Bertram R. Forer was an American psychologist best known for describing the Forer effect, sometimes referred to as subjective validation. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Forer graduated from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1936. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. He served as a psychologist and administrator in a military hospital in France during World War II.

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  • Bertram R. Forer was an American psychologist best known for describing the Forer effect, sometimes referred to as subjective validation. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Forer graduated from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1936. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. He served as a psychologist and administrator in a military hospital in France during World War II. Upon return he worked in a Veterans Administration mental clinic in Los Angeles; and in private practice in Malibu, California. In his classic 1948 experiment, Forer administered a personality test to his students. Rather than scoring the tests and giving individual assessments, he gave all the students the exact same analysis copied from a newspaper astrology column. The students were then asked to evaluate the description on a scale of zero through five, with five being the most accurate. The average evaluation was 4.26. The experiment has been repeated hundreds of times since 1948, and the average remains about 4.2. The Forer effect shows that people tend to accept generalised descriptions of their personalities without realising that the same evaluation could apply to nearly anyone else, because people want the results to be true. This experiment is frequently cited as criticisms of other personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
  • Bertram R. Forer war ein US-amerikanischer Psychologe. Er ist bekannt für die Beschreibung des Barnum Effekts, den man nach ihm auch Forer-Effekt nennt. Forer wurde 1914 in Springfield, Massachusetts geboren. Er studierte Psychologie an der University of Massachusetts und an der University of California, Los Angeles. Im zweiten Weltkrieg war er in einem Militärhospital in Frankreich tätig, später arbeitete er als Psychologe an der Veterans Administration mental clinic in Los Angeles und in einer eigenen Praxis in Malibu, Kalifornien. In seinem klassischen Experiment, 1948, gab Forer vor, einen Persönlichkeitstest mit seinen Studenten durchzuführen. Im Anschluss händigte er ihnen vorgeblich die Auswertungen aus und forderte sie auf, den Wahrheitsgehalt mit Werten von 0 (= trifft gar nicht zu) bis 5 (= trifft sehr gut zu) zu bewerten. Obwohl alle Auswertungen den exakt gleichen Text enthielten, Forer hatte ihn aus einem am Kiosk erhältlichen Horoskop zusammengestellt, vergaben die Studenten im Schnitt über vier Punkte. Das Experiment wurde unzählige Male wiederholt und bestätigt. Dieses Experiment gilt als grundlegend für die Beurteilung von psychologischen Tests.
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  • Bertram R. Forer was an American psychologist best known for describing the Forer effect, sometimes referred to as subjective validation. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Forer graduated from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1936. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. He served as a psychologist and administrator in a military hospital in France during World War II.
  • Bertram R. Forer war ein US-amerikanischer Psychologe. Er ist bekannt für die Beschreibung des Barnum Effekts, den man nach ihm auch Forer-Effekt nennt. Forer wurde 1914 in Springfield, Massachusetts geboren. Er studierte Psychologie an der University of Massachusetts und an der University of California, Los Angeles.
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  • Bertram Forer
  • Bertram R. Forer
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