Explore the reason why people deeply believe in occultism practice
Arts, Culture and Language February 26, 2025 DOI: 10.61173/2rzb4p90 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPeople believe in occult practices like tarot for several psychological reasons. According to Jung's collective unconscious theory, tarot cards project the subconscious mind, which can make readings seem accurate. A more scientific view attributes belief to the Barnum effect, where vague descriptions are interpreted as personally meaningful. Social influences and individual personality traits also affect how much different people believe in tarot.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Philosophy Psychology |
| Key finding | Argues that belief in tarot can be explained by Jung's collective unconscious theory or by the Barnum effect, with social influences and personality also playing roles. |
Abstract
This paper analyzes why people are willing to believe occultism practice such as tarot from a psychological perspective. From four different angles, this work not only analyzes the principle behind the possible operation of tarot cards, but also explores human psychology of tarot cards. The final conclusions can be divided into different schools. According to Jung’s collective unconscious theory, tarot cards are a tool for projecting people’s subconscious minds, so they can be accurate. From a more scientifically dialectic point of view, people would believe that tarot is due to the Barnum effect, which achieves the illusion of accuracy by substituting their own real experiences with vague descriptions. At the same time, social influences and people’s own personalities also affect the degree to which different people believe in tarot.