Personality Types

About a week ago, Jeff Ely had a post entitled “Is This Your Personality Type?” Nearly everybody rated a particular profile as highly accurate.  I, naturally, had to go through it and see how it applied to me…

1. You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.
2. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.
3. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
4. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
5. Your sexual adjustment has presented problems for you.
6. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
7. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.
8. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
9. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
10. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
11. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.
12. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.
13. Security is one of your major goals in life.

Going through this, #1 is completely unlike me:  I don’t much care what others think of me…  #2, yeah, okay.  #3, nah, not really.  I tend to think of it as knowing where the margins are.  #4 is totally off-base—I don’t have personality weaknesses!  I have no idea what #5 means, but I’m offended by the insinuations.  #6 isn’t true, either—I’m as secure as the UN.  #7 isn’t the case—my decision automatically has to be the right decision, no?  #8 shows the paradox of thought:  we want rules, but on our own terms.  It applies somewhat, but not quite as much as you’d think.  #9 also doesn’t quite work out; I’m not arrogant enough [ed:  really? Shaddup.  And quit stealing Mickey Kaus's schtick.] and take for granted a lot of what others say, so long as my priors indicate that I can trust them.  #10 is true, yeah.  #11, not so much:  screw that extroversion thing.  I don’t believe in #12 because that would indicate that I have to update my priors, and that might mess up #10.  Finally, #13 is only true in passing.

So, like usual, I break the mold with a steel chair.  Great job, me!