Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Fun Little Tests

Here are the results of two online tests I took. One I found on Facebook, the other I stole from Java. I rather like the juxtaposition. Apparently I'm a nice, wifty guy with a mouth like a truck-driver. I can see that.










You can slide the mouse over each color, and find out what this test thinks of me for specific categories. Apparently I have extremely high masculinity (the big light blue square) and somewhat high feminity (the yellow square, I think). Not a clue what that means, but it sounds cool, doesn't it? I'm NOT pleased at the 'average spontaneity' or the 'somewhat high openness', so I'll ignore those findings. Stupid test.



The Blog-O-Cuss Meter - Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website? I guess this doesn't really surprise me. The form also told me that my blog's profanity was 111% higher than other websites taking this test. So a mere 16.9% of pages with profanity puts me 111% ahead of the pack? That seems like it ought to reassure somebody about the state of things on the internet, right? Assuming profanity still gets some people's panties in a bunch? (Is 'panties' cursing, sorry, cussing? What about 'panties in a bunch'? Seems crass at least, but I bet the meter didn't count things like that.)

Thing is, I think I swear more in person than I do in my writing. Friends who have met me in person, do you concur?

Not sure what I think of that, if it's true. I behave myself around children, and elderly Quakers, at least. The latter does NOT include my parents, by the way. First off, I don't really think of them as elderly, and second, who do you think taught me all those swear words? Dad said he didn't want us to learn any words from the kids on the street corner that we hadn't heard at home first.

For now I have no plans to change any behavior.

Created by OnePlusYou

15 comments:

Birdie said...

This is pretty cool. I'm a "considerate leader" with highest scores in trust, confidence, and masculinity. Single digit score in extroversion, which one needs to lead, doncha think? And does anyone know what "agency" is?

Anonymous said...

You sounds like a nearly perfect studly man from what I'm reading!

I may give the upper quiz a row in a bit myself.

Greg said...

I don't think the Cuss-O-Meter's good at judging intent. While I, too, cuss a little more in person than as a blogger, I have done online, but usually with discreet asterik-ation...and I got a prudish score of Zero...which is why I didn't post it.

Interesting that yellow is now the color indicative of femininity. Didn't that used to be pink?

tornwordo said...

I'm a Respectful Idealist. And that took a long time! Some of those questions required serious meditations.

Butch said...

I am an "Advocating Idealist."

As with many questions there may be too many variables in choosing an appropriate answer. Thanks, it was an interesting test.

I don't know if Word Verification is trying to tell me something, but mine was: "sikfck." ;-) It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out...

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I don't think I really know what counts as a cussing word. Is it bad to say cursing in stead of cussing? Is penis a cussing word? How about Jesus? Or bollocks? Oh wait, that's British... It's all higher English linguistics to me.

Java said...

When I have more time I want to take the first test. That looks very interesting. The cuss-o-meter is a crock of shit, though a fun one.

You scored very high empathy, and very imaginative. That's consistent with the impressions I've gotten since meeting you. I like to do these tests and agree with what I like and ignore what I don't. Isn't that what they are for?

I can definitely see you as a Benevolent Artist. Yes.

Cooper said...

You do have a benevolent artistic soul, my little trucker-mouth! :)

I'm a visionary idealist, and did anyone else have trouble figuring out the graph thingy, or am I just a twit?

My cuss-o-meter is 0%. Like I commented to Java, wouldn't Focus on the Family love me (and Greg)!

Unknown said...

I am an Advocating Artist, and that took about 7 minutes.

Makes me wonder how I'd score if I took more time thinking about it.

Most of the time I was just answering as it came to me, and wondering why they were asking the same questions over and over in slightly different ways. Reminded me of school.

Really fun though.

Joe Jubinville said...

Patrick, sweetheart, I could have told you all that. I'm a little concerned, thought about that "average agency." In a city like NY couldn't you have found a better one?
*#&%@&!!

Patrick said...

birdofparadise: I had to look up 'agency' in the quiz's glossary too. Agency is the amount of control we feel we have in our own lives; how much do we think our decisions get us where we are, as opposed to fate, luck, other people, God, etc. Mine is average, which I guess means I didn't really make a choice one way or the other. Hmm.

I think if you have high trust and confidence you probably make a fine leader, despite the low extroversion. You're just the strong, silent type :) They often are the best leaders, I think.

Christopherc: What a charmer! You're welcome here at Loose Ends anytime.

Greg: yes, intention seems to me to be the issue with all swearing. That said, I wonder how much of my seemingly innocuous language would actually be seen as quite rude. How do we interprete all the times I start ranting in caps? And what about sarcasm? And of course the flip-side, I can see using the word 'fucking' in quite a cheerful, celebratory way. Funny how much swearing is just remnants of the old culture-clash between Saxon and Norman.

Yes, I'd love to know how the quiz makers chose the colors for each category. They still went with a shade of blue for masculinity, but they decided pink was best for empathy. And why so many different shades of blue and green, rather than branching out in the color wheel?

Torn: Did the analysis seem accurate to you? I actually felt like mine was a pretty good fit, over all. Actually, that question is for everyone who took (or will take) the test. I'm tempted to wait a while, until I've forgotten the test questions, retake the test, and see if I come up with the same designation. Certainly many of my judgement calls could have gone a different direction. One problem with these tests is how easy it becomes to manipulate the answer to get the result I want. Am I really that empathetic, for example, or am I just committed to that image of myself, so any question that addresses it -and they're not hard to identify- gets answered the 'right' way?

Not that I over-think these things, of course.

Butch: Well, either the word verification program misjudges you, or it knows something I don't. Yes, the variables are awfully wide, and as I told Torn above, I'm tempted to take the test again later, to see if I my designation changes on a different day. If I shift one of my graph responses half an inch up and right, will the program REALLY be able to read that nuance?

Oscar: Yes, that's a good point. And what if I said something like "cock your head this way" in an entry (no, I don't know why I would, but work with me here), would the program have caught that as naughty, or would it see it as innocuous? I'm assuming the list of words is narrow, but it would be interesting to see what it includes.

Java: yes, I love taking tests like these, then ignoring any findings I don't care for. It's how I read horoscopes and fortune cookie fortunes too. I mostly did like the results I got from the personality test.

Cooper-my-Heart: Yup, I would think Focus on the Family would adore you, the stalwart family man that you are. Well, they should, of course... :) Not knowing the specifics, I'd still say visionary idealist fits you quite nicely. I've used both words, or their synonyms, to describe you more than once.

Davey: Nice to hear from you, I hope you're doing well! Yes, I answered everything very quickly too, off the cuff. I assume the variations on the questions were a way of establishing patterns. You got an 'extremely high' for all the times you gave similar answers to similar questions. Once, just on a lark, I started taking the Scientology personality test (though I sneaked out before it was over, when they started to freak me out too much). The same questions came up there too, obviously, along with those honesty-testing questions like "does your body sometimes twitch uncontrollably?" Actually, that one was probably connected to the aliens, wasn't it.

Joe: Yes, I suspect the insights of a good friend would prove to be at LEAST as informative as one of these random quizzes. Isn't it funny that we're tempted to give more credence to something an anonymous test tells us, because we're fooled into thinking it's more objective. That's probably why I bother to read horoscopes in the first place.

You're right! I deserve a spectacular agency! Or an extremely high one. Or something. That's another thing about this test that cracks me up; extremely high, somewhat high, high? How exact are those measurements? I wonder if one can be extremely average, and if so, how does that compare with average? I also thought putting earthy and imaginative at opposite ends of a single continuum was an interesting choice. I do think I'm imaginative, but some of my most creative ideas come on some pretty earthy subjects, seems to me. No doubt I'm using 'earthy' differently from the test though.

Joe Jubinville said...

Sounds like an essay in Harper's: "Deeper Into Average."

The polarized set-up of earthy and imaginative in the quiz is puzzling. I deeply suspect that some of your earthiest moments are most imaginative! I know mine are.

john said...

I love taking these on-line tests to see how I am assessed. Many times there is some truth to their findings.

Sh@ney said...

LOL I dont cuss enough! But that could change in the years to come as my level of patience deteriorates! Our housemate sears ALL the time, everyone is a C***t even in general conversation...

Can't say I like it though!

Butch said...

I decided to take the test again after a decent hiatus from the first one.

The first one revealed that I was:
an "Advocating Idealist," and the recent one said I was: an "Animated Visionary." I have to say I haven't done any soul searching or taken any self-descovery improvement classes since the last test.

My feminine side was elevated the first time around and in the second one, the masculine side took over. Was this a subconscious attempt at correcting how I see myself? Not sure, I don't think it was overt. I also, think I have proven your thoughts about just moving those wee lines a little more one way or the other, can change the results significantly.

The study does ask a person if they have taken this quiz before and I wonder if that can be factored into the analysis as well?

Anyway, I rather like the questions where we get to play with emptying one container of water into three or four other containers. Who ever designed that one deserves some credit in making test taking more interesting. ;-)

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