Mars Effect a social effect? - Letter to the Editor

Geoffrey Dean (May/June 2002) makes an excellent argument that the Mars Effect is really a social effect, the result of parental fudging of true birth hours and dates to those more socially favorable in that era. He makes the point that even if the parents didn't believe in planetary effects themselves, they might have been motivated to give their child an advantage in a society where such beliefs were common.

However, if societal beliefs were so strong that parents would resort to this kind of fakery, then fisking would most probably not even be needed to account for a Mars Effect: Children who by chance had auspicious births might be favored by society and given extra encouragement or assistance toward a professional career. They would thus be more likely to appear in a subset of prominent professionals. This "Pygmalion effect" might be small, but, as Dean points out, only a small effect is needed to explain the data.

Thus, Dean's compelling evidence for faking may be symptomatic of a greater social force at work. In general, the stronger the societal belief in planetary influence, the more incentive for parents to fake birth data ... but also the bigger the Pygmalion effect on the larger mass of unfaked data. The detection of even small amounts of parental faking may therefore have enhanced explanatory power for the Mars Effect.

Robert I. Masta

Ann Arbor, Michigan

I think Geoffrey Dean has come up with a plausible explanation for the "Mars Effect": the changing of recorded birthdays for superstitious reasons.

My brother, sister, and I were adopted as infants through the same Catholic adoption home in Massachusetts. Our adoptive parents were told that I was born on August 8, 1959, my brother was born on November 27, 1960, and my sister was born on February 15, 1964.

In the last five years we have each found our biological mothers. They confirmed the birthdates for my brother and me, but my sister's biological mother said she was actually born on February 13. Was her birthdate changed by the Catholic agency because it was an "unlucky" day? We'll probably never know, but after reading Geoffrey Dean's article I have my suspicions.

August Berkshire

august@mtn.org

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