Whether the constellation is true or not, why can it be easily believed, and how to explain it psychologically?

The constellation is false, and it can't be easily believed, because people who believe it are often young people in their teens and twenties. These young people are often characterized by insufficient self-growth and social experience, and they try to distinguish themselves from the complex humanity in a complex society by simple labels. There are indeed many psychological principles at work from the psychological explanation and belief in constellation culture.

(1) Know yourself and show your needs. Eriksson believes that in adolescence (12-2 years old), the important problem faced by teenagers is to establish their own three views (outlook on life, values and world view) and circle of friends, clarify their strengths and weaknesses, find their future development goals and careers of interest, and unify their various characteristics. If I can't develop my identity, I will face the crisis of role confusion and "who am I".

The constellation culture can just let teenagers "know" their own personality, advantages and disadvantages, suitable occupation and ideal lover standards, and can meet the needs of teenagers in the confused period to know themselves. Take Aries as an example, the constellation culture will tell them: "You are passionate, impulsive and childish (character); Energetic, adventurous, cheerful and optimistic, but also selfish, impulsive and impatient (advantages and disadvantages); Suitable for being an athlete, entrepreneur and soldier (occupation); Your goddess is cheerful, optimistic and attractive (the standard of ideal lover). Such clear suggestions can just meet the cognitive needs of teenagers for themselves.

Moreover, many people have the fantasy of "marrying Bai Fumei and stepping on the peak of life". According to the positive evaluation of "unconditional acceptance of words" and "positive example fallacy effect", cheerful, optimistic, energetic and suitable for being an entrepreneur, it is easy for teenagers who are ambitious and need positive energy to believe and accept; Negative comments such as selfishness and impulsiveness will also be selectively ignored. In this way, it is not surprising that the confident constellation culture is believed by many people.

(2) the need of interpersonal communication. When they meet some new friends or want to know someone they are not familiar with, many people will use constellation personality analysis to label them: Aries is "passionate, impulsive and childish"; Virgo is meticulous and pursues perfection. This stereotype is helpful for us to understand others quickly and save cognitive resources.

In addition, the circle of friends and the trend of media communication are also very important. Psychology believes that the environment has a strong shaping effect on people. We are likely to have herd mentality: influenced by the behavior of others, we adjust our ideas and behaviors to conform to the behavior of the majority. If all the friends around us are playing horoscopes, counting love and career fortune, and we often talk about this when we meet, then in order to increase our conversation with friends and not be excluded from the circle of friends, we will naturally believe in and discuss horoscopes culture. In addition, if our favorite magazines and websites often promote constellation testing, we are likely to pay more attention to constellation culture.

Even people who don't believe in horoscopes and just discuss horoscopes to cater to their friends will change their views on horoscopes after a while. There is a phenomenon of "self-fulfilling prophecy" in psychology: the expectation and behavior of others will also affect our thoughts, so that we can slowly move closer to the direction of others' expectation, thus realizing this expectation. If we can get the love and admiration of our friends through the discussion of constellation culture, then according to the operational conditions, we may also think that the constellation is helpful to us, and we will gradually like the constellation culture and discuss the constellation more, so as to get the attention of our friends (positive reinforcement).

(3) the need of faith. Constellation culture is actually a way to solve "confusion, not knowing what to do" and "no direction, not knowing what to do", and a spiritual sustenance that gives people a sense of guidance and certainty. When love is facing a crisis and doesn't know how to deal with it, you can check the XX love fortune of this month and get a guide. If you are not sure what direction you should choose to work, you can also check the matching career in this constellation to help you make a decision. In this way, under great pressure, we will not feel hopeless and helpless without the direction to solve the problem.

In fact, these fortunes and solutions are general and adaptable to many situations ("You have a big emotional fluctuation this month, and you have a dispute with your lover, so you need to manage your emotions well and communicate well"). Couples will definitely have friction at ordinary times, and they all need emotional management and good communication. According to Barnum effect, we will believe that these general and general descriptions are accurately revealing our own characteristics.

When couples successfully resolve conflicts according to these instructions, they will regard the constellation as a "hero", believe in the constellation culture more, and discuss the constellation culture more (positive reinforcement). Over time, even if many people put forward various opinions against the constellation culture and think that the constellation is deceiving, according to the confirmatory prejudice, these deep constellation culture lovers will still believe their own experience and ignore the opposition.

(4) Constellation culture originates from astrology and is easily mistaken for science. Astrology uses the position and motion changes of celestial bodies to explain things. Constellation culture developed from astrology has a certain historical origin, which may be considered as "authoritative" by many people and then convinced.