Birthdate psychology: a new look at some old data

This brief note deals with the development of alternative perspectives on the provocative, and as yet unexplained result of an earlier study in which groups of people born under different astrological zodiac signs were found to differ markedly in their scores on the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) scale described as a measure of "Femininity." Attention is focused on (a) discrepancies between the observed pattern of high and low scores on the CPI Femininity scale, and classification of sun signs as "masculine" or "feminine" by astrologers; (b) the trend in the data indicating that the six sun sign categories for which the highest scores were obtained on the Femininity scale correspond to birthdates running continuously from July 24 to January 20, while the six sun sign categories for which the lowest scores were obtained on that scale correspond to birthdates running continuously from January 21 to July 23; and (c) speculative consideration of the kinds of climatic, dietary, and/or cyclical geomagnetic events that might affect reproduction and prenatal and/or neonatal development in such a way as to influence adult personality.