It was written in the stars: people who follow astrology are less intelligent and more narcissistic.
When it comes to astrology, your Back Page correspondent has many questions.
For starters, what mind-altering drugs were those ancient Greek dudes taking when they gazed skywards and thought: “Those six stars there definitely look like a half-horse, half-man creature shooting a bow and arrow.”
But credit where it’s due, the creation of the zodiac and its predictive qualities has proven a surprisingly compelling and durable narrative.
And now, thanks to new research undertaken by trio of psychologists at Lund University in Sweden, we know a little bit more about the type of folks who think the movement of stars in the sky has a discernible influence on a person’s behaviour and fate.
Using an online questionnaire designed to identify personality traits, the boffins were able to report that people who believe in astrology tend to be “less intelligent than the norm, and more narcissistic”.
The star-chart gazers also were more self-focused than average and saw themselves as “special people with natural leadership skills”.
The scientists noted that belief in astrology had grown in recent years, possibly as a reaction to stresses such as the covid pandemic.
Which is kind of ironic, as we cannot recall too many astrologers predicting that one coming.
If you see Uranus rising, astrally project it to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au
