The ‘Barnum effect’ in personality assessment: A review of the literature
Dickson and Kelly reviewed research on the Barnum effect, the tendency to accept vague, general statements as descriptions of oneself, across interpretation variables (generality, perceived relevance, favourability, assessment type, origin and format) and administrator and subject characteristics. They concluded that acceptance depends mainly on the profile's relevance and favourability and, to some extent, on assessment type. They found interpreter status had little effect except that unfavourable feedback was accepted more from a high-status source, and described the effect of assessment label as a weak trend.
Dickson and Kelly reviewed research on the Barnum effect, the tendency to accept vague, general statements as descriptions of oneself, across interpretation variables (generality, perceived relevance, favourability, assessment type, origin and format) and administrator and subject characteristics. They concluded that acceptance depends mainly on the profile's relevance and favourability and, to some extent, on assessment type. They found interpreter status had little effect except that unfavourable feedback was accepted more from a high-status source, and described the effect of assessment label as a weak trend.
Written from the the 1985 review's account as recorded by the writer, 2026-11-03; DOI confirmed on Crossref; not re-opened in Phase A.
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Dickson, D. H., & Kelly, I. W. (1985). The ‘Barnum effect’ in personality assessment: A review of the literature. Psychological Reports, 57(2), 367-382. doi:10.2466/pr0.1985.57.2.367 https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1985.57.2.367