Skeptical About Astrology? This Study Might Make You Believe
We have a lot of fun coming up with DIY astro guides for every personality and love flaunting all kinds of zodiac accessories, but now our astrological obsession is getting some much needed love in the academic world. According to a research project by Dr. Mark Hamilton from the University of Connecticut, people’s personalities actually do vary depending on the season they were born. Of course, everyone is unique and not every Libra is going to fit the definition of a Libra, but when you look at a huge sample size of personalities born at the same time, you can start seeing specific personality traits.
There are certain psychological characteristics that have been associated with certain birth months. For example, people born in January and February tend to be more creative and people born in odd-numbered months are more likely to be extroverted than those born during the even-numbered months. Obviously, psychologists tend to dismiss the connection to astrology, but there is definitely a phenomenon happening here that is hard to explain. While Dr. Hamilton is not saying his research proves the stars determine our destiny, he does hope that we can see astrology as a useful tool to help understand the effect nature has on our well-being.
In his study, Dr. Hamilton combined elemental astrology, which uses the four elements to categorize personality traits (water, earth, air and fire), and sign qualities like mutable, cardinal and fixed to understand the correlation between personality and when someone is born. Since December though March is a “wet” time of year, those personality traits are connected with fluidity and creativity. A “fixed” sign like earth however, would be considered more stubborn and persistent. After researching the varying astrological factors that contribute to personality, Dr. Hamilton looked at the personality traits of 300 celebrities from all fields like politics, science, the arts and sports. He found that all these celebrities’ birthdays were clustered at the same time of year and were associated with “wet” signs and born in December-March. Obviously other signs can become celebrities too, but this pattern was overwhelmingly true in Hamilton’s study.
After the success and popularity of his celebrity study, Hamilton is now working on an even bigger project that will look at 85,000 great minds, from ancient Egypt to present day. He is hoping to prove that astrology’s effect on personality holds true even across the millennia and varied cultures.
What do you think of astrology determining your personality? Tell us why you do (or don’t) believe in the power of the stars in the comments below!
