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Do people treat horoscopes as mere entertainment, or does reading horoscopes have more substantial consequences? Building upon research on the expectancy effect as well as on literature highlighting the influence of astrology on individuals, we hypothesized that reading positive versus negative horoscopes would affect people’s perceptions, emotions, cognitions, and creativity. Across three experiments, reading positive versus negative astrological forecasts increased positive interpretation of ambiguous events (Experiment 1, N = 195), cognitive performance (Experiment 2, N = 189), and creativity (Experiment 3, N = 193). Furthermore, positive (versus negative) horoscopes decreased negative emotions among people who believe in astrology and the effects of horoscopes on cognitive performances and creativity were stronger among people with a low internal locus of control. Opening newspapers and searching for daily horoscopes have more consequences than one may initially think.

Do people treat horoscopes as mere entertainment, or does reading horoscopes have more substantial consequences? Based on previous research showing the effects of expectations as well as on literature highlighting the influence of astrology on individuals, we hypothesized that reading positive versus negative horoscopes may affect people’s perceptions, emotions, cognitions, and creativity. Across three experiments, reading positive versus negative astrological forecasts increased positive interpretation of ambiguous events (Experiment 1, N = 195), cognitive performance (Experiment 2, N = 189), and creativity (Experiment 3, N = 193). Furthermore, positive (versus negative) horoscopes decreased negative emotions among people who believe in astrology and the effects of horoscopes on cognitive performances and creativity were stronger among people with a low internal locus of control. Opening newspapers and searching for daily horoscopes have more consequences than one may initially think, given the current demonstration that horoscopes influence people’s perceptions and cognitive performances.

Research in the area of contact and prejudice has been flourishing since decades. Nevertheless, the role of emotions shared during contact has been overlooked. Is a positive contact sufficient to reduce prejudice? What if everything was about the emotions people share during contact? In this study (N = 140), a mere positive contact was compared to conditions in which participants share the emotions (i.e. awe and joy) they felt during a video with a Muslim confederate (chatting). Compared to the control condition (no contact), participants in the sharing emotion conditions (but not in the contact condition) gave more lottery tickets to the Muslim confederate. Moreover, people who share emotions with the Muslim were more likely to report similarity and positive affects toward Muslims compared to the control and contact conditions. A positive contact is not sufficient to reduce prejudice: The role of shared emotions seems crucial and need further investigations.