Tropers and Personality

In my psychology class we're currently reviewing personality theories, and over the weekend it got me thinking. Does TV Tropes attract people with similar personalities?

I'm most curious about the Big Five, as it's one of the leading personality inventories and has been researched (as opposed to MTBI or the enneagram). You can find one of these tests online through Google that will give you a decent estimate (I used the My Personality app that's on Facebook, which is 100 questions and run by some universities in the UK; can't vouch for any others) ... Or, you can read into the descriptions for each factor and make an estimate on your own.

The results it gave me (which I pretty much agree with):

• Openness: 91% ("high" compared to others)
• Conscientiousness: 36% ("very low")
• Extroversion: 23% ("very low")
• Agreeableness: 50% ("low")
• Neuroticism: 71% ("very high")

(I'm sure this has been done before in the past, but I couldn't find any relevant existing topics via search.) In addition, any other observations/criticism/comments about personality systems is welcome.

edited 23rd Jan '11 9:08:24 PM by apassingthought

Very high openness, low conscientiousness, very low extroversion, high agreeableness, variable neuroticism depending on how I feel when I take the test, although it rarely goes lower than 'moderate'.

• Openness to Experience/Intellect: I seem to be relatively open to new experiences
• Conscientiousness: I tend to do things somewhat haphazardly
• Extraversion: I tend to shy away from social situations
• Agreeableness: I seem to be neither extremely forgiving nor irritable.
• Neuroticism: I am generally relaxed.

Hmmph, how intriguing..

(I took ze test on this site.)

Openness- 70

Conscientiousness- 1

Extraversion- 64

Agreeableness- 44

Neuroticism- 71

edited 23rd Jan '11 6:17:47 PM by cutewithoutthe

Any links to tests we can take that would be recommended for the curious.

Openness: 53%
Conscientiousness: 25%
Extraversion: 5%
Agreeableness: 69%
Neuroticism: 90%

Disturbing...

^ Two posts above yours.

edited 23rd Jan '11 6:48:56 PM by BobbyG

Openess: 70%

Conscientiousness: 41%

Extraversion: 4%

Agreeableness: 2%

Neuroticism: 60%

Wow. I got some crazy uneven scores.

^The scores aren't linked, nothing about what you get in one factor says anything about the other four.

Openness: Very High
Conscientiousness: Medium
Extraversion: Very Low
Agreeableness: Low
Neuroticism: Medium

What, I wonder, is the output of all these personality traits? You can't really sum someone's personality up by a bunch of scores.

edited 23rd Jan '11 8:32:55 PM by Shichibukai

Doh blocked by work. I will try to remember to take it at home.

^^ I suppose this personality test can be likened to a thermometer and a ruler; they each measure an aspect of a thing, but it is not the thing itself. Thermometers do not measure height, nor do rulers tell the personality of an object. I suspect some people have quibbles against these measuring tests due to this; that they feel like they ought not to 'let some measly test get the best of them.'

And this Big Five personality test does not tell you, say, how aggressive you are, or your history/memories, or how you take in the world. What it can tell you is some of your tendencies — openness to experience, extroversion, etc.

edited 23rd Jan '11 8:51:49 PM by QQQQQ

Openness to Experience/Intellect: 59

Conscientiousness: 8 (Too high to apply to me)

Extraversion: 22

Agreeableness: 32

Neuroticism: 71

Seems like there is a trend going on — this test tells us Tropers have a high openness quotient, low Conscientiousness, low Extroversion, little-to-medium Agreeableness, and we are seriously stressed out of our minds  ¹

Wonder what Trope-tan has to say to that?

edited 23rd Jan '11 9:00:30 PM by QQQQQ

Openness: 65

Conscientiousness: 13 (Eek, better get that together by college, then.)

Extraversion: 70 (This would have been the complete opposite a few years ago, so I'm pretty happy.)

Agreeableness: 74

Neuroticism: 18

Edit: About the extraversion, I think different questions would have given me different results. This particular test asked about "Do you like cooperating?" and "Do you like talking to people?" and I'd answer yes. But some other tests asked me things like "Do you like quiet?" and "Do you like being by yourself?" and I'd answer yes to those, too. So I don't know. I guess I'm just lucky enough to mostly enjoy whatever it is I'm doing - whether it's talking to people at a party or sitting by myself reading.

edited 23rd Jan '11 9:26:42 PM by OnTheOtherHandle

Openness — 69%
Conscientiousness — 56%
Extraversion — 25%
Agreeableness — 88%
Neuroticism — 44%

Take this with a grain of salt. Somehow it said I was "spontaneous and fun", and that's...not exactly accurate

edited 23rd Jan '11 9:29:42 PM by Pykrete

You know what could seriously screw this test up? Low self-esteem or a bloated ego. You're being asked to describe how nice you are, for example, and do you really think that everyone who "Strongly Agrees" that they're kind and forgiving really is? I could also see actually kind, forgiving people feeling like they're bragging and giving themselves a lower rating.

• Openness: 53%
• Conscientiousness: 2%
• Extraversion: 37%
• Agreeableness: 14%
• Neuroticism: 93%

...pleasant.

I've always been kind of into personality tests, but every time I run into the problem mentioned above - I feel like I'm either bragging about something or selling myself short, and I keep second-guessing my responses. So one thing I've always wanted to do is write a long, rambling essay about myself, or maybe several essays like 750words.com - hell, maybe everything I've ever written on that site - and then give it to a psychologist to analyze me. That would be interesting, and eye-opening.

I've been told that I judge myself too harshly with anything like this. I'm worse when given the chance to write out detailed explanations. I find it hard to praise myself.

• Openness to Experience/Intellect: 76%
  • (You are relatively open to new experiences.)
• Conscientiousness: 25%
  • (You tend to do things somewhat haphazardly.)
• Extraversion: 74%
  • (You are relatively social and enjoy the company of others.)
• Agreeableness: 57%
  • (You are neither extremely forgiving nor irritable.)
• Neuroticism: 9%
  • (You probably remain calm, even in tense situations.)
    • Given that my dad started strangling me once  ^*
      ^{This is a long story}
      and my reaction was a Dull Surprise, this particular trait is ridiculous in its proportions.

Sounds about right.

Though, for questions involving hard work and forgiveness, I feel like I deliberately toned my answers down out of humility... I don't know how this affects things.

edited 23rd Jan '11 10:02:08 PM by TheMightyAnonym

@Aon: But in my scenario, this would be something like your diary. You aren't sitting there writing about what you think your personality is, you'll just be writing about life, your daily frustrations, random navel-contemplating, whatever. And the psychologist gets access to it and gives you a full run-down of what you are.

I think mine's accurate - I'm fairly wary of new experiences, pretty careless, horrifically introverted, sort of nice-ish and a perpetual worrier. It's rather sobering when an online test affirms this.

My diaries are...horrid. They go from bitching about something trivial to talking about some idea that is maybe vaguely related to philosophy to lesbianism. And back. They also come with doodles. I have thought of giving them to a psychologist or counselor and in fact meant to, but never went through with it.

I just catalog cool stuff. I take optimism and benefit of the doubt to unbelievable levels.

Some people say that every cloud has a silver lining; but I believe that the sky is always beautiful, and has no clouds. If it does have clouds, they are kitty shaped. The only clouds in the sky are the ones that people pretend are there.

I often wonder if this alienates me from others. I'm never depressed, and fail to comprehend the emotions of those who are suffering and suspicious.

I have to watch what I say in order to avoid offending people, because I myself cannot imagine being offended.

edited 23rd Jan '11 10:13:53 PM by TheMightyAnonym

Openness to Experience/Intellect: 35% Conscientiousness: 17% Extraversion: 22% Agreeableness: 63% Neuroticism: 32%