Who Believes In Astrology

While an increasing number of persons in the United States are religiously unaffiliated, one belief appears to unify a sizable portion of them: astrology. According to a recent YouGov poll, a little more than a quarter of Americans (27%) believe in astrology, with 37 percent of persons under 30 believing that the position of the stars and planets effects people’s lives. Approximately half of Americans (51%) say they don’t believe in astrology, while 22% are undecided.

Younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to claim they believe in astrology. While 37% of individuals under 30 say they believe in it, only around half of those aged 65 and over say they do (16 percent ). Women are slightly more likely than men to say they believe in astrology (30%). (25 percent ). White Americans (25%) are slightly less likely than Black (31%) and Hispanic (32%) Americans to believe that the stars and planets influence their conduct.

Only 29% of Americans with a high school diploma or less believe in astrology, which is the same percentage as those with a college diploma (28 percent ). People with a higher education (24%) are slightly less likely to say they believe. Americans in the Northeast (32 percent) and West (29 percent) are slightly more likely than those in the South and Midwest to believe in astrology.

Catholics (31%) are the most likely to believe in astrology, followed by agnostics (30%) and persons who have no religious affiliation (28%) among the religious groups studied. Protestants (22%) and Jewish Americans (22%) are slightly less likely to believe. Atheists are the least likely of all the demographic groups we studied to believe that the stars and planets have an impact on human behavior (only 10 percent say they believe this).

We also discovered that the gender disparity widens with age: males under 45 are marginally more likely than women of the same age to believe in astrology (38 percent vs. 32 percent), whereas elderly women are substantially more likely than older men to believe. Women between the ages of 45 and 64 are more than twice as likely as men in the same age group to say they believe (29 percent vs. 15%), and women 65 and older are more than twice as likely as men in the same age group to say they believe (23 percent vs. 9 percent ).

When asked if they know what your astrological sign is and given a choice of 12 signs, 90% of Americans choose one, while 10% indicate they don’t know. While persons under 30 are more likely to believe in astrology, they are also less likely to know their astrological sign. Compared to 94 percent of persons 45 and older, 82 percent believe they know their sign. Women (92%) are more likely than males (87%) to recognize their sign, while Democrats (95%) are more likely than Republicans (86%) to recognize it.

While tens of millions of Americans believe in astrology, how willing are they to vote for a political candidate who believes in it? People frequently claim that knowing that a politician is a strong believer in astrology makes no difference to them (40 percent say this). Only 7% say they would be more likely to vote for the politician if they knew this information, while 34% say they would be less likely to vote for the candidate if they knew this information.

People who believe in astrology feel that a politician who practices it extensively would make them more likely (21%) or less likely (22%) to vote for them. Almost half of those polled (46%) feel it makes no difference. Over half of those who don’t believe in astrology (54%) say that if a candidate claims to believe in it, they will be less likely to vote for them (just 2 percent say it would make them more likely to and 34 percent say it would make no difference). Republicans (48%) are more likely than Democrats (35%) to say that a candidate’s astrology beliefs would make them less likely to vote for them, while Democrats are more likely than Republicans to think it would make no difference (43 percent vs. 35 percent ).

This poll’s toplines and crosstabs are as follows:

Do you believe in astrology or that the positions of the planets and stars have an impact on people’s lives?

Would you be more or less likely to vote for a politician who claimed to be passionate about astrology?

Methodology: YouGov conducted this Daily Agenda poll online on April 21-22, 2022, with a nationally representative sample of 3,472 U.S. adults. Based on gender, age, race, education, census region, and political party, the samples were weighted to be typical of the US population.

What religion is astrology-based?

While each religion is essentially a system of laws based on a set of beliefs, astrology is a perfect marriage of science and art that uses celestial body placements. So, whether Christians believe in Jesus Christ’s good works and teachings or Hindus believe in ‘the science of light,’ or ‘Jyotish Shastra,’ fortune telling is still the bottom line.

Surprisingly, these prophecies or foretellings may be found in many civilizations and religions. The tactics may change, but the outcomes remain consistent. Have you ever considered how these ideas can be related despite the fact that the belief ecosystem is so dissimilar? So, here’s a no-brainer: everyone is, and will continue to be, concerned about their future and seeking to be their best selves, capable of overcoming problems. Almost everyone else aspires to anticipate what will happen ahead of time and to act as efficiently as possible when events do occur. People of all faiths and cultures may agree on this.

Calculations are performed by all religions, albeit the methods used may differ. The outcomes, on the other hand, are the same. Almost everyone else aspires to anticipate what will happen ahead of time and to act as efficiently as possible when events do occur. People of all faiths and cultures may agree on this. There are various viewpoints on the matter, but it all boils down to education. Look for an astrological institute that teaches you everything you need to know about the various astrology courses that are accessible online. Online astrology classes are available, as are astrology courses offered through distance education.

Have you ever observed how our celebrations are organized when it comes to astrology and religion? The celebrations highlight the connection between astrology and religion. If you look closely, you’ll notice that all of the festivals are based on the position of the stars/moon and the sun. This is true of all religions, to the extent where astrology has become an integral part of religious rituals.

So, if you look at data from the beginning of time to the present day, you’ll discover a wide range of astrological systems, all branching out of different systems but ultimately pointing to an astrological-religious tie. In India, one of the most prevalent forms of astrology is Vedic astrology.

Astrology is the foundation of Hinduism. People hurry to their astrologer as soon as a baby is born to get his ‘Janam Patri’ made and to choose the best name for him. The Mahabharata, for example, mentions astrology in several Hindu epics. Only the ‘Brahmins’ had access to astrology knowledge at first. Then they would sit in the temples and predict the future. As a result, a relationship was created between astrology and Hinduism.

The concept of Astrology became increasingly available to the general public in the area as time passed. In 2020, everyone with even a passing interest in astrology will be able to find lessons and research. Astrology is a ‘pseudoscience’ that calculates and interprets the movement of planets. It isn’t predicated on wild guesses. Several Hindu households consult their astrologer before making major decisions.

In Islam, astrology is also a belief. Their forebears believed that the movement of the stars, sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies might influence the lives of individuals who lived on the planet, as seen through the eyes of India’s best astrologer. Their faith in astrology has waned over time, and just a few people still believe it. It is entirely dependent on the individual. While a conservative Muslim may not believe in astrology, someone who does not believe in any religion may have faith in it.

Christianity is the only religion that is known to believe in astrology. People should not trust astrology, according to the Bible. Despite this, there are numerous astrologers in the Western world. They claim that the Bible has been misinterpreted and that it warns about specific sins committed by specific persons. Western countries have much fewer astrologers than countries like India. This also reveals how little astrology is believed in Western countries. People were already skeptical about astrology, and the Bible only adds to their concerns. As a result, astrology is only believed by a small number of Christians.

India is a top country in terms of astrological believing, as may be deduced. At least once throughout their life, more than half of the population has sought the advice of an astrologer. Because Hinduism and Islam are both widespread in India, astrology devotees are likely to be as well. Astrology does a fantastic job of predicting the future and providing solutions to difficulties.

Individual belief systems differ, and it is up to them to decide whether or not to believe in something. Despite its 5000-year history, astrology continues to thrive. This confirms our belief in astrology.

Here are some crucial details:

• The hostility of some devout religious believers dates back to a time when priests and religious leaders attempted to interpret and mediate all religious experiences from their positions of authority. Before the development of male-dominated organized religion, our predecessors sought heavenly inspiration directly from the stars and thought themselves to be an intricate part of an active universe unfolding.
• Anyone could use astrology as a tool and a belief system based on an enchantment with the divine orchestrations of the heavens. Astrology presupposes the existence of an unlimited and purposeful mind that pervades the skies and the earth in a grand symphony of meaning, rather than the worship of a particular deity or leader.

A client’s confidence might be boosted with the help of a trustworthy, neutral astrologer. I’ve helped several customers reclaim and activate their religious roots through a chart analysis, guiding them toward the power that comes with following a religious path.

For some people, religion is a cornerstone of psychological and mental well-being. Astrological principles and practices are free of sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression, unlike many organized faiths. Even the classic astrological metaphors of masculine and feminine planets and energies have been reinvented as non-gendered receptive and active energies. Every individual, like every planet and star in the sky, has a firm seat at the table of the universe.

This is a large issue, and I’m not sure if I’ve offered enough material to tie everything together. Please keep an eye on my column for more information on this topic in the future.

Who is it that believes in astrology?

Despite reasoning claiming that the movements of stars and their relative locations cannot influence human behavior, scientists have periodically put astrology to the test during the past several decades. To date, everyone has come to the same conclusion: the idea is rubbish. Despite this, millions of people all around the world believe it to be actual science. The researchers began by noticing that believing in astrology has increased in recent years, presumably as a result of stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. They then set out to see if there were any characteristics that people who were willing to believe in a pseudoscience with no evidence of its use shared.

They devised an online questionnaire to determine personality traits, which they then put to a shortened version of the Belief in Astrology Inventory evaluation, which was created by a pair of academics at Rovira I Virgili University in 2006. A quick IQ test was also included. They then used Facebook to recruit 264 English-speaking persons to participate in their survey.

The researchers discovered that persons who claimed to believe in astrology’s powers scored higher than normal on narcissistic tests and performed badly on the IQ exam. They claim that those who believe in astrology are more self-centered than the ordinary person, seeing themselves as unique individuals with natural leadership abilities who also happen to be less intelligent than the typical person. They discovered that the greater a volunteer’s IQ score, the less likely they were to believe in astrology.

Which country considers astrology to be true?

Most human civilizationsIndia, China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Maya, and Inca, among othersbased their culture on complex systems of astrology, which provided a link between the cosmos with the conditions and events on earth. For these people, astrology was more than just divination; it also served as the foundation for their spiritual culture and knowledge systems, such as the calendar (see Mesoamerican calendrical shamans) and medicine (e.g. I Ching). The study of the heavens provided essential insights into celestial bodies, hence astrological tradition aided the development of astronomy. For example, several of the planets in the Solar System and their movements have previously been listed in the Ptolemaic astrological tradition.

The following is a partial list of astrology’s various traditions, kinds, systems, methods, applications, and branches.

Is there anyone out there who believes in astrology?

Christine Smallwood’s fascinating piece, “Astrology in the Age of Uncertainty:

Astrology is currently experiencing widespread popular acceptability that has not been seen since the 1970s. The transition began with the introduction of the personal computer, was expedited by the Internet, and has now reached new levels of speed thanks to social media. According to a Pew Research Center poll from 2017, about a third of Americans believe in astrology.

Astrology, like psychoanalysis before it, has infiltrated our collective vernacular. At a party in the 1950s, you could have heard someone talk about the id, ego, or superego; now, it’s normal to hear someone explain herself using the sun, moon, and rising signs. It isn’t just that you are aware of it. It’s who’s saying it: folks who aren’t kooks or deniers of climate change, who don’t find a conflict between utilizing astrology and believing in science…

I ran a short Google search and discovered the following Pew report from October 2018:

The religion breakdown was the only thing that surprised me about this table.

I had the impression that mainline Protestants were the rational ones, but they believe in astrology at the same rate as the overall population.

But, hey, I guess they’re ordinary Americans, so they have average American ideas.

Only 3% of atheists believe in astrology, which is also unexpected.

This makes sense, yet it seemed reasonable to me that someone may not believe in God but believe in other supernatural things: in fact, I could see astrology as a type of replacement for a traditional religious system.

But it appears that is not the case.

Brian Wansink has been compared to an astrologer who can make astute observations about the world based on a combination of persuasiveness and qualitative understanding, and then attributes his success to tarot cards or tea leaves rather than a more practical ability to synthesize ideas and tell good stories.

Does Brian Wansink, on the other hand, believe in astrology?

What about Marc Hauser, Ed Wegman, Susan Fiske, and the rest of the bunch who call their detractors “second-string, replication police, methodological terrorists, Stasi, and so on?”

I doubt they believe in astrology because it symbolizes a rival belief system: it’s a business that, in some ways, competes with rah-rah Ted-talk science.

I wouldn’t be shocked if famous ESP researchers believe in astrology, but I get the impression that mainstream junk-science supporters in academia and the news media feel uncomfortable discussing ESP since its research methods are so similar to their own.

They don’t want to be associated with ESP researchers because it would devalue their own study, but they also don’t want to put them under the bus because they are fellow Ivy League academics, so the safest plan is to remain quiet about it.

The greater point, however, is not astrology believing in and of itself, but the mental state that allows individuals to believe in something so contrary to our scientific understanding of the world.

(OK, I apologize to the 29% of you who don’t agree with me on this.)

When I return to writing on statistical graphics, model verification, Bayesian computation, Jamaican beef patties, and other topics, you can rejoin the fold.)

It’s not that astrology couldn’t be correct a priori:

We can come up with credible hypotheses under which astrology is real and amazing, just as we can with embodied cognition, beauty and sex ratio, ovulation and voting, air rage, ages ending in 9, and all the other Psychological Science / PNAS classics.

It’s just that nothing has come up after years of rigorous research.

And the existing theories aren’t particularly convincing: they’re speculative world models that may be good if the purpose was to describe a real and enduring occurrence, but they’re less so without actual data.

Anyway, if 30% of Americans are willing to believe such nonsense, it’s no surprise that a significant number of influential American psychology professors will have the kind of attitude toward scientific theory and evidence that leads them to have strong beliefs in weak theories with no supporting evidence.

Indeed, not only support for specific weak theories, but support for the fundamental principle that pseudoscientific views should be treated with respect (although, oddly enough, maybe not for astrology itself).

P.S.In defense of the survey respondents (but not of the psychology professors who support ideas like the “critical positivity ratio,” which makes astrology appear positively sane in comparison), belief in astrology (or, for that matter, belief in heaven, gravity, or the square-cube law) is essentially free.

Why not believe these things, or not believe them?

Belief or denial in evolution, climate change, or unconscious bias, on the other hand, can have social or political consequences.

Some opinions are purely personal, while others have a direct impact on policy.

I have less patience for famous academic and media elites who aggressively support junk science by not just expressing their trust in speculative notions supported by no real data, but also attacking those who point out these emperors’ nudity. Furthermore, even a hypothetical tolerant, open-minded supporter of junk sciencethe type of person who might believe in critical positivity ratio but actively support the publication of criticisms of that workcan still cause some harm by contaminating scientific journals and the news media with bad science, and by promoting sloppy work that takes up space that could be used for more careful research.

You know how they say science corrects itself, but only because individuals are willing to correct themselves?

Gresham’s law is also true, but only when people are willing to distribute counterfeit notes or money they think is counterfeit while keeping their lips shut until they can get rid of their wads of worthless stock.

P.P.S.Just to be clear:I don’t think astrology is a waste of time, and it’s possible that Marc Hauser was onto something real, even while faking data (according to the US government, as mentioned on Wikipedia), and the critical positivity ratio, ovulation, voting, and all the rest…

Just because there isn’t enough evidence to support a theory doesn’t mean it’s untrue.

I’m not trying to disprove any of these assertions.

All of it should be published someplace, along with all of the criticism.

My issue with junk science proponents isn’t simply that they advocate science that I and others perceive to be rubbish; they can also be wrong!

However, they consistently avoid, deny, and oppose valid open criticism.

P.P.P.S.Remember that #notallpsychologists.

Of course, the problem of junk research isn’t limited to psychology in any way.

Professors of political science, economics, sociology, and history, to the extent that they believe in astrology, spoon bending, or whatever (that is, belief in “scientific paranormalism as describing some true thing about the natural world, not just a “anthropological recognition that paranormal beliefs can affect the world because people believe in it), this could also sabotage their research.

I suppose it’s not such a big problem if a physicist or chemist believes in these things.

I’m not attempting to shut down study into astrology, embodied cognition, ESP, beauty-and-sex-ratio, endless soup bowls, spoon bending, the Bible Code, air anger, ovulation and voting, subliminal smiley faces, or anything else.

Allow for the blooming of a thousand blooms!

Given that a sizable portion of the populace is willing to believe in scientific-sounding notions that aren’t backed by any good scientific theory or evidence, it should come as no surprise that many professional scientists hold this viewpoint.

The repercussions are especially evident in psychology, which is a vital field of study where theories can be hazy and where there is a long legacy of belief and action based on flimsy data.

That isn’t to say that psychologists are awful people; they’re merely working on difficult challenges in a field with a long history of failures.

This isn’t a critique; it’s just the way things are. Of course, there is a lot of excellent work being done in the field of psychology. You’ll have to work with what you’ve got.