[sinblader]

I'm having trouble finding / remembering the psychological effect that describes this phenomenon: when people read something such as a horoscope or something generally similar to themselves, they apply it more than they should. For example: "You are a nice guy with many unseen attributes that shine once noticed.", "Wow, this is so true!".

[FooZe]

I don't remember ever coming across a term for being overeager to accept horoscope descriptions of oneself, but it immediately made me think of "medical students' disease"

At the end of the Wikipedia article is a link to apophenia and from there, there's a long, long trail a-winding that I haven't even started to follow. Good luck (and welcome to Psych Central)!

[ECHOES]

over-identification comes to mind, but I don't know if that's what you were looking for.

[Perna]

I don't think what is said, the generalization is the problem, but believing in the source of the information, and that's just ignorance/gullibility/lack of common sense, whatever else one may call that kind of behavior (You too can make $1,000 a day stuffing envelopes).

It does not hurt me in any way to believe "You are a nice guy with many unseen attributes that shine once noticed". As a matter of fact, if someone here said that in a post (but not calling me a guy since I'm a woman :-) I would believe that's how that person perceived me. However, a newspaper telling me that, that's something else :-) The newspaper has never had a single conversation with me or read any posts of mine.

Do not know if this applies:

Grandiosity is chiefly associated with narcissistic personality disorder, but also commonly features in manic or hypomanic episodes of bipolar disorder.

It refers to an unrealistic sense of superiority, a sustained view of oneself as better than others that causes the narcissist to view others with disdain or as inferior. It also refers to a sense of uniqueness, the belief that few others have in common with oneself and that one can only be understood by a few or very special people.

Grandiosity is distinct from grandiose delusions, in that the sufferer has insight into his loss of touch with reality (he is aware that his behavior is considered unusual)

Grandiosity Gap Dysphoria

The narcissist's firmly, though counterfactually, perceives himself as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, brilliant, accomplished, irresistible, immune, and invincible. Any data to the contrary is usually filtered, altered, or discarded altogether. Still, sometimes reality intrudes and creates a Grandiosity Gap. The narcissist is forced to face his mortality, limitations, ignorance, and relative inferiority. He sulks and sinks into an incapacitating but short-lived dysphoria.

[Vibe]

Although it's a slightly different concept, I know hypochondriacs will often read about symptoms of a disease, then be sure they have it - even if the symptoms weren't entirely present before or the disease has similar symptoms to the common cold. It's not exactly what you're talking about, but might be useful in seeking out the term?

[pachyderm]

When I first saw this thread I thought it said "Psychology farms"...

[little*rhino]

psychology farms?!? Bahahahaha... too funny.

there a bunch of words/phrases that suit the given example, but they aren't specifically psych terms...

if the example is just not a good example and this is bigger, then you'd need to give an example that had more info...