth.
A few simple experiments helped to confirm the lack of validity of horoscopes. In one of them, an American psychologist handed out to students a text with the same personality characteristics, but said that these are individual descriptions, compiled by him for each person. He asked to evaluate the correspondence of these horoscopes to reality on a five-point scale - the average score turned out to be 4.5, that is, most of the students decided that these characteristics almost accurately describe them. Such cases in science are called the "Forer effect": if you use general phrases in the description, rather vague sentences, then it is impossible to notice the catch.
When drawing up horoscopes, astrologers use this effect: they write not about specific events or detailed personality traits, but about more general ones, and be sure to indicate that there are a small number of exceptions, this completely relieves them of responsibility.
Cases of correspondence of horoscopes to real life are explained either by a simple coincidence, or by the fact that a person, knowing his "fate", begins to unconsciously obey it and rebuild his behavior.
Nevertheless, horoscopes continue to exist, and a significant part of people still believe in them. In difficult situations, confidence in astrology increases, this helps to find a way out in difficult situations, to make the right choice, to understand your desires and feelings.
