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Testing astrology

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OPINION

Testing astrology
Manoj Komath

The commentary ‘A statistical test of On a closer look, it could be realized help in debunking astrology. The lack of
astrology’ by Narlikar et al.1 attracts that the UGC had been echoing the feeling theoretical basis cannot be put as a crite-
attention as a pioneering attempt at the of the common public. Though astrology rion to reject astrological practices as
critical evaluation of ‘jyothisha’ (or is practised globally, in India, jyothisha baseless, because several branches of
Indian astrology). It marks the dawn of a is deeply woven into the social fabric, science have been established through
new paradigm in Indian science, indicat- and to a certain extent, remained a part empirical steps. We are confident about
ing the methods to scientifically test a of religion. People have their births as- the well-structured theoretical framework
body of knowledge branded as pseudo- signed to ‘nakshatras’ (or lunar mansions) related to the celestial phenomena. This
science. As it seems, the work did not get and consider their lives to be governed elaborate knowledgebase in astronomy
proper attention or exposure, despite the by ‘dashas’ (the system of planetary and cosmology, however, does not close
fact that it trails the most intense and periods). The UGC plan appeared to the doors for new hypotheses on the
elaborate debate in the history of Current be a boon to the masses, as it would gen- planetary effects. The convention to de-
Science (2000, 79, No. 9 through 2001, erate ‘academically qualified’ astrologers cide whether a body of knowledge is sci-
81, No. 2), following the controversial (jyothishis), who could extend more reli- ence or not, is to conduct objective tests.
decision of the University Grants Com- able service to the people, to describe The general trend of scientists is to
mission (UGC) in 2001 to start graduate, what destiny had in store for them. discard the success of astrology in pre-
postgraduate and research courses in ‘Jyotir The attempt of scientists and rationalists dicting personal events as purely inci-
vigyan’. The implications and ramifica- to resist the move of the UGC through dental2. These ‘incidental successes’
tions of the work are worth discussing. special leave petition (SLP) was over- cannot be ignored, as every believer in
thrown by the judiciary in 2004. The Su- astrology would be able to give at least a
preme Court of India dismissed the few examples of prediction being right.
The astrology muddle petition, expressing the inappropriateness Scientists never tried to explore, even for
to interfere in the policy decision of the curiosity, the secrets of this apparent suc-
The UGC wanted ‘Vedic astrology’ (or Government, unless it was found to be cess of astrology. We do not even have
jyothisha, the version of astrology prac- contrary to the law or made on extrane- the preliminary data to convince a com-
tised in India) to be introduced in the ous considerations (as reported in The mon man that his day-to-day experience
science stream of the university curricu- Hindu, internet edition, 6 May 2004). with astrology is flawed or ‘unscientific’.
lum. However, the Indian scientific com- It is quite disturbing for rational minds Now, Narlikar et al.1 indicate a way
munity and academia reacted vehemently to see that science, despite the techno- out of this muddle, with a sensible inves-
against the UGC decision, as astrology logical advances and practical useful- tigation, namely testing the predictive
has been considered as a pseudoscience ness, cannot win against the public appeal power of astrology. The test, as they
lacking rational basis. The UGC portrayed of pseudoscience. The developments mentioned, is based on the investigations
jyothisha as an empirical science based were dismal, as there appeared to be no of Silverman3 and Carlson4. Unfortu-
on our traditional and classical know- democratic way to reinstate rationality, nately, the report did not touch upon the
ledge, which can help the society to see the soul of scientific activities. The intensive studies on Western astrology in
the unforeseen, and having obvious and common public, who are not keen to the past decades, which had revolutionized
potential applications in meteorological know about scientific methods, may con- our understanding of astrology in general.
studies, agricultural science, space sci- sider scientists to be against the interests
ence, etc. of the society. In their view, astrology
There remained a perplexing question; has sound theories (based on astronomical Studies on Western astrology
why did an apex academic body like the data), and its own rules and techniques.
UGC regard astrology worthy to be con- And the practical success is validated by Critical studies on astrology in the West
sidered as a science, as there was not even innumerable personal testimonies of cor- have been conducted during the past six
a remotely related evidence for claiming rect predictions. Apparently it satisfies decades. By 2000, over one hundred pub-
so? Nor any proponent of astrology was the criterion of a useful science. Above lications had appeared in psychology
able to produce any statistically valid all, astrology enables the predictions of journals and four hundred in astrology
evidence that astrology can really foresee events in life, something science is not journals, as estimated by Smit (http://
any event. Despite the apparent success able to provide. No wonder, the common www.rudolfhsmit.nl/u-gran1.htm). This
in personal predictions, astrology used to people tend to criticize scientists for their is equivalent to about 200 man-years
fail pathetically in predicting social events ‘holier than thou’ approach. of scientific research (with a text size of
like calamities or mishaps, which could It would be worthwhile to introspect as 470,000 words!); however majority of
have saved innumerable lives. Even the to why our approach appears dogmatic the literature remains unknown. Ninety-
name ‘Vedic astrology’ is identified as a and becomes ineffective in front of the one typical studies could be traced on the
misnomer, as the Vedas do not contain common public. Interestingly, our firm internet (most of the available data were
astrology2. belief in the ‘scientific method’ does not found compiled at http://www.astrology-

1568 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 96, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2009

 OPINION
and-science.com/). It would be appropri- their ideas and rationally approach the signs, of course, after seeking advice
ate to present here a concise review of subject. Since its inception, about 70-odd from an expert astrologer. Silverman3
these studies, as they may serve as good studies have been published in it, most of looked at the birth dates of 2978 couples
models for our endeavour of critically which produced negative results on the who were getting married and 478 who
evaluating Indian astrology. alleged predictive power of astrology. were getting divorced in Michigan. He
Till 1950, the scientific community The positive ones, did not correlate with found that astrological compatibility of
had been continually discrediting astro- the basic principles followed tradition- the horoscopes did not correspond to
logy as an illegitimate branch of know- ally in astrology. This, of course, led to compatibility in real life. All the well-
ledge or a pseudoscience. They did not discontentment amongst the astrologers conducted statistical studies negated the
find it worthy of serious investigation, as and to interruptions in the publication of predictions based on natal charts depend-
there was hardly any evidence to do so. the journal. ing on the conventional astrological theo-
The correlation between the positions of ries.
certain heavenly bodies and human In 1987, Dean12 conducted an interest-
affairs, as proposed by the astrologers, Validity of natal charts and ability ing experiment by reversing all of the
has been alleged to be a chance phe- of the astrologers ‘planetary aspects’ of natal charts. He
nomenon. The turning point came when procured correct natal data from astrolo-
the French psychologist and statistician, The initiatives in Great Britain provided gers for the subjects and for half of the
Michel Gauquelin, started rigorous a better insight for other researchers to subjects, the charts were fabricated by
studies on the claims of astrology by sta- plan and conduct critical investigations retaining the sun sign and reversing all
tistically comparing birth charts and pro- on a subject like astrology. Regular out- the planetary aspects. The charts were
fessions of large populations. In 1955, he comes could be seen from early 1970s then blindly given to astrologers for their
arrived at a hypothesis called the ‘Mars onwards. predictions about the subjects. There was
effect’, which mentions that the rising A notable work among the earliest no correlation between the perceived ac-
and culmination of Mars at the time of published studies is by Barth and Ben- curacy of the charts and whether the sub-
birth has an apparent correlation to the nett, in which the relationship between ject was given a correct or reversed chart.
career of athletes5. the zodiac signs of a set of population The skill of astrologers in their profes-
This was perplexing to the scientific and their occupation, medical problems, sion also has been subjected to investiga-
community, because an objective evidence height and longevity was examined. The tion. Culver and Ianna13 conducted a
(though empirical) had emerged for the positions of Mercury, Venus, Mars and double-blind test on an astrologer who
mysterious planetary effects on humans. Jupiter at the time of birth did not show claimed 80% success rate in choosing the
It confused the astrologers as well, as the any correlation with any of these para- correct natal horoscope for a subject out
correlations obtained did not corroborate meters7. of three false ones. The astrologer had
with the traditional astrological theories. There were intensive efforts to verify seven successes out of 28 trials, exactly
The Mars effect was analysed for more the alleged relationship between sun signs the number predicted by chance. In
than four decades by astrologers, psy- and occupations, in various extents and another study10, six expert astrologers
chologists and skeptics. There were sev- combinations. Three consecutive studies independently attempted to read 23 astro-
eral attempts to recheck and reanalyse during 1976–79 failed to reveal any such logical birth charts to identify the corre-
the proposed ‘effect’, through statistical correlations8. John McGervey looked at sponding personal data files of each
investigations of birth charts. The Mars biographies and birth dates of some 6000 person (four male and 19 female volun-
effect has been rationally explained later, politicians and 17,000 scientists, to see if teers). The files, which were provided
by correcting the artifacts and biases and members of these professions would clus- blinded, contained life histories, full-face
with the help of additional data6. ter among certain signs, as astrologers and profile photographs and personality
This opened up a new trend of investi- predict. He found the signs of both test profiles of each subject. Astrologers
gating astrology with a scientific spirit. groups to be distributed completely at did no better than chance or than a non-
The most notable consequence was the random9. No correlation was found bet- astrologer control subject at matching the
formation of the Astrological Associa- ween occupation and sun sign in other birth charts to the personal data. Also,
tion in 1958 by research-minded British studies also done in the same line10. different astrologers failed to agree with
astrologers. They started designing and In the famous ‘New York suicide one another's predictions.
conducting investigations on various fea- study’, Press et al.11 examined the birth
tures of astrology, taking care to avoid charts of 311 suicide cases in New York
biases and arranging for peer review of from 1969 to 1973. A computer program Sun signs and personality
the results. The outcomes of the first two was used to test 100,000 different astro-
decades (involving 54 researchers from logical factors in each case and these The core feature of Western astrology is
ten countries) were compiled in the mas- were compared with an equal number of the assignment of the ‘sun sign’ (the
sive critical review Recent Advances in random control subjects. None of the fac- solar mansion corresponding to one’s
the Natal Astrology, in 1978. This served tors consistently correlated with the sui- birth) to the personality. For this reason,
as a precursor for the first refereed journal cide cases. the correlation between sun sign and per-
for astrology, i.e. Correlation, launched Another topic investigated was the sonality became a favourite topic in
in 1981. compatibility of signs in marriages. It is astrological research. In an early study,
The journal acted as a platform for a popular practice in civilian life to Pellegrini14 found a small correlation
scientists and astrologers to exchange choose partners born under compatible between the femininity index (based on

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 96, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2009 1569

OPINION
Astrology and psychology – The Forer effect
The proof for the success of astrology are the personal testimonies of its believers. Though astrology fails patheti-
cally in general predictions of events in the society, it is highly successful in predicting in the case of individuals.
Even non-believers sometime find uncannily accurate hits in their predictions. This irony could be explained with the
‘Forer effect’ (also called or the ‘Barnum effect’), a psychological bias originating from an individual’s affinity to
descriptions touching his/her personality. This bias (called the personal validation fallacy) prompts a person to take
descriptions which are vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people, to be tailored specifically for them.
The predilection of people to believe positive statements about themselves (even when there is no particular rea-
son to do so) has been exploited professionally by P. T. Barnum, the 19th century American showman and enter-
tainer. In 1948, Bertram R. Forer, an American psychologist, tried to approach it academically and designed a
classroom demonstration (J. Abnormal Soc. Psychol., 1949, 44, 118–123). He gave his students a personality
analysis to rate themselves on a scale of 0 (very poor) to 5 (excellent). The text of the analysis was as follows –
‘You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have
some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused
capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be
worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right
decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when
hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept
others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to
others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and
reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic’. Though all the students were provided with the
same personality analysis (obviously coined from newspaper ‘sun sign’ columns), the class average evaluation was
4.26 out of 5. The Forer test has been repeated hundreds of times over the years and the average was still around
4.2 out of 5 (84% accuracy).
In short, Forer convinced people that it is possible to ‘read the character’ successfully, without any additional
divine powers. This personal validation fallacy works behind the widespread acceptance of astrology and other
practices like palmistry and fortune-telling.

California Personality Inventory) and method is summarized by Narlikar et India to critically investigate astrology.
season of birth. However, the follow-up al.1). The Carlson study stood apart in its As mentioned by the authors, it is mod-
studies did not show any correlation bet- double-blind design, meeting the strin- elled on the 25-year old double-blind de-
ween sun sign and personality traits as gent specifications of both scientific and sign of Carlson4. The criterion of
measured by standardized psychological astrological communities. Even after choosing personality indices used in the
tests15–17. Mayes and Klugh18 compiled making efforts to ensure that the experi- original study is reduced here to the two
natal charts and results of the Leary ment was free of bias and giving astrol- parameters of intellectual brightness and
Interpersonal Check List for 196 sub- ogy reasonable chances to succeed, the mental retardation. This variation is jus-
jects. The data were used to compare 13 astrologers failed to perform better than tified, considering the difficulty in
personality traits with the sun signs and chance4. accessing standardized personality inven-
signs and houses of the moon and eight In 2001, Dean and Kelly21 conducted a tories in the country. However, it would
planets, at five planetary aspects. No sta- meta-analysis of more than 40 studies have been much simpler, though counter-
tistically valid correlations were found. which dealt with the correlation of birth intuitive, to test the prediction of gender,
Some studies, which recorded correla- charts and information such as personal- which is a more clearly definable than
tions between astrological factors and ity profiles or case histories. The studies, mental abilities. In jyothisha, gender is
behaviour, were later proved to be published between 1975 and 2000, in- the prime parameter in a horoscope and a
flawed19. corporated in total nearly 700 astrologers double-blind prediction of whether the
Gauquelin, continuing his earlier and 1150 birth charts. The meta-analysis horoscope-holder is male or female, will
efforts to test astrology, compiled per- put forward the conclusion that ‘ . . . there reveal the validity of horoscope-reading.
sonality profiles from 2000 biographies is clearly nothing here to suggest that as- Though the Pune experiment is appar-
of sportsmen, actors, scientists and writ- trologers can perform usefully better ently convincing, it is not free from arti-
ers, and compared them with personality than chance, once hidden persuaders are facts – like the bias in reporting the birth
traits associated with the sign of the sun, controlled’. time, possible ambiguities in remember-
moon and ascendant according to eight ing the correct birth time, the ‘Ayanamsa’
astrology texts. He failed to detect any correction applied during birth-chart
correlation either in sidereal or tropical The Pune experiment making, etc. In addition, the low popula-
zodiac20. tion size makes the conclusion statisti-
This was followed by the most cele- The work by Narlikar et al.1, which tests cally weak. In a recent study, Hartmann
brated study by Carlson4, which tested the predictive power of natal astrology, et al.22 used a staggering sample size of
the thesis that astrological natal charts should be viewed in this background. 15,000! (This study investigated the rela-
can be used to describe accurately the Their experiment (the Pune experiment) tionship between date of birth and indi-
personality traits of the test subjects (the gains importance as the first venture in vidual differences in personality and

1570 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 96, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2009

 OPINION
general intelligence, and the results were ever the evidence or criticism23. The fate the same patterns of life. That makes the
negative, corroborating with earlier stud- of the proposed studies on jyothisha may venture of testing the scientific validity
ies on the topic.) In jyothisha, the parame- not be different. of astrology incredibly simple. One has
ters are more individualized than in The most important point here is that to pick out people born at the same time
Western astrology, which necessitate the investigations discussed and methods at the same place (the time-twins) and
more elaborate studies on a larger popu- suggested are in fact a search for proof of compare their personal attributes and life
lation to arrive at a sound conclusion. evidence related to astrological practice. events. If they have exceptional similari-
One should be cautious while depend- The absence of evidence (i.e. lack of cor- ties than expected by chance, it could be
ing on the studies on Western astrology relation of the actual outcomes with the taken as the scientific evidence for as-
for designing tests, because it will be less fundamental tenets of traditional texts), trology (biological twins will not be suit-
meaningful to extrapolate the methods to however, may not negate astrology. As- able for this study because genetic and
jyothisha. Though natal chart-making is trologers can still argue that it is just a circumstantial similarities may operate
common to both Indian and Western tra- failure of the traditional texts of astro- predominantly). It is to be noted that
ditions, jyothisha differs with the use of logy and may propose that new correla- birth-chart making and horoscope-reading
the sidereal zodiac (which links the signs tion can exist (as Gauquelin20 did when are not involved, thereby eliminating
of the zodiac to their original constella- his studies failed to support conventional errors and uncertainties, and the ability
tions), lunar mansions (nakshatras) and astrology). True scientific investigation of the astrologers. As the proposed
the system of ‘planetary periods’ in hu- is a search for the underlying pheno- effects will be common to both Western
man life (dashas). The Western tradition menon hypothesized by astrologers, astrology and jyothisha, the issue of dif-
is centred on the ‘sun signs’ and uses the which can cause planetary effects. ference in the zodiac references will not
tropical zodiac (in which the signs do not The phenomenon is presumably cer- come into picture. Thus a time-twin
correspond to their original constella- tain mysterious powers of planets which study becomes a simple, straightforward,
tions). Therefore, the essential features operate synergistically on mundane definitive and universal test for the sci-
of jyothisha should be tested individually humans, thereby controlling lives and entific basis of astrology.
for validity. Many different and inde- events. Interestingly, this hypothetical Earliest thought on this line was that
pendent studies (for example, correlation mechanism starts to operate on an indi- of John Addey24, a professional astrologer,
of nakshatras and personality factors vidual at the time of his/her birth, imply- who conducted a study on a set of time-
predicted in the texts, validity of the ing that the power is impermeable to the twins. However, the population was too
dasha system in personal life, etc.) are to human womb! Obviously it is difficult to small to derive any statistically valid
be performed and meta-analyses of such conceive a mechanism which switches on conclusion. The first systematic study of
results are to be conducted to draw a at the time of birth and selectively affects time-twins has been reported by British
meaningful opinion. human personality and life. Nor do any astrologers, Peter Roberts and Helen
Considering these facts, the conclusion of the known theories in astrophysics Greengrass25, in which 128 people born
‘ . . . the test clearly demonstrated the and cosmology support a materialistic not more than an hour apart on six dates
hollowness of the basic claim of astro- mechanism. during 1934–64 were included. Though
logy . . . ’ of Narlikar et al.1 seems too These facts, however, do not prevent some evidence of similarities in interests
premature. The study, at best, implies us from hypothesizing such an effect! and occupation appeared among 18 pairs,
that natal astrology cannot be used to One may wonder whether a celestial it was not strong as predicted by astro-
predict mental abilities! Nor a study of phenomenon which enables the predic- logy. Nevertheless, the authors claimed
the divorce rates (as suggested by the au- tion of events in life could be operative, that in the full sample, the proportion of
thors) would contribute anything signifi- which still eludes scientific methodo- ‘close resemblers’ increased as the birth
cant to the venture of critical investigation logy. Albert Einstein proposed general interval decreased. This interesting
of the validity of jyothisha. relativity about a century ago, which work was scrutinized by contemporary
seemed beyond commonsense then. Cur- researchers and a re-analysis revealed
rently physics accepts dark matter and some procedural artifacts26. When these
Time-twin studies dark energy, the nature of which is not artifacts were controlled, the alleged
supported by any of the current theories. similarity disappeared.
Now we arrive at a big question – how Therefore, we cannot refute astrology on A more powerful, systematic and
far will these scientific tests help us dis- the basis of current scientific understand- elaborate test has been designed by Dean
cern whether astrology is a science or ing. The method of science tells us to and Kelly27 involving 2101 persons born
not? A review of the critical studies on search for the presence or evidence of in London during 3–9 March 1958. The
Western astrology signifies that astro- such a phenomenon, whether the hypo- birth data were collected from hospital
logy fails to prove itself in double-blind thesis makes sense or not. records ensuring the reliability, and the
controlled tests. But the negative results, Astrologers attribute the personal astrological aspects were included with
even when they are cumulative, have variations among the various individuals the advice of seven leading astrologers.
been justified and dismissed in many dif- to this effect, which is apparently con- The subjects were born on average
ferent ways by astrologers (arguments vincing for a common man. But, if that is 4.8 min apart, simultaneous enough for
like ‘the stars incline, but do not compel’, to be taken as evidence, the converse same astrological factors to operate upon.
or ‘neither the astrologer nor the tech- also should be true – i.e. two people born Each person was tracked for measure-
nique is infallible’), allowing them to at the same time at the same place should ments at ages 11, 16 and 23 years, for
maintain their belief in astrology, what- share similar personal characteristics and 110 relevant variables, which are

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 96, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2009 1571

OPINION
supposed to be shown in the birth chart. us a good roadmap to approach pseudo- 5. Gauquelin, M., The Scientific Basis for
The variables include test scores (for IQ, science. The same strategy should be fol- Astrology, Stein and Day Publishers,
reading and arithmetic), physical data lowed in the case of jyothisha in India. New York, 1969.
(such as height, weight, vision and hear- At the same time it should be realized 6. Nienhuys, J. W., Skeptical Inquirer,
1997, 21, 24–29.
ing), ratings of teachers and parents that such a venture, being just a search
7. Barth, J. and Bennett, J., Leonardo,
(regarding behaviours such as anxiety, for evidence of hypotheses, has no grave 1974, 7, 235–237.
aggressiveness and sociability) and self- scientific relevance; nor is it likely to 8. Culver, R., Sun Sign Sunset, Pachert,
ratings (of ability such as art, music and contribute anything to knowledge. Scien- 1979.
sports) along with various other factors tists and institutions in astronomy and 9. McGervey, J. D., Zetetic, 1977, 1, 49–
(such as occupation, being accident-prone cosmology need not spend valuable funds 54.
and marital status). Curiously enough, and manpower just to reinvent that sci- 10. McGrew, J. H. and McFall, R. M., J.
the control data were sixteen variables ence is right. It is better to disseminate Scientific Exploration, 1990, 4, 75–83.
for the mothers of each of these persons the idea to school students or under- 11. Press, N., Michelsen, N. F., Russel, L.,
(such as age, blood pressure and length graduates in humanities (preferably psy- Shannon, J. and Stark, M., J. Geocosmic
Res., 1978, 2, 23–47.
of labour, etc.), which are not supposed chology or sociology), to be executed as
12. Dean, G., Skeptical Inquirer, 1987, 11,
to be affected by planetary positions. project work in their curriculum. 166–184.
When the subjects were arranged in Whatever the efforts we plan to put in, 13. Culver, R. and Ianna, P., Astrology: True
chronological order of birth, 2100 suc- the results of the studies are not likely to or False, Prometheus, New York, 1988,
cessive pairs of time-twins resulted. Sev- bring about any drastic change in the ap- p. 215.
enty-three per cent were born 5 min apart proach of Indians towards jyothisha, for 14. Pellegrini, R., J. Psychol., 1973, 85, 21–
or less, and only 4% were born more some pertinent reasons. One of the fac- 28.
than 15 min apart. The similarity bet- tors is the mindset of the public, to 15. Dean, G. and Mather, A., Recent Ad-
ween time-twins for each variable was believe that astrology is able to provide vances in Natal Astrology, The Astro-
then measured as the serial correlation some control over unexpected variables logical Association, London, 1977, p.
113.
between successive pairs. The serial cor- in life. Astrologers extend them low-
16. Silverman, B. and Witmer, M., J. Psy-
relation is a direct measure of effect size cost, non-threatening therapy for mun- chol., 1974, 87, 89–95.
and here, it is extremely sensitive due to dane worries (ranging from marriage 17. Dalen, P., Season of Birth, American El-
the large sample size. So the test condi- alliance to stock-market investment), that sevier Publishing, New York, 1975.
tions could hardly have been more con- is otherwise hard to come by. We cannot 18. Mayes, B. and Klugh, H., J. Psychol.,
ducive to success. deny the fact that our social psychology 1978, 99, 27–30.
According to astrology the statistical is so weak to accept astrology as a 19. Veno, A. and Pammunt, P., J. Psychol.,
results should be strongly positive for human need. The challenge here is to 1979, 101, 73–77.
subject variables and zero for mother penetrate the social mind and try to 20. Gauquelin, M., Skeptical Inquirer, 1982,
variables. The mean serial correlation for strengthen it. Another factor is the busi- 6, 57–65.
21. Dean, G. and Kelly, I. W., In Skeptical
subjects (1393, for which complete data ness aspects. Astrological practice has
Odysseys (ed. Kurtz, P.), Prometheus
were available, with 110 variables) was proliferated extensively in the modern Books Amherst, New York, pp. 191–207.
–0.003 and for the mothers (2066 with era with the help of technology making it 22. Hartmann, P., Reuter, M. and Nyborg,
16 variables) was 0.001. Both could be ubiquitous, available on phone lines, H., Pers. Indiv. Differ., 2006, 40, 1349–
considered effectively zero. The differ- television channels and the internet. This 1362.
ence (–0.004) is in the wrong direction has opened up new business opportuni- 23. Kelly, I. W., Psychol. Rep., 1998, 82,
and non-significant (P = 0.56, measured ties. Astrological practice in India has 527–546.
by t-test). Nor did the 110 individual become a lucrative industry in its own 24. Addey, J., Selected Writings, American
serial correlations show any support for right, which is worth Rs 40,000 crore Federation of Astrologers, Arizona,
astrology – only five were significant at (Outlook, 22 November 2004). Involving 1976, p. 54.
25. Roberts, P. and Greengrass, H., The As-
the P = 0.05 level, whereas 5.5 were the younger generation in our venture of
trology of Time Twins, Pentland Press,
expected by chance27. testing astrology will hopefully help in Durham, UK, 1994.
phasing out this unscrupulous business 26. French, C. C., Leadbetter, A. and Dean,
during the span of the next few genera- G., J. Sci. Explor., 1997, 11, 147–155.
Concluding remarks tions. 27. Dean, G. and Kelly, I. W., J. Conscious-
ness Stud., 2003, 10, 175–198.
The extensive critical studies done on
Western astrology for the past 60 years
1. Narlikar, J. V., Kunte, S., Dabholkar, N.
have established that the astrologers are
and Ghatpande, P., Curr. Sci., 2009, 96,
not able to predict beyond chance. The Manoj Komath lives in Flat No. B6,
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