Personality is such a big part of our lives that it’s probably not that unusual that the psychological community redefines it every couple of years. Although sometimes the “new” personality definitions (complete with tests, quizzes, and classes ready to be put on at seminars and company retreats across the globe) seem to get a little overwhelming.
But I like trying to figure out my label as much as the next person and after reading this very interesting article on introversion, wwww.psychologytoday.com/print/46944, and how it affects individuals in a society heavily catering towards extroversion (like America’s) I decided to see if I could find a test to tell me just how introverted I was.
The best one I found was here http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ although the result was an interesting answer:
I’m a O93-C89-E53-A74-N4 Big Five!!
Apparently I’m neither introverted nor extroverted, but fall squarely in the middle of most people in my age group who have taken the test. Luckily, according to the test, I’m not that neurotic although I don’t think of others quite as much as I should…
Interesting linked article! The last part especially was a good read. The test tells me that I'm quite introverted (no surprise). I'd never thought of America as an extravert-land, but the article makes good points about it.
"Don't interrupt if an introvert does get to talking. Listen closely. 'Being overlooked is a really big issue for introverts,' Laney says. Introverts are unlikely to repeat themselves; they will not risk making the same mistake twice." sounds right to me. I've had to learn to just bull ahead when I have something to say, and just shut down my ears and thoughts. Otherwise I'll get completely distracted, forget what I was saying, and switch back to listening. And hey, it seems to work well, surprise surprise! Maybe there is something to this 'conversation' thing, after all!
Off-topic a bit, the test also said that I tend to be disorganized, which another test recently told me as well! It's good to have my messiness reinforced by personality tests — it's not my fault, it's my personality! Right?! Well, maybe, but I should probably clean up my desk.