Thursday, December 13, 2007

Great Minds Think Similar?

There are quite a few personality tests you can take on the Similar Minds personality tests page. All the ones that I looked at had a similar setup -- you rank a list of statements on a five-point scale from "very inaccurate" to "very accurate", according to how well they describe you. I took the "Short Test" under the "Percentile Tests" category. One of the statements was "I am ambivalent", so I marked the midpoint of the scale, meaning "it's about 50/50." I don't think the testing instrument got the joke, though.
There is also a category devoted to Enneagram tests. Similar minds defines the Enneagram as "a nine factor personality system that is sort of a historical mutt, many different influences. The nine factors are - orderliness, helpfulness, image focus, hypersensitivity, detachment, caution, adventurousness, strength, and calmness. " Needless to say, I find the reduction of each of our nine types to a single "factor" a bit, well, reductive.
One interesting test is the Enneagram "Word Test", which reminded me of the WEPSS.
There are also some Enneagram tests under the "Compatibility Tests" category. The multi user test requires you to coordinate with a friend, so, since Mary Beth is out of town, I put the two of us into the self-reporting test. It correctly pegged us as a 5 and a 6, and said we are 73% similar and 73% complementary, which, as you may remember from geometry class, are not the same thing. No word yet as to our actual compatibility as friends.
When Mary Beth returns, I have a proposal regarding how to create a holistic Enneagram test. I figure there is about a 73% chance she will want to work on it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would also have been funny if you put the strongest possible agreement score with the statement "I am ambivalent."

Interesting post, I'm looking forward to going through that site over the weekend.

Cindi said...

Yeah; there's really no answer to that question that is not absurd.

Mary Beth said...

Question. To Cindi. Did the Similar Minds people already have my answers, or did you make my answers up? and if you did, I hope you didn't say I was hug-averse.

Guess where I went today? The beach!

Cindi said...

I had to make your answers up. It didn't ask about hugging.

Cindi said...

I am super-jealous about the beach, btw.

Mary Beth said...

Great (not about beach jealousy, about having made my answers up.) I therefore can make your answers up and we can see whether we are more compatible in your mind or in mine.

Mary Beth said...

Oh, also, we saw a turtle crossing the road (and didn't stop to help it, much to my dissatisfaction, but it got safely across), and a snake, and pelicans, at the beach. And Starr found a shell that looks like a cat's paw.

Also, you will be happy to know that I am returning with lots of Enneagram articles to write.

Mary Beth said...

OK, I have taken it for you (Cindi and me) and I got you a 5, me a 6, 73% similar and 65% complementarity. Oddly, both of our second highest score was 3.