like the psychics who astound people if they can tell you things about yourself you already know

[slammerkinbabe]

So this test (that "shapes" one) is kind of amazing, in the sense that the process of taking it is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, my results did not conform very well to reality. Witness:

Handy in the real world manipulation of objects and events, you are easily enthused by practical projects. You often ignore or conveniently forget rules and boundaries that limit your freedom. This need for freedom extends even to the personal sphere and though you are kind and gentle, you will often be hard to pin down to a monogamous lifestyle. Because you tend to verbalize so seldom, you can be seen as phlegmatic or impassive. In moments of high tension you can often surprise those around you with a lighthearted or humorous remark. Because of your facility with the physical world, you are often engaged in sports that require dexterity, such as motorcycling or hang gliding. You will rarely have time for flights of fancy or unproductive discussion. Constraints on your freedom will be regarded as a personal attack.

The test may wish to know:

1. I am terrible with real-world manipulation of objects and events and am not the least bit enthused with practical projects.

2. I do in fact frequently ignore and/or forget rules and boundaries that limit my freedom (and this has been a struggle lately in a couple of specific ways)...

3. ...but I have no problem with monogamy. I cannot comment on whether I am kind and gentle.

4. Usually in moments of high tension I can be found overapologizing wildly, then crying in a corner.

5. The thing about me verbalizing so seldom is just side-splittingly hilarious. Lollerskates.

6. My manual dexterity is the worst in the world. Seriously. SO BAD. I would be the most immediately dead motorcyclist ever.

7. I spend huge amounts of time on flights of fancy and unproductive discussion. In point of fact unproductive discussion is probably one of the most productive things that I do, although I understand that this is more a commentary on the pointlessness of the rest of my life than anything else. But seriously. Would I be taking/explicating this test if I weren't into unproductive discussion?

8. But, okay, I do regard constraints on my freedom as a personal attack. Hey, if you're going to get one right, the last one is the one to pick!

The funniest part of all of this is that when I got that result my immediate thought was not "this test doesn't work" but "I must have taken the test wrong." Like I must have thought too hard about my answers, or defaulted to putting my considerations into words and then selecting based on those words, or something. (Which would totally explain why it told me I never verbalize things, right.) I honestly don't know what that says about me, but it doesn't seem to have been covered by the test. But truly, my reaction was kind of like "but they had all that sciency stuff at the beginning of the test! It must be real!" ON THE INTERNET. There was a bunch of sciency babble at the beginning of an INTERNET PERSONALITY QUIZ MEME and I actually bought into it.

Well, it's early in the morning.

In any case, if I could ever get hold of an actual scientist I'd be curious to know whether my answers to these sorts of questions, or the things that my answers would reveal about my personality (assuming there's anything at all, but then, I tend to think all behavior reveals *something*), might be affected by my nonverbal learning disability and the dent my doctor put in the left side of my head with the forceps at birth.* I never considered whether that disability might have affected my personification of geometric shapes before. For obvious reasons.

Well, this quiz ate up all my "I woke up early and don't want to get up yet so let's fuck around on the Internet" time. Time to shower.

*Not visible anymore, but the brain damage stayed.

Comments

[ticktockman.livejournal.com]

Is that the same test they're talking about in this article? http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/04/07/pierely_redford_crazy_personality_test/index.html

*daha*

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Ok, that was THE weirdest test EVER. And I got exactly the same result as you, and the only part that fits me is the not-verbalizing bit. The rest? TOTALLY WRONG.

And now I will have nightmares about some of those shapes.

[kindness_says]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[kindness_says]

Mine worked?

"You have a poetic sensibility and an ability to see beyond the day to day. You often seem to be living in a higher realm, or to be not-of-this-earth. Occasionally you imagine interior lives for friends and associates that are near-complete fabrications based on your fears or hopes for the future. You are often not aware of your own feelings. You have a strong sense of right and wrong, and because of this are often disappointed. Despite what can sometimes be a destructive inward-turning anger, you are very gentle. You are sometimes a bit out of touch with the ebb and flow of modern life. If your behavior is out of synch with your moral values, a severe psychic disturbance can result. Because connectivity is so important to you, you can become quiet and sulky if you feel that others around do not understand your point of view."

Although I do think I'm mostly aware of my own feelings these days. It's been a process.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

[kindness_says]

Er, sorry to spam - I was just going to add, I think it did...like, at first my impulse was like yours, too, to be like, "Okay, well I guess this would represent..." a little more? and the early ones were easier to convert, but once it stopped making sense I just unfocused and clicked. Like the color quiz. If that makes sense.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, early in the test I had a lot of gut reactions and found it easy to pick without verbalizing. It was later in the test that my gut instinct started to be "um... neither?" and then I'd develop a little bit of a narrative or a verbalized concept or whatever. Idk, I'm not sure how much difference it would really have made.

[kindness_says]

Well, the earlier ones tapped into symbols/colors that everyone associates with similar things, I think. The later ones went deeper so really you had to stop thinking? I think?

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is. As often happens with Salon, I think they're coloring it a little highly. I mean, it may be crap based on the Myers-Briggs test, but asking if it can make you crazy, or saying it can cause some of the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder, is a little much. Sure, I guess it could make you a little spacey (I guess? I don't know, it didn't me), and sure, that's technically a form of dissociation. But so's highway hypnosis or missing your train stop, and we don't ask if trains make people crazy. I dunno, I just thought his framing of it was silly. But it makes for a catchy headline.

[fanboy-of-zeus.livejournal.com]

Blustering through the world with the finesse of a thunderstorm, you are a natural leader, a creator of consensus. You will often plan out the future in deliberate and at times frustrating detail. This ability to create and to plan is sometimes expressed as a facility for the telling of tall tales.Your friends often find themselves assigned tasks or roles within the group. This can be very useful when action is called for and equally annoying when the idea at hand is rest and relaxation. When challenged, however, you can become cold and argumentative. Your understanding of the world is deliberate and well thought out. Your emotion comes in two varieties, either restrained and sincere, or else melodramatic and loud and usually inauthentic. Affection for you is best expressed through action, by doing things for the people you care about. This need to always be proactive can lead you to feel that there is no end to the trouble in your life.

Surprisingly accurate given that I'm pretty sure the only thing the test actually measured for me is "when asked to pick randomly, do you default to the first choice, or the second?" - by which I mean, not entirely accurate, but closer than I would have expected in a couple of regards.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

My line by line breakdown:

You are in a perpetual quest to find the new, the exciting. Maybe

Emotionally volatile, you are known for sudden changes of opinion, of appreciation, and behavior. Never

Following rules and established methods is difficult for you and the difficulties of higher education are usually quite daunting. Snorfle. Hardly.

Knowledge is best gained through an intimate association with the matter at hand. Maybe?

Usually driven by attitudes and desires of the group, you are talented in an established field of endeavor. First half wrong, second half right.

Emotions come and go without a strong understanding of their causes. No.

They are unexpected guests in an otherwise placid landscape. No.

You live by your own codes of conduct, which can be noble or terrible depending on the individual. Yes.

Authority is meaningless to you. No.

You hate to be predictable, at all costs. No.

Rarely verbally effusive, you can at times feel as if your feelings are too deep for words. No.

You are very observant, but rarely express these observations to others. Yes.

[amyura.livejournal.com]

Mine:

"Thoughtful to the extreme, you are often obsessed with perfection and the rules governing your own personal interests. Your world is black and white. You love to work within a logical system, such as language, computer programming, or mathematics. Manipulating a system that can be completely understood is a distinct pleasure to you, because of your confidence in the underlying veracity of your belief system. Because of your appreciation for logic and order, those who speak or think in a sloppy manner are apt to generate more than their share of wrath. Although very amiable, you are not drawn to friendships out of a sense of personal need. You are just as happy by yourself with a good book or puzzle. Because you are so involved with thought, you will on occasion have difficulty dealing with the day-to-day problems of a normal life. Taking out the trash, doing the dishes, these are often left until the last possible moment, if at all"

Well, they got the procrastination part right, as well as the good-at-math. But I'm not a black and white person at ALL. I went through an asshole phase around age 17-18 when I was, but I'm like the queen of nuance now.

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

"You have a poetic sensibility and an ability to see beyond the day to day. You often seem to be living in a higher realm, or to be not-of-this-earth. Occasionally you imagine interior lives for friends and associates that are near-complete fabrications based on your fears or hopes for the future. You are often not aware of your own feelings. You have a strong sense of right and wrong, and because of this are often disappointed. Despite what can sometimes be a destructive inward-turning anger, you are very gentle. You are sometimes a bit out of touch with the ebb and flow of modern life. If your behavior is out of synch with your moral values, a severe psychic disturbance can result. Because connectivity is so important to you, you can become quiet and sulky if you feel that others around do not understand your point of view."

Not that inaccurate, actually, though of course it's not spot-on. The first half is pretty damn accurate.

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

Mine is the same as yours.

[kindness_says]

=)

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, oh. Look up Richard Wiseman. He did all kinds of studies on this sort of test, and horoscopes and stuff. He pointed out that they usually 'work' because the things are general enough and are usually things people WANT to believe about themselves, so people will read it and say 'oh, yes, that's totally me!'

He did this thing where he handed out horoscopes to a group of people, and they were all exactly the same, yet everyone believed it was geared to their personality.

He's awesome.

[fanboy-of-zeus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the thing...I can see some relevant bits in the text it gave *me*, but at least as much or more in the bits that other people have posted. So yeah, generic enough that just about anyone would think it was at least partly right.

[vayithor.livejournal.com]

The aims of acne treatment are to prevent new spots forming, to improve on acne treatment already present, and to prevent scarrings.