A Test of Numerology How well do numerological descriptions for preferred names compare with self-perception of personality?
Joseph G. Dlhopolsky
Numerology is the study of the occult significance of numbers, according to Webster. Numerologists claim that a person's name, when converted to numbers, reveals a wealth of information about that individual's personality, past, and destiny. From the standpoint of intent, the practice of numerology does not differ from techniques like fortune telling, astrology, tea-leaf reading, palmistry, and tarot cards; all attempt to tell us something about our futures through arcane means. However, these tecnhiques share another characteristic as well: they all search for personality attributes and destiny by relating them to patterns in nature or chance that can more or less arbitrarily be assigned to an individual. These patterns might be the position of the planets at birth, the configuration of crease lines on the palms of the hands, a random sequence of cards dealt in a reading, or, as in the case of numerology, the letters that make up one's given name, the name one chooses to use, and one's birthdate. As part of a seminar that explored the evidence for and against paranormal phenomena, my students and 1 carried out a small-scale investigation of numerology. This study was conducted in conjunction with a demonstration of numerological techniques by a former student. The student, Michelle Mudry, claims a longtime interest in several occult areas, including numerology. Her presentation is the source of much of the numerological information described here. There are two major numerological systems in general use. They are the "modern" system and an ancient "Hebrew" system. The technique for arriving at significant numbers is the same for both, but the actual numbers
Joseph Dlhopolsky is an assistant professor of experimental psychology at St. John's University, Stolen Island. New York.
Spring 1983 53 assigned to letters of the alphabet is different in each. In any event, to perform a numerological workup, the subject is asked to write his or her full name as given at birth and the name by which he or she is now known or prefers to be called. The name that one chooses to use is believed to express a person's current personality characteristics, while the name given at birth more fully describes one's destiny. In both systems, the letters of the name are assigned digits according to the system in use (Table 1). For
TABLE 1: The two major systems used for assigning c igits to letters of a subject's name. Note that the Hebrew syste m, while usi ng the digits 1 to 8, can still arrive at a name number of 9 (the partial sum of 18, for example. gives a result of 9).
Modern System
Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H 1 J K L M N 0 P Q R S T U V W X Y Z —
^brew System
Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A B C D E U O F 1 K G M H V Z P Q R L T N W — — J S X Y each name, given and preferred, the digits are added together, the result being a two-digit number for each. The digits comprising this number are then added together so that one single digit remains for each name. For example, the name Joe Smith would, according to the modern system, consist of these digits: 165 14928. These would reduce to 36 and then to 9. The digit 9 is believed to hold a significance for Joe Smith different from that for individuals having one of the other eight digits, but similar to that for other 9s. Moreover, if Smith chose to change his name slightly or completely (as would a woman getting married and adopting her husband's surname), his personality would show a change if his name number changed with the new name. However, his given name, Joseph
54 THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Smith III, would not change, nor would the number derived from it. Obviously, the total number of personality patterns that are possible in both systems is not enough to differentiate between the varieties of personality, there being only 81 combinations of given- and preferred- name numbers. So added complexity is achieved by calculating additional significant numbers. The number of consonants and the number of vowels in the name yield their own numbers. The birthdate comes into play as well, being directly reduced to a single digit in the same way. The resulting digits, which range from 1 to 9, are used singly and in various combinations to convey what is believed to be accurate information regarding the subject's inner personal outer persona, and destiny. For purposes of the class demonstration, the modern system was used and Mudry identified only the numbers for the subjects' preferred names. Names were supplied by each of the ten students in the class and by me, the instructor. While a complete numerological workup for each student was not possible or feasible under the circumstances, some positive indication should have surfaced if numerology actually works. Mudry used popular numerology references to prepare nine cards bearing personality descriptions for each of the possible name numbers. The plan was to have each subject evaluate the descriptions for each number before his or her actual name number was revealed. Presumably, since the subjects presented their names as they preferred to use them, the resulting name-number descriptions should have demonstrated some agreement with the students' self-perceptions. In an attempt to evaluate the extent of this agreement, each student rated each of the nine descriptions
TABLE 2: Raw data for each of the possible name- numbers The figures with asterisks (*) u ndereach si bject are the ratings given by the subject for his or her actual-name number.
Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mean
Number 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 2* 4 5* 2 2 3.1 2 3* 3* 2 3 2 1.5 4.5 2 2 1.5 5 2.7 3 2 1 3 2 3 2 2 2* 5 2 2 2.4 4 3 5 5 5 5* 5 5 5 5 5 5 4.8 5 4 4 5 3 2 2 3 4 2 5 2 3.3 6 4 2 2 2* 2 4 5 3 4 4 4* 3.3 7 4 1 5* 3 5 4 2 4 3 3 5 3.5 8 5 2 4 3 5 2* 5 5 3 3* 1 3.4 9 5 2 4 2 3 1 3 3 1 2 1 2.4 Mean 3.6 2.4 3.7 2.9 3.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 3.3 3.0 3.0 3.2
Spring 1983 55 on a scale of 1 to 5, with the responses indicating the following: 1 = description very close to self-perception; 2 = moderately close; 3 = neutral; 4 = moderately wrong; 5 = very wrong. The data appear in Table 2. The overall rating for all nine name-numbers was 3.2, which corresponds closely to a neutral rating. This might be expected to occur if eight out of the nine numbers did indeed fail to describe one's perceived personality and destiny. However, this value remained at 3.2 when the ratings for the name numbers were considered apart from the other numbers. The reason for this was that the mean rating for the name numbers was only 3.3. A two-tailed T-tests for correlated scores was performed on the subject's name-number ratings and mean non-name- number ratings. Not surprisingly (considering the small differences), the results were not significant (t (10) = .142, p - .88). Overall, the results do not leave one with the impression that numerological descriptions for preferred names compare well with the self- perceptions we hold for our personalities. This contrasts with the reported amazement of "believers" when, by their interpretation, something startling and obviously true is revealed through the medium of astrology, fortune telling, or the like. While the numerological hypothesis was not supported in this study, one should be cautioned that the experiment only looked at one facet of numerology, that of preferred-name numbers. Clearly, there is a need in this area for more empirical data from a greater number of subjects to compare with the wealth of anecdotal evidence. •
Pseudoscience and Lost Opportunity
The danger of pseudoscience is not to science, but to society, to democracy and to the personality. . . . It is primarily an opportunity cost, in the language of economics. Here we have all these people interested in the exciting and wonderful and amazing properties of the world who could he learning something real. Instead they are hearing from Uri Geller. They've turned themselves over to dependence on charlatans. They could he learning something different.
— Philip Morrison, quoted in "Will the Real Science Please Stand Up." by Kendrick Frazier. in SciQuest (American Chemical Society), September 1981.
56 THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER