An Astrology Discussion

So I was reading about astrology and the zodiac signs and was surprised at how accurately each sign described the personalities of my family and friend that I knew the birthday's of.It seems to me that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out. What do you think?..any affect at all?Now, I do not think this necessitates that something paranormal is going on. Astrology attributes it to extraterrestrial activity, you know, planets n’stuff. That seems paranormal to me. How could something extraterrestrial affect your personality? Because of its gravity?I think it is caused by something terrestrial. Maybe how your age cycle lines up with the seasonal cycle, or something like that. If the beginning of each of your new age years fall in the winter, you might turn out different than if they fell in the summer. To me, it seems like that could affect someone’s personality.Assuming that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out, what do you think causes it? Is there any scientific explanation we could come up with that could explain the phenomenon? Or is the scientific view that there is no affect at all?Also, anyone knowledgeable in the astrological explanation could explain that too.

I did. It passed the test. It didn't have too much geralities that covered muliple personality types. It had some specifics to each sign that well described the personalities of the people that fit into those categories.Its obvious when the descriptions are vague and can cover many personalities but some of the specific were surprising. Like I said in the OP, it seems to me that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out.Now, assuming that it does, is there any scientifically sound explanation for this phenomenon?

I found this to be untrue in the book I was reading from. Don't have it on me right now and forgot the title but I'm aware of what you are talking about. This book seemed convincing in the decription, just not in the causes.

So you don't think it is possible that the time of year that you are born in has some effect on how you turn out?

Done.

Don't get me wrong, I've see plenty of bad astrology. As far as horoscopes, aren't those just predictions?I was reading about personality descriptions. They were surprisingly accurate, and not in the 'so general they'll work for anyone' type of accuracy. They weren't 100% or anything, but there were major differences between the descriptions for each sign and the people that I knew their sign, fit most of the description.They seemed to be a good description of that persons personality. There were specifics and differences between the descritions, so that one person didn't really fit multiple descriptions.I'm convinced that the time of the year you're born in can have an affect on your personality. I'm not convinced that astrology isn't a bunch of bullshit, though.What I wanted to discuss is the how...how can the time of the year you're born in affect your personality?At first I was thinking seasons, but people in the sothern hemisphere experience the opposite season of those in the north. If the astrology personality descriptions worked on a global scale, then this would rule out the seasons as the cause....and might even rule out that it is something terrestrial See, that description is too general. I mean, who does like being pressured to take part in a conversation that they don't understand or don't care about?The book I was reading from was better than that. I wish I had it with me and could scan some pages into this thread.

It would seem so but I don't think it was. I don't think being fooled and I was reading it critically. I was aware of confirmation bias. I think it was better than other books I've looked at. It seemed to have more specifics, and better personality descriptions than the generalities of typical astrology. That's a good idea, I'll have to try it. So what would you say if I could predict people's signs by matching descriptions of the signs to the person's personality? Well I was thinking that if your birthday was in the winter every year it might be depressing or something but that wouldn't work because people of the same sign in the southern hemisphere would be having their birthday in the summer every year. Thanks.

Well, if I read a bunch of people's personality descriptions that were accurate and then one that was totally wrong, I wouldn't consider that exception to invalidate all the correct ones. ok.Whoa, you're old...

quote:

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Traditional
Cancer Traits

​

Emotional and loving
Intuitive and imaginative
Shrewd and cautious
Protective and sympathetic

​

On the dark side....

​

Changeable and moody
Overemotional and touchy
Clinging and unable to let go
source

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Its pretty hit or miss for you. But, then again, I wouldn't consider this one a very good description. It seems pretty general and I don't really like the one-word descriptions.Maybe the descriptions don't work for everyone and that they are just a general trend for people's personalities. Also, there could be other factors that determine your personality that could outweight the affects of the time of year you were born in.But now I'm defending Astrology I don't really think its real, I just think that there seems to be some correlation with your personality and the time of year you were born. If that were true, it would make astrology look better even if astrology was all bullshit.

It wouldn't be me, it would be the descriptions I was reading from. Damn, you'd really be getting down to the gnat's ass...Perhaps there is an affect of the time of the year you were born on your personality. Big life changes could certainly outweight the affects from the time of year, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I don't think we have the means to get down to the gnat's ass, scientifically, about the effects. Its something people have been looking into for thousands of years and there seems to be some correlation. Whether or not astrology is accurate in the cause, I don't know (but leaning towards not), but if the effect is there, I'd like to discuss some possibilities for the cuase.

Agreed, and I'm aware of how incredible that insignificance is (many many orders of magnitutude). Nope. (Although, admittedly, I've never seen a tide chart)I wonder what effects can be had when there are multiple plantet alignments, we could calculate the force of gravity from the alignment, which would most likely still be insignificant. I think that the astrologists think that there is something magical going on up there that is causing it all. My question on gravity was somewhat rhetorical with a touch of sarcastic.For future reference, I'm well aware of gravity's formula, but thanks anyways for being so helpfull and informative.

Yes. I think there IS is some correlation that astrology has picked up on, I just don't think that its{astrology's} causes are the actual ones. For sure. I'm bascally a male version of my mother, WRT personality. Hmmmm, perhaps....This is more the kind of discussion I was looking for. I don't believe astrology has it right, but there does seem to be some correlation But there are some personality traits that people could be said to poses or not. Really!?, Why is that? I took an online personality profile and the results were really good. Actually, I think I learned some stuff about myself. Well, 'friends' or Friends. I mean, my true friends know me well and I think they'd have similiar opinions (that I'm an asshole ), but aquaintances, sure, there'd be diferences but that'd be because they don't know me well enough. As far as my actual personality, aside from other people's subjectivity on it, I'd say its pretty objective. Nah, I'm fairly well fucked.Edited by Catholic Scientist, : No reason given.

But HOW does the time, date(day?) and year you were born affect your personality? I mean by what mechanism not to what extent.