The stars down to earth

The explanations just outlined for belief, or apparent belief, in the scientificness of astrology are, in one form or another, based on deficits of understanding and information. There may be other reasons why some people more than others place faith in astrological predictions.  Shani Mahadasha Career

One of the most interesting social psychological viewpoints on this question is found in the work of Theodor Adorno. In 1952-3, Adorno carried out a study of Caroll Righter‟s Los Angeles Times astrology column. The fruits of this did not appear in English until published in „Telos‟ in 1974 as „The stars down to earth‟ (Adorno, 1974). Shani Mahadasha Health

 In the study, referred to by the author as a „content analysis‟, Adorno analyses, somewhat haphazardly and selectively, the advice given to readers in the column over a period of several months. He identifies many of the aspects of astrological readings that other psychological research (e.g. Forer, 1949) confirmed were effective in making them convincing: the Barnum effect, the tendency to personalise general statements and so forth. He is witheringly critical of astrology, dubbing it, with the rest of occultism, a „metaphysic of dunces‟ and suggesting that „a climate of semi-erudition is the fertile breeding ground for astrology‟(Adorno, 1994 p.44). The claim is that it resembles other „irrational creeds‟ like racism by offering a shortcut to (erroneous) knowledge which actually requires no intellectual effort or capacity (Dutton, 1995)