The vehemence with which astrology is sometimes rejected usually isn’t balanced by another idea of how we should actually talk about ourselves and our lives. How can so many smart minds in the Skeptical Society not see everything astrology does for humanity?
Astrology is actually a perfect archetypal system that all of psychology can’t hold a candle to. Everyone knows what archetype they are without having to be tested. They have it on their ID card. Everyone knows what each archetype means, so no introductory methodological slides are needed. Astrology avoided the mistake of modern sciences—it didn’t disconnect human personality from life story. Like other archetypal segmentations, astrology is circular. And most importantly, it doesn’t cling to reality. Astrology knows we’ll work it out somehow: “I’m an Aquarius but with Capricorn rising, though I suspect I’m actually more of a Scorpio, you know?” “I get it, typical Aquarius, but of course you’ve got some ambition too.”
What would a world without astrology look like? I can see the scene. Two hairdressers, each working on a different head. One tries to shout over the hair dryer:
“My melancholy score is five points higher than my sanguine score. This probably explains high cognitive potential unrealized due to ecological space influences according to Stephen Ceci. This corresponds with my resulting INTP. That’s probably why I locked my keys in the car!”
To which the second hairdresser turns off the dryer and objects:
“There’s no point discussing personality models whose dimensions are clearly correlated according to factor analysis. I think your accidental locking can be grasped from a psychoanalytic perspective. You’re bothered that your mom has a new boyfriend!”
It’s similar with archetypal segmentations in marketing. The more established the model, the more distant from reality it usually is. But the more established and familiar the colored oval or circle, the more comprehensible it is to all of us: “Our brand is bottom right.” The question of whether customers are also bottom right often undermines the revered model, and you might surprisingly discover that Red Bull consumers aren’t even a third as red and muscular.
But truth isn’t the core of archetypal segmentations’ success. They’re usually too black and white. Like trying to paint a square picture in a round frame. You’ll end up painting a smaller picture and the details won’t be visible. But they’re the language we can use to talk about brands. We’re basically like those hairdressers.