THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 5

The Barnum Effect

Event:  Birthday of P. T. Barnum, 1910

Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd. -P.T. Barnum

Here is your horoscope for today:

Today may mark a red-letter day for you concerning your work or career.  An important development may transpire that will have a direct effect on bettering your life.  Your inner voices are sometimes critical, but today is a day not to listen to them; instead, take the bull by the horns and capitalize on your hidden talents and untapped potential.

Can you see anything in the horoscope that applies to you?  Most people can because the writers of horoscopes know something about the way humans think:  if we want something to be true, we will believe it whether or not it’s really true.  Psychologists call this the Barnum effect after P.T. Barnum, the American showman and marketing genius who was born on this day in 1910.

                                                           Image by Jonggun Go from Pixabay

Barnum probably learned some of his psychological insights from his grandfather.  Although Barnum was born into a poor family in Bethel, Connecticut, his grandfather told him as a boy that he was the richest man in town because he would one day inherit Ivy Island, a valuable piece of land.  Young Barnum frequently imagined the vast real estate he would one day possess, and although he frequently asked his grandfather to see his inheritance, he didn’t finally visit the island until he was twelve years old.  As he approached his prized land, his feet sunk into the mud.  At that point, he realized that Ivy Island was nothing more than mosquito-infested swamp land. 

Despite the fact that he had been hoodwinked, Barnum turned lemons into lemonade by using the worthless land as collateral when, in 1841, he purchased the building that made him his fortune, the American Museum in New York (1).

Millions of visitors flocked to Barnum’s museum to see his many curious attractions, such as the conjoined twins Eng and Chang, a mermaid skeleton, a bearded lady, and a man who stood just over two feet tall, General Tom Thumb.

There were so many curious things to see at the museum, in fact, that people spent the entire day there.  To solve this problem and free up space for more paying customers, Barnum came up with one of his most ingenious schemes. He put up a sign that read “This Way to the Egrees.”  Thinking that the sign led the way to another strange attraction, patrons were surprised as they walked through the door and found themselves on the street; they failed to realize that “Egrees” was just a fancy word for “Exit.” 

The Barnum effect explains why people fall for pseudoscience, whether it comes from an astrologer, a palm reader, or an advertiser:  we all are willing to suspend our incredulity when it comes to flattering statements that appeal to our vanity -- even if those statements are so general that they actually would apply to just about anyone (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How was Barnum fooled by his grandfather, and how did Barum, himself, fool customers who visited his museum?

Challenge:  The Gig is Up

Look for examples of the Barnum effect being used in actual horoscopes or advertisements.  How do the writers tap into the universal qualities of humans to make their written copy general enough to snag specific readers?

Sources:  

1- Riedel, Michael.  How P.T. Barnum pulled off one of the world’s biggest hoaxes. New York Post  16 December 2017.

2.  Goldberg, Philip. The Babinski Reflex. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1990: 28-29.