What Breed of Dog Are You? vs The Barnum Effect

I took a fun test- What Breed of Dog Are You? and I got my answer as:

you're a German Shepherd!

No bones, about it, you're a loyal, hard-working German Shepherd. Dedicated and always low-maintenance, people flock to you — they know they can count on you to get any job done, and done well. That focus and attention to detail spans from your personal to your professional life, too. Although you can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the projects you tackle, you still manage to keep cool and laid-back in social situations. You get a kick out of the little things and thrive when you're constantly busy and on-the-go. Easygoing and unpretentious, you don't need constant pampering and reassurance. A genuine, carefree pup, you're a true-blue friend, employee, and partner. Woof!

http://web.tickle.com/

Well, you can try this website for a lot of free test, if you don't have better things to do.

Ever since I study psychology- first term, I learnt about Barnum effect, I rarely trust these personality tests' validity and reliability.

he Barnum Effect is based upon P.T. Barnum, a master showman's famous saying 'There's a sucker born every minute.' “there is something for everybody”

http://www.paranormality.com/barnum_effect.shtml

http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/psych101/barnum_demo.htm

http://richardgpettymd.blogs.com/my_weblog/2006/10/the_barnum_effe.html

It confirm my doubts about daily highlight of your horoscope- on newspaper, or some zodiac animals character. In simple word, Barnum effect means people commonly accepting over generalizing description about their personality. For example, it always claim that:" you are friendly, will throw temper when you are in a bad mood.....etc" Then, you mistakenly think:" Woh, it sounds accurate!" But wait a minute, don't you think that this is applicable to anyone? It is understood, most of the people would think themselves are friendly and not happy, surely have throwing temper sometimes....

In fact, given a choice between individual personality description actually based on a real test, most people choose the phony generic description as being more accurate. Ironic.

Share with you a famous experiment:

French Psychologist, Michael Gauguelin placed an ad in a Paris newspaper offering a free personal horoscope. Ninety-four percent of those receiving the horoscope praised the description as accurate. Whose horoscope had they all actually received? That of France's Dr. Petiot, a notorious mass murderer.

So, do you still want to read horoscope now? =)