Barnum and Forer effect

In the 1940s, psychologist Bertram Forer, following a discussion with a handwriting night-club, carried out an experiment with (or?) 39 students. They passed a projective test (that is to say a Rorschach test type) which is to establish a picture of their personality. They then makes a 13-point description of their personality, supposedly established on the basis of the test. In fact, they all have the same description. The results are published in the 1949 article.

So quite striking, students felt that their picture was a very good description of themselves. In reality, the descriptors used by Forer are very vague, rather positive or neutral, often double-meaning, but mostly they apply to 'anyone. Thus, everyone can find something like it: this is what the phenomenon called Drill subjective validation, but we then called "Forer Effect". In 1956, Paul Meehl renames the "Barnum effect"because the publicity circus Barnum says there there's a little something for everyone