OCEAN Quizzing

Today I took a quiz that is apparently measuring what psychologists call the 5 fundamental dimensions of personality. It was defined by 2 different sets of psychologists (Costa and MacRae)(Norman and Goldberg). According to the website both groups of psychologists both arrived at a definition of these 5 states on the back of research.

Wikipedia (on this occassion) more reliably informs me that it did in fact derive from a much earlier piece of work (or at least mentioned in) by Thurston back in 1933. The big 5 aim to describe elements of the personality as opposed to giving a combined view of the personality. This limited view of the personality means it has been criticised: McAdams described it as the

“Psychology of the stranger”

Based on the idea that the traits are so obvious even an observer would be able to correctly identify an individuals key traits.

So back to the important bit – Me…

I scored 65%: “relatively open to new experiences”.

Openness to Experience/Intellect
	High scorers tend to be original, creative, curious, complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to earth, narrow interests, uncreative.

 

I scored 41%: “Neither oragnized nor disorganized”.

Conscientiousness
	High scorers tend to be reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful; Low scorers tend to be disorganized, undependable, negligent.

 

Extraversion:
	High scorers tend to be sociable, friendly, fun loving, talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited, quiet.

I scored 74%: I’m relatively sociable and enjoy the company of others.

Agreeableness
	High scorers tend to be good natured, sympathetic, forgiving, courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical, rude, harsh, callous.

I scored 44%: You are neither extremely forgiving nor irritible

Neuroticism
	High scorers tend to be nervous, high-strung, insecure, worrying; Low scorers tend to be calm, relaxed, secure, hardy.

I scored 27%: You are generally relaxed

To date this is one of the most useless descriptors of my personality I have found to date (ranking somewhere between Spiderman and the Plum). It doesn’t offer me any insight that I didn’t already know or cause me to appraise what my answers mean. They are by and large obvious.

The issue with the big 5 as a descriptor (in comparison to Myers Briggs that links the personality traits together) Is it doesn’t attempt to cross reference answers or use any kind of theory to understand what those answers mean outside of their individual context. Yes, its interesting that I’m reliable but what does it mean to a typology if I am reliable and sociable, does that start to underpin a different type of personality?

Check out here to read a bit more

Give the developers a laugh…

Yet another day, yet another test!

Today it was the turn of a career test who pointed out that I’m a technician…

You are a Technician, possible professions include – surveyor , fire fighter , private investigator, pilot, police officer, purchasing agent, chiropractor, medical technician, securities analyst, computer repair person, race car driver, computer programmer, electrical engineer, legal secretary, coach/trainer, commercial artist, carpenter, paralegal, dental assistant, radiological technician, marine biologist, software developer.

I can’t see the development team at work wanting to take me on, on the back of computer programmer – nor do any of the above really make me feel excited (although race car driver sounds cool!) However, yet again, I’m coming out as quite an analytical and methodical person which has always been something I’ve thought I’m okay at (I grasp logic and lets get back to my excitement about excel formulae) so I find it quite interesting that yet again I’m being dished up a response that has seen me answer a set of questions (which I did honestly) and found me to be a Technician.

Thinking about this in the area I would like to get more involved with (analytics, planning and insight) this is helping my confidence in that I do have the aptitude to do a more planning focused role so, again, whilst I wont be running out to get a jobs paper for a marine biologist or an electrical engineer I am begining to feel that my direction I will be starting to outline in my assignment plan is playing to and developing on my strengths.

never a bridesmaid (never a bride)

Still appraising but this time I thought I’d experiment with a different appraisal technique.

A while back I downloaded one of the “compare people” app’s on facebook and, although I haven’t been a user of it I was amazed by how many of my friends are listed on there and itching to be compared. For those of you not familiar with the app you download and soon get displayed with a question “who is the best listener” and 2 photos of people from your network: You vote for the “winner” and gradually your answers start totting up. The more you do the app, the more your photos get displayed (so you get more rankings to base your appraisal on). As I haven’t been using the app up until a surge across the last week I haven’t had a huge amount of rankings but a few have started coming in.

Disappointingly on “who would you rather marry” I have apparently lost 4-0. In addition (whilst we’re denting my confidence)…. 4-1 (better friend), 4-1 (more well-mannered), 2-0 (nicer) and 7-2 (cuter)…

On the plus side I’m winning 5-0  (more entertaining), 4-0 (better smile), 3-0 (more reliable) and 3-1 (most likely to suceed).

I have no idea who has appraised me nor who I’ve been pitted against all I know is I obviously need to work harder to project my “wife-like abilities” – on second thoughts…..

Number 5: I am Spiderman

Moving away from my personality and onto figuring out “who I could be” – I went straight for the superhero test – nice and easy, challenging questions around whether I like to fly, wear a cape or a push up bra and end up with Spiderman.

Of all the Superhero’s I would have preferred Wonderwoman (and I was almost her with a 65% match) or even Chitara from legendary 80s cartoon Thundercats but Spiderman isn’t all bad.

I’ll take intelligent, witty and a little bit geeky (I think thats quite accurate: I fool noone with my attempts to be cool!) I’ll especially take it over being “diagnosed” as the Hulk or Batman.

Even more disturbing than my results is the fact I am actually sat here appraising how like Spiderman I really am and getting worried about my 50% match to Iron Man and what on earth questions I answered to get there (Maybe it’s because I said I didn’t like capes…)

Maybe I’m taking one test too many!!

Personality Questionnaire: Test 4.

Ouch – 3 days without leaving a review of myself so some rapid surveying to be done on myself this evening…

I started with the BBC and their personality quiz. This quiz was 73 questions long and seemed to be quite thorough. In contrast to some of the other test it reminded me a bit more like Myers Briggs with a range of questions that were designed to try to get your first reaction. It was also interesting that as you went through the questions very similar types of wording were used: I’d imagine in a bid to dig and try to get a true reflection of your personality as opposed to a “rigged” result.

On this occasion I was back in Myers Briggs territory where I began to feel that they had started to get to the bottom of the sort of person I believe I am (which may in fact be a totally warped perception of me anyway!!)

A second thing about the BBC test that I liked was it acknowledged that the results were intended as a guide not as gospel – something none of the other tests have done (although you’d hope people would realise this!)

you behave and make decisions in your occupation. Don’t rely on it to tell you what your personality is like but use it to think about the different ways that people go about doing things. Read each description, ask yourself if it sounds like you (and it may not!)

So – my results. They get split into 4 areas: Confidence, Openess, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness.

Extraversion: Apparently I’m relatively balanced here and can be both activity and excitement or calm and quiet. I find this interesting as I think there are a number of people who would outwardly say I’m all about activity and excitement (possibly some work colleagues) whilst others would say I’m quite calm and quiet (my boyfriend). Interesting that the questions this quiz asked managed to encapsulate both responses!

Confidence: I tend to be quite cautious and careful. Definitely! I’m a big worrier, the sort of person who will read an email 10 times in case I’ve accidently said the wrong thing or it could be misconstrued…

Openess: Open to new ideas and trying new things…. When I read this I agreed but on reflection it’s interesting to think about my appraisal of myself as being quite careful versus to trying new things. Possibly a reflection that I try new things purely after considering options or am I a bit more adventerous than I first thought?

Agreeableness: I can be firm with people when I need to but it’s important to get on with the people around me. Spot on! I dont think I am a pushover and I like to think I’m only assertive (in a firm way) when need be. I’d go out of my way to avoid a confrontation but recognise sometimes its inevitable – particularly in an agency role where opinions clash constantly. It reminds me of when I first started out as an exec and took everything the client / team around me said to heart – I’d go home really upset that creative wasn’t liked, the team had rubbished a brief or a presentation hadn’t gone as well as it should have. Through time and exposure to the constant barrage of upset, rubbishing and presentations you get hardened to the comments and distance yourself from the emotion (or am I simply getting less upset and rubbishing as I get better in my role!!)

Conscientiousness: You like to have a little clarity about where things are but you wuold rather not spend time sorting out every single detail… The producer in my team would definately agree on that front. I’m definately about top line overviews, Understanding where things are at and the bigger picture than worrying about the finite detail (thats why I have a producer!)

So… Lots more tests to go and as with anything some are better than others. I’m learning more about myself as I go through them but I’m not sure I’m a personality test convert quite yet!

Halfway to Emotional Intelligence

Day 3:
I’ve just taken the emotional intelligence test and I stored 65 out of a possible 100. This hasn’t really surprised me that much. I can be a bit hot-headed and stubborn (shock horror!) but one thing that frustrated me about this test was that in a number of the scenarios there simply wasn’t an answer that was reflective of me.

Take Question 8:
8. A discussion between you and your partner has escalated into a shouting match. You are both upset and in the heat of the argument, start making personal attacks which neither of you really mean. What is the best thing to do?
A/ Agree to take a 20-minute break before continuing the discussion.
B/ Go silent, regardless of what your partner says.
C/ Say you are sorry, and ask your partner to apologize too.
D/ Stop for a moment, collect your thoughts, then restate your side of the case as precisely as possible.

Apparently the only emotionally intelligent answer is 1. When you read the other 3 options that is fairly obvious – but where is the option that allows you to state you’d tell them to forget but proceed for the rest of the day / evening / weekend to bring up the arguement at every opportunity.
Yes – maybe that enforces I’m still not emotionally intelligent but it definately proves that these multiple choice questionnaires dont necessarily give you the sort of option you would actually go for. In doing this are you, as an individual, compromising what your true personality result would be? The quiz or “tests” simply allow the quiz to influence or let aspects of your personality that aren’t dominant (but are by no means submissive) take centre stage when the “true option is unavilable”.

Does this mean they are appraising your true personality or simply giving a view as to what parts of your personality seem to infer….. Personally I’m not a believer right now.

Left Brained? I dont think so….

Day 2 of testing me and I took “the brain test” produced by a career website TestQ the quiz aims to discover which hemisphere of your brain is more dominant – helping you understand what kind of learner you are.

25 questions later I’m apparently “left brained”  – having read the synopsis it didn’t make me feel that they had got it right in the way that the Myers Briggs test I did yesterday did.  In particular when I looked at the other 2 options (in terms of results) quite a lot of the “balanced brain” traits seemed to be more like how I imagine I am!

Looking at the left brain results more objectively:

• Feel at ease in situations requiring verbal ability, attention to detail and linear or analytical ability: I’m definately strong on the verbal front and am naturally quite analytical of situations, documentation and happy to deal with logic. Attention to detail is something I’m good at numerically but can be a bit slap dash at as I tend not to be the sort of person who will proof read or spend hours trying to improve something I believe is finished…
• Strong written communication and able to get my opinions across better than others. This is something I’ve always felt I’m quite good at and am happy producing essays, reports, short stories. So I guess that matches
• Maths, particularly algebra as the logic makes sense to your analytical mind. Mmm – I do get called the spreadsheet queen and I’m never happier than when I have a budget sheet to reconcile or reporting figures to analyse.

Interesting… In taking a step by step approach I actually am quite left brained. . . However I guess when reading the other criteria I always assumed I was equally good at some of the creative elements: particularly the fact a right brainer is likely to assume “organized chaos” – something that is definately me!

Maybe its not that a person (when doing these tests) should assume they are solely ever one answer or the other, perhaps in this instance the test is right, I am more left brained but I equally have sections of the right that I am better at than others (I’d hate to think I only use half!)

Me and my left brain are now off to do some excel sheets – I’m going to do them with lots of pretty colours so the right doesn’t feel left out…..!!

Myers Briggs

I’ve kicked my investigationsoff with Myers Briggs. Any of you who have ever had to go through an interview process that subjects you to psychometric testing is likely to have encounted a similar kind of test but, to date, its not something I’ve ever encountered.

A version of the test is available here. The test itself is based on typological theories originated by Carl Jung and looks at defining users into 1 of 16 personality types. According to the official MyersBriggs foundation site :

The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

It looks at the fact there are 4 categories that, combined, make up your profile:  The Favorite world, Information, Decisions and Structure.

The theory seems to evoke some passion and there have been over 7k studies on it (if wikipedia is to be trusted!) So – lets put it to the test!

My results

I answered the 72 questions which didn’t take too long and I’m fairly confident I answered these based on me (what I actually do and what I actually feel) as opposed to the personality you sometimes are forced to project to fulfil a certain role in your life.

I AM: ENFJ: Teacher

• Ability to quickly draw conclusions
• Good at juggling multiple projects and responsibilities
• Charasmatic speakers
• Good judge of character
• Influential
• Manipulates others, but not in a manipulative way
• Tolerant and easy to get along with
• “First Shall be the last”
• Enthusiastic, doesn’t hesitate to speak outs
• Likes things organised and plans ahead (although this may or may not be reflective of their actual working space)

First Impressions….

Pretty accurate! All of the elements it summarised resonated with me and I felt it genuinely pinned my personality down relatively well. In picking out some of the key things it found (as listed above) it got me thinking about whether in reading the appraisal of my personality type I’ve been drawn to things that seem the most appropriate (and that’s whats made the shortlist) or it really is reflective of the personality as a whole – perhaps thats something I will need to go back and look at in more detail.

The good thing about this is that it made me feel positive that the things that I’ve always thought I’m good at, when taking part in business appraisals, are all mentioned in here as things that I am likely to be good at. Does that mean I really am good at recognising my strengths or does it mean I’ve answered the questions somehow to rig the response (although with no prior knowledge of what the outcomes could have been until I completed the test this seems unlikely)?

I think the juries out on this one for now and I will do some further investigations as to what some of these 7k people who have examined the study in more detail have to say….!

In the meantime I’m assured that, for day 1, I have an “idealist teacher personality” and I’m in the good company of the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Ronald Reegan, Tony Blair and, most importantly, Dick Van-Dyke.

An exploration of me

I have just started another module as part of my Masters and this topic is all about ME! Looking at your professional development through “self-reflection” and attempting to understand where I’ve come from, where I am and where I want to be.

As part of this study we’re challenged to try different methods of self appraisal and so my “All about Me” category for the blog is born. For the next month I will take at least one appraisal test per day – ranging from Sex in the city to star wars to Myers Briggs. This will allow me to publish my results, look for similarities, question the validity of the tests and, by the end of the month, see if there is any correlation, trends and information that will make sense in what makes me, me.

On the other hand I could spend the next month learning absolutely nothing but hopefully it will give me some fun along the way!

Surveying

My paper is now almost due and my investigation into how FMCG brands build relationships with consumers in a digital environment is almost complete.

As part of one of my earlier posts I started (and quickly dismissed) qualitative research as consumers appeared to be unable to successfully articulate what a brand / consumer relationship was or how they felt about attempts by brands to contact them (with permission) within their personal spaces online.

With some worries about the possible outcome I then ran an online quantitative survey that easily allowed users to give their opinion through multiple choice selections. The response has shown definite trends, clear learning’s and, in contrast to the qualitative study that consumers definitely understand a brand relationship.

This is quite an interesting point. Was my in depth interviewing technique really bad OR do consumers simply not consider relationships in the way we anticipate them to as marketers?

The survey I constructed can be found here

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=6bsq4nl3v8phn69532458

findings to follow once the paper is safely handed in!