The Carlson astrology experiment was conducted between 1981 and 1983 when Carlson was an undergraduate physics student at the University of California at Berkley under the mentorship of Professor Richard Muller. The flaws that have been uncovered in the Nature article include not only the omission of literature on similar studies, which is expected in all academic papers, but more serious irregularities such as skewed test design, disregard for its own criteria of evaluation, irrelevant groupings of data, removal of unexpected results, and an illogical conclusion based on the null hypothesis.

In concept and design, the Carlson experiment was not original. It was modeled after the landmark double-blind matching test of astrology by Vernon Clark (Clark, 1961). In that test astrologers were asked to distinguish between each of ten pairs of natal charts. One chart of each pair belonged to a subject with cerebral palsy and the other belonged to a subject with high intelligence. Another influential study was the “Profile Self-selection” double-blind experiment, which was led by the late astrologer Neil Marbell and privately distributed among contributors in 1981 before its eventual publication (Marbell, 1986-87). In that test, participating volunteers were asked to select their own personality interpretations, both long and short versions in separate tests, out of three that were presented.

In both of these prior studies, the participants performed well above significance in support of the astrological hypothesis as compared to chance. The Marbell study was extraordinarily qualified as it involved extensive input and review from astrologers, scientists, statisticians, and prominent skeptics. Carlson neglected to provide any review of these scientific studies that supported astrology or any other previous related experiments.

The stated purpose of Carlson’s research was to scientifically determine whether the participating astrologers (members of the astrology research organization NCGR and others) could match natal charts to California Psychological Inventory (CPI) profiles (18 personality scales generated from 480 questionnaire items). Additionally, Carlson would determine whether participating volunteers (undergraduate and graduate students, and others) could match astrological interpretations, written by the participating astrologers, to themselves. These assessments, Carlson asserts, would test the “fundamental thesis of astrology” (Carlson, 1985: 419).

From the time of its release, the Carlson study has been criticized for the extraordinary demands it placed on the participating astrologers, which would be regarded as unfair in normal social science. As with any controversial study, all references to Carlson’s experiment should include the scientific discourse that followed it, particularly the points of criticism that show weaknesses in the design and analysis. Notable among recent critics has been University of Göttingen emeritus professor of psychology Suitbert Ertel, who is an expert in statistical methods and is known for his criticism of research on both sides of the astrological divide. Ertel published a detailed review in a 2009 article, “Appraisal of Shawn Carlson’s Renowned Astrology Tests” (Ertel, 2009).

From a careful reading of Carlson’s article in light of the ensuing body of discourse, we can appreciate that the design of the experiment was intentionally skewed in favor of the null hypothesis (no astrological effect), which Carlson refers to, somewhat misleadingly as the “scientific hypothesis.” Some of the controversial features of the design are as follows:
•    The astrologers were not supplied with the gender identities of the CPI owners, even though the CPI creates different profiles for men and women. (Eysenck, 1986: 8; Hamilton, 1986: 10).
•    Participants were not provided with sufficiently dissimilar choices of interpretations, as the Vernon Clark study had done, but instead were given randomly selected choices. This may give the impression of a fair method, but given the narrow demographics of the sample, there is an elevated likelihood of receiving similar items from which to choose, which makes it unfair (Hamilton, 1986: 12; Ertel, 2009: 128).
•    The easier to discriminate and more powerful two-choice format, which had been used in the Vernon Clark study, was replaced with a less powerful three-choice format, which further elevated the chances of receiving similar items (Ertel, 2009: 128).  No reasons are given for this unconventional format, although it can be surmised that Carlson was well aware of the complexities of a three-choice format from his familiarity with the Three-Card Monte (“Follow the Lady”) sleight of hand confidence game, which he had often played as a street psychic and magician (Vidmar, 2008).
•    The requirement for rejecting the “scientific hypothesis” was elevated to 2.5 standard deviations above chance. In the social sciences, the conventional threshold of significance is one standard deviation (Z = 1.64, with probability less than p = .05) (Ertel, 2009: 135).
•   Failure to consider the astrologers’ methodological suggestions or give an account of their objections. Carlson credits astrologer Teresa Hamilton with giving “valuable suggestions,” yet Hamilton complained later that “Carlson followed none of my suggestions. I was never satisfied that the experiment was a fair test of astrology” (Hamilton,1986: 9).

Given this skewed design, the irregularities of which are not obvious to the casual reader, Carlson directs our attention to the various safeguards he used to assure us that no unintended bias would influence the experiment. He describes in detail the precautions used to screen volunteers against negative views of astrology, how the samples were carefully numbered and guarded to ensure they were blind, and the exact contents of the sealed envelopes provided to test participants.

The experiment consisted of several separate tests. The astrologers performed two tests, a CPI ranking test and a CPI rating test. The volunteer students performed three tests, a natal chart interpretation ranking test, a natal chart interpretation component rating test, and a CPI ranking test.

In the CPI ranking test, astrologers were given, for each single natal chart, three CPI profiles, one of which was genuine, and asked to make first and second choices. There were 28 participating astrologers who matched 116 natal charts with CPIs. Success, Carlson states, would be evaluated by the frequency of combined first and second choices, which is the correct protocol for this unconventional format. He states, “Before the data had been analyzed, we had decided to test to see if the astrologers could select the correct CPI profile as either their first or second choice at a higher than expected rate” (Carlson, 1984: 425).

In addition to the ranking test of first, second, and third best fit, the astrologers were tested for their ability to rate the same CPIs according to a scale of accuracy. This task allowed for finer discrimination within a greater range of choices. Each astrologer “also rated each CPI on a 1-10 scale (10 being the highest) as to how closely its description of the subject’s personality matched the personality description derived from the natal chart” (Carlson, 1985: 420).

As to the results of the astrologers’ three-choice ranking test, Carlson first directs our attention to the frequency of the individual first, second, and third CPI choices made by the astrologers, each of which he found to be consistent with chance within a specified confidence interval. This observation is scarcely relevant, given the stated success criteria of the first and second choice frequencies combined. Then, to determine whether the astrologers were successful, Carlson directs our attention to the rate for the third place choices, which, as already noted, was consistent with chance. Thus he declares that the combined first two choices were not chosen at a significant frequency.

“Since the rate at which the astrologers chose the correct CPI as their third place choice was consistent with chance, we conclude that the astrologers were unable to chose [sic] the correct CPI as their first or second choices at a significant level” (Carlson, 1984: 425). This conclusion, however, ignores the stated success criteria and is in fact untrue. The calculation for significance shows that the combined first two choices were chosen at a success rate that is marginally significant (p = .054) (Ertel, 2009: 129).

As to the results of the astrologers’ rating test (10-point rating of three CPIs against each chart), Carlson demonstrates that the astrologers’ ratings were no better than chance within the first, second, and third place choices made in the three-choice test. He shows a weighted histogram and a best linear fit graph to illustrate each of these three groups of ratings. Carlson directs our attention to the first choice graph as support for his conclusion for this test. The slope of this graph is “consistent with the scientific prediction of zero slope” (Carlson, 1985: 424). The slope is actually slightly downward. The graphs for the other two choices are not remarked upon, but show slightly positive slopes.

The problem with Carlson’s analysis of the 10-point rating test, however, is that this test had no dependency on the three-choice ranking test and even used a different sample size of CPIs.2 According to the written instructions supplied to the astrologers, this rating test was actually to be performed before the three-choice ranking test (Ertel, 2009: 135). These 10-point ratings should not be grouped as though they were quantitatively related to the later three-choice test. Confirmation bias from the claimed “result” of the three-choice test, which Carlson presents earlier in his paper, suggests acceptance of irrelevant groupings in this 10-point rating test, presented later. When the totals of the ratings are considered without reference to the choices made in the subsequent test, a positive slope is seen, which shows that the astrologers actually performed at an even higher level of significance (p = .037) than the three-choice test (Ertel, 2009: 131).

The other part of Carlson’s experiment tested 83 student volunteers to see if they could correctly choose their own natal chart interpretations written by the astrologers. Volunteers were divided into a test group and a control group. Members of the test group were each given three choices, all of the same Sun sign, one of which was interpreted from their natal chart (Carlson, 1985: 421). Similarly, each member of the control group received three choices, all of the same Sun Sign, except none of the choices was interpreted from their natal charts, although one choice was randomly selected as “correct” for the purpose of the test.

For the results of this test, Carlson shows a comparison of the frequencies of the correct chart as first, second, and third choices for the test group and the control group (again ignoring his stated protocol to combine the frequencies of the first two choices). He finds that the results are “all consistent with the scientific hypothesis” (Carlson, 1985: 424). However, he does note an unexpected result for the control group, which was able to choose the correct chart at a very high frequency. He calculates this to be at 2.34 standard deviations above chance (p = .01). Yet, because this result occurred in the control group, which was not given their own interpretations, Carlson interprets this as a “statistical fluctuation.”

Yet the size of this statistical fluctuation is so unusual as to attract skepticism, particularly in light of Carlson’s other results. It is reasonable to think that the astrologers could write good quality chart interpretations after having successfully matched charts with CPI profiles. Yet, according to Carlson’s classification, the test group tended to avoid the astrologers’ correct interpretations and choose the two random interpretations, while the control group tended to choose the selected “correct” interpretations by a wide margin, as if they, the controls, had been the actual test subjects (Ertel, 2009: 132). This raises suspicion that the data might have been switched, perhaps inadvertently, but this is unverifiable speculation (Vidmar, 2008).

Like the participating astrologers, the student volunteers were also given a rating test; in this case for the sample chart interpretations they were given. They were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, the accuracy of each subsection of the natal chart interpretations written by the astrologers. “The specific categories which astrologers were required to address were: (1) personality/temperment [sic]; (2) relationships; (3) education; (4) career/goals; and (5) current situation” (Carlson, 1985: 422). This test would potentially have high interest to astrologers because of the distinction it made between personality and current situation, which is a distinction that is not typically covered in personality tests. Also, the higher sensitivity of a rating test could provide insight, at least as confirmation or denial, into the extraordinary statistical fluctuation seen in the three-choice ranking test.

However, based on a few unexpected results, Carlson decided that there was no guarantee that the participants had followed his instructions for this test. “When the first few data envelopes were opened, we noticed that on any interpretation selected as a subject’s first choice, nearly all the subsections were also rated as first choice” (Carlson, 1985: 424). On the basis of this unanticipated consistency, Carlson rejected the volunteers’ rating test without reporting the results.

As an additional test in this part of the experiment, the student volunteers were asked to choose from among three CPI profiles the one that was based on the results of their completed CPI questionnaire. The other two profiles offered were taken from other student volunteers and randomly added. Of the 83 volunteers who completed the natal chart interpretation choices, only 56 completed this task. As usual, Carlson compared the results of the three choices for the test and control groups taken individually (instead of the frequency of the first two choices taken together). Furthermore, in contravention to the logic of control group design, Carlson compares the two groups against chance instead of against each other (Ertel, 2009: 132). He found no significant difference from chance for the two groups.

There are plausible reasons that could explain why the test group was unable to correctly select their own CPI profiles, even though the astrologers were able to a significant extent as we have seen, to match CPI profiles with the students’ charts. The disappointing number of students who completed this task, despite having endured the 480-question CPI questionnaire, suggests that the students might have been much less motivated than the astrologers, for whom the stakes were higher (Ertel, 2009: 133).

The CPI matching tasks, for both the volunteers and the astrologers, were especially challenging because of the three-choice format. The random selections of CPIs made within the narrow demographics of the sample population of students would have elevated the likelihood of receiving at least two CPI profiles that were too similar to make a discriminating choice and this would have had a negative impact on motivation.

Despite its numerous flaws and unfair challenges, the Carlson experiment nevertheless demonstrates that the astrologers, in their two tests, were able to match natal charts with CPI profiles significantly better than chance according to the criteria normally accepted by the social sciences. Thus the null hypothesis must be rejected.3 As such, the Carlson experiment demonstrates the power of ranking and rating methods to detect astrological effects, and indeed helps to raise the bar for effect size in astrological studies. The benchmark effect size that had been attained by the late astrological researcher Michel Gauquelin was merely .03 to .07. Although these were small effects, they were statistically very significant due to large sample sizes (N = 500-1000 or more natal data) and had to be taken seriously (Gauquelin, 1988a). In Carlson’s experiment, which applied sensitive ranking controls, the effect size of the three-choice matching test with p = .054 is ES = .15, and the effect size of the 10-point rating test with p = .037 is ES = .10 (Ertel, 2009: 134).

The evidence provided by the Carlson experiment, when considered together with the scientific discourse that followed its publication, is extraordinary. Given the unfairly skewed experimental design, it is extraordinary that the participating astrologers managed to provide significant results. Given the irregularities of method and analysis, which had somehow remained transparent for 25 years, it is extraordinary that investigators have managed to scientifically assess the evidence and bring it into the full light of day. Now that the irregularities have been pointed out, it is easy to see and appreciate what Carlson actually found.

However, because of the unfairness and flaws in the Carlson experiment, this line of research needs to be replicated and then potentially extended in further studies. If natal charts can be successfully compared with self-assessment tests, as the Carlson experiment indicates, then astrological features might be easier to evaluate than was previously believed. New questions must now be raised. What would the results be in a fair test? Why did the astrologers choose and rate the CPIs as they did? Which chart features should be compared against which CPI features? Could more focused personality tests provide sharper insights and analysis? The door between astrology and psychology has been opened by a just crack and we have caught a glimpse of hitherto unknown connections between the two disciplines.

Notes
1.    By comparison, a Google perusal of some other peer reviewed journal articles on astrology, searched as quoted strings, returns the following: “Is Astrology Relevant to Consciousness and Psi?” (Dean and Kelly, 2003) 8800 hits; “Are Investors Moonstruck?—Lunar Phases and Stock Returns” (Yuan et al, 2006) 3700 hits; “Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists” (The Humanist, 1975) 3500 hits; “A Scientific Inquiry Into the Validity of Astrology”  (McGrew and McFall, 1990) 2160 hits; “Raising the Hurdle for the Athletes’ Mars Effect” (Ertel, 1988) 1350 hits; “The Astrotest” (Nanninga, 1996) 970 hits; “Is There Really a Mars Effect?” (Gauquelin, 1988) 630 hits.
2.    Carlson presents the 10-point rating test as a finer discrimination of the 3-choice ranking test, but the sample size is not the same. A sample of 116 natal charts is used in the 3-choice test (Carlson, 1985: 421, 423) and a different sample size is used for the 10-point rating test, which adds to the discrepancies already mentioned between these two tests and further emphasizes that they cannot be considered as a single test. Carlson does not give the sample size for the 10-point test, but it can be determined by measurement of the first, second, and third choice histograms in his article (Carlson, 1985: 421, 424). Each natal chart had to be the “correct” choice in one of these three “choices.”  By adding up these “correct hits,” Ertel shows 99 charts (Ertel, 2009: 130, Table 3). A more exacting scrutiny of the histograms by Robert Currey (in a forthcoming article) determines 100 charts.
3.    Carlson had concluded: “We are now in a position to argue a surprisingly strong case against astrology as practiced by reputable astrologers” (Carlson, 1985: 425). Ertel points out the logical flaw that such a conclusion cannot be drawn even if the tests had shown an insignificant result. “Not being able to reject a null hypothesis does not justify the claim that the alternate hypothesis is wrong” (Ertel, 2009: 134).

References

Carlson, Shawn (1985). “A double-blind test of astrology,” Nature, (318): 419-425. http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf, retrieved on 2010-12-04.

Clark, Vernon (1961). “Experimental astrology,” In Search, (Winter/Spring): 102-1 12.

Ertel, Suitbert (1988). “Raising the Hurdle for the Athletes’ Mars Effect: Association Co-varies with Eminence” Journal of Scientific Exploration, (2): 4.

Ertel, Suitbert (2009). “Appraisal of Shawn Carlson’s Renowned Astrology Tests,” Journal of Scientific Exploration, (23): 2.

Eysenck, H.J. (1986). “A critique of ‘A double-blind test of astrology’” Astropsychological Problems, 1(1): 27-29.

Hamilton, Teressa (1986). “Critique of the Carlson study” Astropsychological Problems, (3): 9-12.

Marbell, Neil (1986-87). “Profile Self-selection: A Test of Astrological Effect on Human Personality,” NCGR Journal, (Winter): 29-44.

McGrew, John H. and Richard M. McFall (1990). “A Scientific Inquiry Into the Validity of Astrology,” Journal of Scientific Exploration, (4) 1: 75-83.

Vidmar, Joseph (2008). “A Comprehensive Review of the Carlson Astrology Experiments,” http://www.astronlp.com/Carlson Astrology Experiments.html, retrieved on 2010-08-01.

Astrology Off The Beaten Track describes how the scientist first became interested in studying astrology and what motivated her persistent efforts to rigorously demonstrate statistical correlations between animal behavior and the placement of planets in the animals’ astrological birth charts.  In two of her more exotic  experiments, Fuzeau-Braesch examined the characteristics of purebred dogs and cloned cows and, to the dismay of skeptics, demonstrated that astrological influences could be confirmed by hard science.  (Animals are reliable test subjects because they act naturally and are not influenced by culture or preconceived ideas, she explained.)

In the Foreword to her book, the author maintains that her scientific intent was to separate valid tools from the invalid tools used in astrology, and to distinguish fiction from fact.  Also, she felt challenged to identify those aspects (of astrology) that are genuinely useful to humanity, and why.

She described some of the obstacles thrust into her path:   “There are  many out there, among both the skeptics and true believers, who are not interested in clarifying a subject which they have every reason, financial or psychological, to keep shrouded in mystery…  I trust that the light I shall try to cast on this ancient subject will show it in such a way as to attract a new kind of attention, one that is more coherent and more logical, the kind of attention I believe it truly deserves.”

The body of Gauquelin’s work extends over a period of 23 years (1949 –1973) and involved research into questions of professional studies, heredity studies and character trait studies. By far the studies receiving the most notoriety involved correlations between the [position of a planet in the natal chart and a person’s chosen profession. Because of its extremely significant positive results, the most famous of these studies is commonly known as “the Mars effect.”

Gauquelin’s preliminary profession findings involved two studies: the one comprised of a group of 576 birth charts revealed a correlation of Mars and Saturn with physicians at a chance level in the millions to one. The second study involving 508 births revealed the same results for other professions correlating them with their traditionally related planets: Mars with athletes, Saturn with scientists, the Moon with writers, and Jupiter with actors and politicians. Those findings only applied to eminent professionals and were not present in the charts of average professionals. The significance level for some of these correlations was also in the millions to one chance level. The research was published in 1955 in L‘influence des Astres, where Michel argued that what he was demonstrating was not evidence of astrology, but some other celestial influence. This work was ignored by his academic colleagues until Michel set about seeking professional peer review.

The Skeptics Respond

After much cajoling by Gauquelin for a peer review, the 1st critique came from Marcel Boll, a well-known French science writer and member of the Belgian Committee for the Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena (The Belgian Para Committee hereafter). His main objection was that the study used only birth data from France, which he claimed resulted in a national fluke. Had Gauquelin selected birth records from other countries, went Boll’s logic, the results would be no better than chance! Any statistician would know that this objection was statistically ridiculous.

Professor Dauvillier, a Professor of Cosmic Physics at the College of France, replied that the correlation was a result of insufficient sample size.

Gauquelin Answers

Michel answered both challenges (even though the first was an illogical criticism) by collecting a database of 25,000 birth records in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. (England did not record birth times back then). The results of the replication study with European data were identical and just as significant, showing the same planets in key sectors of the chart correlating with eminence in specific professions. There were some national variations but the result repeated significantly in the same direction as the original studies. A control group of non-specialized professions did not show any affect. The European studies were published in 1960 in Les Hommes et les Artre at the Gauquelin’s own cost.

The Heredity Studies

During the 1960s, the Gauquelins conducted another massive study that examined astrological relationships between parents and their children. The 30,000 size sample of ordinary French citizens and their children revealed that when parents had certain planets in Sectors 1 and 4 of the charts, their children were also likely to have the same planets in the same sectors. The correlations between particular planets – such as the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – were stronger in that order. The significance level was 1 million to 1. Induced or Caesarean births did not show this pattern.

Incredibly, a new book describing the original and unusual research pursuits of award-winning French scientist Suzel Fuzeau-Braesch presents rigorous proof that humans and animals — specifically pedigreed pups and cloned cows — are behaviorally impacted by where the major planets turn up in their astrological birth charts.

Fuzeau-Braesch is an influential member of the prestigious Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in Paris and an Honorary Director of Research for the National Center for Scientific Research (CERN) in France. She earned a Docteur d’Etat es Sciences (D.Sc) from the University of Paris and, over a long and distinguished career, published best-selling books in France, authored 150 academic publications and earned various academic honors, including the prize known as the Gaveau de Kerville.

For 25 years she headed a research laboratory at University Paris XI – Orsay, where she researched animals’ lifestyles, pigmentations and brain behavior biochemistry. And, to the chagrin of various skeptic groups, their susceptibility to astrological influences as well.

Initially a skeptic herself, on a lark Fuzeau-Braesch decided to test the accuracy and reliability of an astrological report writing system she chanced upon in an Oxford Street shop in London in 1970. Computerized report-writing systems produce detailed personality profiles based on birth data alone.

The scientist recalls being surprised by how “accurately and uncannily” the astrological profiles described some close family members. The experience triggered a decades-long effort to determine “if astrological tools and concepts could be confirmed by hard science.”

After years of independent inquiry sandwiched between her regular teaching and research responsibilities, Fuzeau-Braesch founded Researches Astrologiques Methodes Scientifiques (RAMS) with colleagues in 1992 to collaborate on findings and publish an astrological research journal. Earlier this year her book for general audiences, Astrology Off The Beaten Track: A Scientific Study of Planets and Personality, was published posthumously in the United States by Anomalist Books.

In her ground-breaking account, the author examines motives and methods and describes studies successfully completed or in progress by members of the RAMS group, including two of the most novel experiments ever organized to test the astrological premise.

Fuzeau-Braesch makes the point that astrology was “constructed” over the course of more than two millennia with the imprint of a variety of cultures and mythological beliefs. So an objective, open-minded approach is essential when applying scientific methods to the ancient craft.

Checking out how the discipline might apply to the behavior of animals is scientifically valid “because animals will act naturally and not be influenced by culture or preconceived ideas,” she wrote.

Paris Dog Breeders Lend a Hand

This assumption was at the heart of a five-year study that sought to determine whether the behavior of 500 purebred puppies closely observed through their first eight weeks of life was astrologically indicated by the way planets were aligned in the sky at the exact moment of birth. The study, which was published in the Journal for Scientific Exploration, involved 12 Paris area dog breeders and 15 different breeds — everything from tiny Chihuahuas to much larger Labs and German Shepherds.

Over the course of the study, 100 litters with between two and eight pups each were investigated. For economic reasons (customers typically want as much information as they can get) breeders routinely keep more detailed records for puppies than are kept for most children, including exact birth times for each pup, detailed physical descriptions and anecdotal stories describing the way each pup behaves and interacts with litter mates.

Breeders generally agree that behavioral traits are well established by the time the puppies can legally be sold after eight weeks. For the Paris study, breeders provided information in ordinary, non-technical language and the researchers organized it using the Eysenck method of expressing behavior as either extroversion or neuroticism.

Personality types were categorized as Active, Dominant, Reserved, Affectionate, Nervous, and Staid (stable) with numerous descriptive sub-traits listed for each category. For example, under the Active category, the researchers included such traits as bold, rascally, daring, curious, and impudent. Dominant pups were aggressive, belligerent, strong willed, determined and boss of the litter, while pups in the reserved category were timorous, discrete, distant, solitary, shy and so on.

Because litter mates are usually born with the same Sun sign, projecting behavioral patterns based on simple Sun sign astrology wasn’t an option. Instead, Fuzeau-Braesch designed the study to test the traditional astrological notion that planets found near the “angles” of the birth chart (within 10 degrees) more powerfully influence character and personality.

In astrology, the “angles” of a birth chart are on the eastern horizon where the Sun rises and on the western horizon where it sets. The other major angles are formed overhead at the highest point in the sky map (the Midheaven) and at the lowest (the Nadir).

From any vantage point on Earth the sky map is continually changing due to the earth’s daily rotation on its axis. The Sun, Moon and planets independently arrive at each of the sensitive angles at some point during the day or night within a 24-hour period.

Fuzeau-Braesch thought testing the strength of planets at the angles using pedigreed pups was a credible approach because the staggered whelping of a puppy litter can extend over a period of several hours with as little as 15 minutes — and as much as two hours — between individual births. The sky map above and below the horizon is continually changing as the birthing process unfolds, setting up a different astrological dynamic for each individual pup.

In what she described as an “amazing” finding, the researcher discovered that dominant dogs — the leaders of every group — had the Sun and Jupiter in angular positions with a frequency that far exceeded the threshold of significance established for the test.

In human astrology, people born with these placements are generally described as charismatic, dominant, strong, sociable and influential. In the canine world, the pups with these placements were often first to eat and the entire group accepted this. Also, they would push the others away to get the attention of humans or just to move around. “This parallel is remarkable and cannot be due to chance,” she suggested.

Fuzeau-Braesch said the study also produced other positive though less impressive statistically significant results; for example, a reserved character with Saturn prominently positioned at one of the angles. But a larger sample would be needed to confirm these results statistically with greater confidence, she admitted.

The scientist also described a much smaller study involving 30 cloned cows that produced similar results. Despite having identical heredity, the cloned cows were born at different times and developed individual patterns of behavior that “correspond perfectly with classical astrological laws.”

So far, no other scientific explanation (other than astrology) has been proposed to explain this observed difference in behavior, she noted.

The attraction between them was so strong that two of Elizabeth Taylor’s eight marriages were to Richard Burton. And the actors each believed the other to be the love of their lives.

Research astrologer and couples expert Alexandra Mark says a study she conducted years ago with the late Harvard University statistician John P. Gilbert, PhD, linked Burton and Taylor to a celestial pattern that turns up more frequently than expected by chance in married couples with staying power. Couples with this particular planetary combination are in marriages that end in divorce less frequently than couples that don’t have it in their compared birth charts (horoscopes).

“Professor Gilbert was more than skeptical of astrology; he was downright hostile. But he agreed to design the test and handle the statistical analysis because he apparently believed that astrology would fail and be discredited.”

“It was difficult for him to hide his disappointment when the testing twice produced statistically significant positive results for astrology. Replicating the original finding in a more tightly controlled “double-blind” follow-up test was important because it added strength to the argument that the result is not an aberration,” she noted.

Mark is a graduate of Boston University and has a PhD in comparative literature from Boston College. She has been a consulting astrologer since the 1970s and is the author of two books on the subject, Astrology for the Aquarian Age and Marriage: Made in Heaven.

Her article, “Sun-Moon and Venus-Mars Ties as a Prognosticator in Divorce: A Statistical Study,” published in The Mountain Astrologer magazine earlier this year.
Mark says the study of what brings couples together or causes them to fly or drift apart has been the major focus of her astrological practice. Modern statistical techniques make it possible to test some vary old theories, she suggests.

To predict compatibility and attraction, astrologers compare the natal birth charts of couples using a technique known as synastry, which establishes and evaluates the way the Sun, Moon and planets in the respective birth charts align with each other. Although a plausible physical explanation for why the technique works has yet to surface, rigorously analyzed statistical data supports its viability, she maintains.

Evaluating The Aspects

Traditionally, in synastry comparisons, some angular relationships or “aspects” are presumed to be more powerful than others. This especially applies to the conjunction, which in a synastry comparison occurs when the Sun, Moon or a planet from one chart is in roughly the same degree of a zodiacal sign as the Sun, Moon or a planet in the chart it is being compared with. The opposition aspect, which spaces the compared planets roughly 180 celestial degrees apart in opposite zodiacal signs, is considered to be a powerful aspect as well.

When describing synastry, most astrological textbooks stress the importance of strong Sun-Moon ties between couples. In her practice, Mark says she has found that strong Sun-Moon aspects correlate with friendship on a deeply emotional level — the couples who think of themselves as being “best friends.” It doesn’t matter if it is his Sun and her Moon or the other way around. It works either way.

The other part of the marriage equation is the physical attraction or sexual “chemistry” everyone hopes to find. The possibility for personal “fireworks” of this sort is indicated by the way Mars and Venus are aligned in the synastry chart, she explained.

Mark points out that Taylor and Burton can be counted among a relatively small group of couples who not only have a strong Sun-Moon connection in their synastry charts but a dynamic Mars -Venus alignment as well. In the couples population, this double whammy occurs randomly about 10 percent of the time, or roughly once in every 10 marriages.

For Burton and Liz, the combination was more powerful than for most because both his and her Sun and Moon were involved in close aspects with each other, and his Mars and her Venus were aligned by opposition. They were friends on a deeply emotional level but there also was a strong physical attraction that kept things stirred up.

Although the famous couple was twice married and divorced, their will to be together was exceptional. And they defied every convention to follow their hearts, she observes.

In the modern era, marriages don’t last as long as they used to. However, Mark theorized that couples with both Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties in their synastry charts would spend less time in divorce court than couples whose synastry charts weren’t aligned in this way.

Gilbert agreed that this was a testable hypothesis. Over a period three years, two tests involving hundreds of couples were completed.

For the “double-blind” second test, Gilbert obtained birth data for 446 divorced couples from public records and had this information shipped directly to him at Harvard, where it was organized by assistants. For comparison purposes, the statistician created an equal number of computer-generated imaginary couples, who were electronically “born” in the same years as the real divorced couples.

Mark prepared synastry charts for both the real and imaginary couples without knowing which was which. When the comparison charts were completed, the information was sent to Gilbert for analysis.

Simply, if her theory about Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties was wrong, the number of real divorced couples with this combination would be statistically indistinguishable from the random, computer-generated imaginary pairs. But that’s not what the statistician found when analyzing the data.

Although relatively small for both groups, the combination turned up less frequently among couples whose marriages ended in divorce. The percentage of couples with the Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus ties was almost twice as high for the control group, which represents the population as a whole.

“The odds were two in 100 that this outcome occurred by chance, which placed the result well within parameters defined by statisticians as being statistically significance,” Mark said.

What’s more, in his critique, author Suitbert Ertel of the GEM Institute of Psychology in Gottingen, Germany, argues that the study organized by researcher Shawn Carlson and known as “A Double Blind Study of Astrology” followed a faulty, piecemeal analytical approach to the wrong conclusions.

A statistical expert, Ertel is Professor Emeritus at Gottingen University and the author of numerous research articles. The Tenacious Mars Effect, a book he co-authored with American Kenneth Irving, defended the statistical credibility of astrological effects reported by French statistician Michel Gauquelin.

The Carlson study is widely viewed by skeptic groups as the test that successfully demonstrated the inability of professional astrologers to correctly match individual birth charts with personality profiles generated by a standard psychological personality test. The three-part study also has been cited as evidence that individuals don’t appear to know themselves all that well, and can’t distinguish between their own and other birth charts (horoscopes) interpreted by professional astrologers.

The controversial study published in the prestigious science journal Nature in 1985 and is referred to today by more than 400 internet pages listed on the Google search engine, which is more than any other research paper of its kind.

Carlson claimed that failed tests involving student volunteers and professional astrologers from the San Francisco Bay Area “produced a strong case against natal astrology as practiced by reputable astrologers.” Professor Ertel reanalyzed data from the study and found this claim to be “untenable.”

Astrologers participating in the high profile study performed much better than may be generally believed, he observed.

Test Vehicles Described

In one of the three tests conducted by Carlson, professional astrologers were asked to match the birth charts of student volunteers with personality profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) questionnaire. Birth charts were cast for 116 volunteer students, and each volunteer was asked to complete the lengthy CPI questionnaire.

The birth charts of the volunteers were then divided among 28 participating astrologers. For comparison purposes, astrologers were given three CPI personality profiles with every birth chart. One of the profiles was a match for the chart and the other two were two randomly selected profiles matching other volunteers in the pool.

Simply, the idea was to determine if the astrologers would be able to collectively match the charts with the correct CPI profiles in a statistically meaningful way. As part of the assignment, the astrologers were asked to identify which profile was the best, second- and third-best “fit” with the natal chart, and to rank how strongly they felt about their choices on a scale from one to 10.

A similar test was done to see if student test subjects could identify their own CPI personality profiles from a group that included their own and two others. A third test was devised to see if the student volunteers would perform equally well, or badly, when the personality profiles were prepared by professional astrologers.

Effectively, the design for all three tests was the same. But student volunteers were not asked to subjectively rank or indicate how strongly they felt about their choices.

It was Carlson’s conclusion that the astrologers failed to match horoscopes with the correct profiles. He also reported that the student volunteers were unable to identify their own CPI profiles, and fared no better when the written profiles were prepared by professional astrologers.

A failed or chance result would mean that subjects only picked the correct profiles about 33 percent of the time (once in every three tries), which is roughly the result Carlson reported for all three tests.

When the study was completed in 1983 Carlson was a PhD candidate in physics at the University of California with no special training or expertise in psychological testing, Concerns about the methods used and conclusions reached quickly surfaced. 2 For example, Carlson was criticized for asking the astrologers to do something the CPI specifically warned against: interpreting scores without any prior experience using the test vehicle in the way it was intended to be used by trained professional psychologists.

Because the CPI results in a different profile for men and women, no psychologist would attempt to interpret the CPI without knowing the gender of the test subjects. However, the astrologers later claimed that Carlson deliberately withheld this information from them. Another concern focused on publication of the research paper in Nature’s Commentary section, the only articles section of the journal that is at the editor’s discretion. Content published here is not subjected to the peer review process.

Fairness Issues Raised

Ertel’s critical assessment of the study raised fairness issues, questioned the sample size, found flaws with the methodology used, and noted the possibility that careless data handling may have tainted the results. Even more damning, he said the researcher’s “piecemeal approach to statistical analysis” contributed to calculation errors.

The tests involving student volunteers were especially suspect. Ertel noted that half of the data ratings were so poor they could not be analyzed, and the half that could be analyzed was not carefully completed. More than one in three students failed to complete their assignments.

The astrologers were more motivated, but Ertel argues that a two-choice format (pair comparison) would have been the more fair way to conduct the tests “because this approach minimizes the complexity of the subject’s task while increasing the precision of results.”

At the time, astrologers protested that the profiles they were asked to compare were very similar. More fairly, in a test like this, astrologers should be asked to compare the profiles of individuals known to have dissimilar personality traits, Ertel believes.

He points out that Carlson initially intended to see if the astrologers could select the correct profile as either their first or second choice at a statistically higher than expected rate but “ignored his own protocol without giving reasons.” Based on his reanalysis of the data, Ertel confirmed that the astrologers were able to select the correct profile as either their first or second choice at a rate significantly better than expected by chance.

With statistical significance, the astrologers also were able to identify which personality profile was the poorest “fit,” a finding that also contradicts Carlson’s original claim. And a statistical reanalysis of the one to 10 numerical ranking system the astrologers were asked to use to subjectively indicate how strongly they felt about their individual choices weighed in their favor as well.

In view of at least two significant test results, Carlson’s claim that we are now in a position to argue a surprisingly strong case against astrology as practiced by reputable astrologers isn’t justified, Ertel insists.