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An Empirical Study of
Personality and Astrological
Factors
a b a b
D. H. Saklofske , I. W. Kelly & D. W.
a b
McKerracher
a
The University of Saskatchewan
b
The University of Otago
Published online: 02 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: D. H. Saklofske , I. W. Kelly & D. W. McKerracher (1982) An

Empirical Study of Personality and Astrological Factors, The Journal of Psychology:
Interdisciplinary and Applied, 110:2, 275-280, DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1982.9915349

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1982.9915349

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 Published as a separate and in The Journal of Psychology, 1982. 110, 275-280

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PERSONALITY AND

ASTROLOGICAL FACTORS*
The University of Saskatchewan and
The University of Otago

D. H. SAKLOFSKE,' I. W. KELLY,
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A N D D. W. MCKERRACHER

SUMMARY
This study examined the hypothesized relationships between zodiac signs
and extraversion-introversion and neuroticism. New Zealand University
students (N = 241) who were born under odd versus even and water versus
nonwater signs completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. There
were no significant differences between subjects classified according to odd
versus even sign and the personality dimensions of extraversion, neuroti-
cism, and psychoticism. Neuroticism scores were not significantly different
between subjects classified according to water and nonwater signs. It was
concluded that the tenets of astrological theory examined here remain
unproven.

INTRODUCTION
A.
Astrological theory alleges a relationship between zodiac sun signs and
human behavior. Recent studies offer little support for a relationship
between zodiac sign and occupation (3, 1 7 , 28), psychiatric disorder (31),
suicide (41, leadership ability (25), drug abuse (2 l ) , marriage compatibility
(22), and various other personality, sociological, and physical characteris-
tics (1, 2 , 10, 11, 15, 18, 23, 26, 2 7 , 31).
The only replicated positive zodiac sign findings have involved the
statistically significant but marginal relationships among zodiac sign and
introversion, extraversion, and neuroticism variables. Mayo, White, and
Eysenck (16) reported finding that extraverts were born more often than
would be expected by chance under odd-numbered or positive zodiac signs
* Received in the Editorial Office on December 2 , 1981, and published immediately at
Provincetown, Massachusetts. Copyright by The Journal Press.
I Requests for reprints should be sent to the first author at the address shown at the end of
this article.
2 75
 2 76 JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY

(Aries, Aquarius. Gemini, Leo, Libra, and Sagittarius). whereas introverts

tended to be born more often under even-numbered or negative signs
(Cancer. Capricorn, Pisces, Scorpio, Taurus, and Virgo), a s predicted from
astrological theory. T h e same authors also reported that individuals born
under water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, a n d Pisces) eshibited higher neuroti-
cism scores than individuals born under other signs, again confirming a n
astrological prediction. T h e introversion-estraversion results of Mayo ef al.
were successfully replicated by Smithers and Cooper (24) and Jackson ( 1 2 ) .
although the latter study failed to support the water-signheuroticism hy-
pot h esis .
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Other studies have failed to obtain significant relationships between

zodiac sign and introversion-extraversion and neuroticism variables (6, 13,
19, 29). Pawlik and Buse (10)controlled for Ss' knowledge of the personal-
ity characteristics associated with their zodiac sign and found that the
Mayo ef al. results could be statistically ascribed to their self-attributions.
Eysenck (6) also reported that a subsequent replication which controlled for
knowledge of zodiac signs failed to find the estraversion-introversion and
neuroticism relationships previously reported.
Some comments appear to be warranted with respect to the current
research literature on the hypothesized relationships between zodiac sign
and personality. Of those studies which do report significant zodiac-sign/
personality effects;. differences between the mean personality scores for the
odd wv.ru.s et'en zodiac-sign Ss are relati\.el>. small and suggest consider-
able overlap. especially if both the standard deviation and reliability,
including measurement error. of the test scores are considered. An inspec-
tion of the Mayo et al. data sho\vs a difference between pairs of odd-even
extraversion mean score5 ranging from approximately 0 to 1 . 5 . with the
largest portion of scores clustering about the 13.25 to 14 point and a mean
of approximately 13.6 for their total sample of 2.324 Ss. Similarly. d a t a
presented b>. Jackson ( 1 2 ) and Smithers and Cooper (24) show little varia-
bility between mean extraversion scores for S s born under odd- w r s u s
even-numbered signs. Reference to Eysenck's questionnaire manuals ( 7 , 8 )
suggests that the standard deviation a n d the standard error of measure-
ment for the estraversion scale are greater than the reported mean differ-
ences in the above studies.
Along other lines, there are obvious differences in the consistency and
quality of research methodology and statistical analyses employed in the
various studies of zodiac sign and personality. Noblitt (18) concluded that
 D. H. SAKLOFSKE, I. W. KELLY, AND D. W. MCKERRACHER 2 7 7

“most of these studies had serious methodological weaknesses, were irre-

plicable, or provided inconsistent outcomes.” The more sensitively designed
studies tend least often to support the astrological hypothesis being exam-
ined. Also, some studies do not consider alternative explanations (6, 14,
30), failing to recall that in correlational studies there can be several causes
of correlations between variables but that correlation does not prove causa-
tion.
The present study attempted to replicate the Mayo el al. study by
examining the proposed relationships between zodiac signs and Eysenck’s
personality dimensions.
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B. METHOD
The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) (8)was administered to
24 1 first-year university students attending a New Zealand University, all
of whom were born in the southern hemisphere. Birthdates were available
for 165 females and 76 males with a mean age of 20 years 10 months.
In contrast to other zodiac-sign studies (12, 13, 16, 24) which have
employed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (71, this study employed the
newer questionnaire. This new scale contains certain psychometric im-
provements over its predecessor, but Eysenck and Eysenck (8) contend that
the extraversion and neuroticism scales of both questionnaires are so simi-
lar that “whatever has been discovered about correlates of extraversion and
neuroticism with the use of older scales must be assumed to apply with
equal force to the new scales.” The EPQ also includes a new scale labelled
psychoticism or toughmindedness which was administered to Ss in this
study.
C. RESULTS
The analysis performed here was similar to that employed by Mayo et al.
(16) and Veno and Pamment (29). The 12 zodiac sun signs were collapsed
into odd-numbered “positive” signs and even-numbered “negative” signs.
Table 1 shows the mean extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism scores
of male and female Ss born under the two zodiac sign groupings.
A three-factor analysis of variance was performed on the extraversion,
neuroticism, and psychoticism scores to test the odd-even zodiac-sign ef-
fect. As in the design of previous studies (16, 29), the first factor of the
present study was sex (two levels), the second was odd-even zodiac signs
(two levels), and the third (six levels) was a dummy factor created by
 2 78 JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
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pairing odd-even signs (e.g., 1 Aries with 2 Taurus, 3 Gemini with 4

Cancer, etc. 1.
T h e odd ZJPYSUS even zodiac-sign effect for extraversion found by Mayo et
al. (16) was not replicated and. in fact, a slight trend in the opposite
direction to that predicted was noted. An examination of the extraversion
scores (.T = 13.47, S D = 4.44) for the total sample indicated that Ss born
under odd or even zodiac signs were similarly distributed above, below,
and about the mean. Similarly. there was no significant difference found
for odd z l c y s u s even zodiac sign and neuroticism scores. Although a sig-
nificant sex effect was obtained, the interaction between sex a n d the
odd-even classification was not significant. T h e higher neuroticism scores
for females were in line with previous research on the EPQ with normal
samples. The present results also showed no main effect for the odd-even
zodiac classification a n d psychoticism scores. As expected, males scored
significantly higher than females on this scale but the interaction between
sex and odd versus even zodiac sign did not approach significance.
Finally, an analysis of variance was performed to test the hypothesized
relationship between the three water sun signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and
Pisces) and neuroticism or emotionality. For this analysis. Ss born under
the water signs (n = 60) were compared with all others (n = 181) on the
neuroticism dimension. T h e resulting F ratio was nonsignificant, suggesting
that neuroticism score3 for Ss born under the three water signs (x' = 10.17,
S D = 5.14) were not elevated in comparison to the nonwater-sign Ss (x' =
10.42, S D = 4.90).
 D. H . SAKLOFSKE, I. w. KELLY, AND D. w. MC KERRACHER 279

D. DISCUSSION
Mayo et al. (16) have stated that traditional astrological theory predicts a
tendency for extraverts more often to be born under odd-numbered zodiac
signs while introverts are more frequently born under even-numbered signs
and that elevated neuroticism scores are associated with the three water
signs. The present study fails to support either of these predictions. Al-
though the sample was relatively small, the findings are in line with those
reported in several other studies (6, 13, 19, 29) which failed to confirm
these two astrological predictions.
It is somewhat surprising that so much has been made of the results from
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those few studies which have shown some statistically significant relation-
ships between zodiac sign and personality. Eysenck’s theory of personality
has generated quite specific hypotheses relating personality type to differ-
ences in conditionability and possible predisposition to develop certain
psychiatric abnormalities. Tests of zodiac sign should address these hy-
potheses directly although one study (31) found that patients representing a
variety of psychiatric diagnoses were randomly distributed across zodiac
sign and seasons of birth.
Finally, Mayo et al. (16) stated that “astrology contains perfectly
straightforward and precise predictions”; and it has also been argued that
astrology deals with observable phenomena and is therefore subject to
testing and appraisal within a scientific framework (16, 18). However,
several authors (9, 20) have referred to the vagueness of astrological in-
terpretations and predictions and questioned the existence of a system in
astrological methodology. It would appear that astrology remains a theory
with a set of hypotheses requiring rigorous and systematic investigation
and comparison with alternative theories of human behavior.
I

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Department of Educational Psychology

University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada S7X OW0