People tend to accept positive and general statements about themselves more readily than negative or specific ones.

One of the key reasons the Barnum Effect works is that the statements used are often mostly positive or neutral. They usually suggest traits that people generally want to believe about themselves, like being 'independent thinkers' or 'caring individuals.' We have a natural bias towards seeing ourselves in a good light. Also, the statements are kept vague, like 'You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.' This means almost everyone can find some truth in it, because who *doesn't* want to be liked at least some of the time?