personalities

Professional reading—journals, research articles, erudite books by psychologists and human nature boffins—is part of my job. It doesn’t come naturally, journals with titles like The New England Journal of Epistomological Theory, research full of algebraic symbols indicating significance and deviation, psychologists who write like shit.

My MM colleagues revel in this stuff. Bully for them. I settle for potted reports overheard from the back seat as we drive upcountry. They’re into Martin Seligman’s authentic happiness and positive psychology. My good woman, a Serbian psychologist, screws up her face at the mention of positive psychology. The Serbs can be a melancholy lot.

I borrow Sasha’s Authentic Happiness. She understands my travails, says, “Just read chapter one.” Chapter one is a merciful eleven pages only, the writing indulgent in typical American fashion. Some of it makes good sense. She whacks a pink post-it on the cover with the website where I can do a medley of authentic happiness assessments.

I’ve tested a few times over the years: Myers-Briggs 20 years ago, an online IQ test eight years ago, and a right-brain left-brain analysis about the same time. Today I fire up the interweb and complete a 240-question survey to ascertain my top strengths and virtues from the 24 on offer. Here’s what all the testing reveals.

According to Myers-Briggs, my introversion far outweighs my extraversion, and I think rather than feel. I’m judging more than perceptive, but equally sensing and intuitive. This means I’m serious and quiet with an original mind. I’m sceptical, critical and independent, practical, orderly, matter-of-fact, realistic and dependable.

The Brain Works evaluation pins me as left-hemisphere dominant with a preference for visual learning, although I can learn in an active, simultaneous, multidimensional fashion. Whatever. I’m organised, logical and detail-oriented, acknowledge the bigger picture but focus on the details, expecting the bigger picture to emerge as a result.

I should be good at engineering, architecture or computer graphics. Wrong.

  

The IQ test—score 133—says I’m a Visionary Philosopher, highly intelligent with a powerful mix of skills and insight. My verbal skills make me adept at explaining things to others. Correct on the last item. I’m too mean to pay for the 15-page detailed report, though this is not revealed by the test.

The authentic happiness survey indicates my top five strengths as judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness first; second is creativity, ingenuity, and originality; third comes perspective (wisdom); fourth is curiosity and interest in the world; and fifth honesty, authenticity, and genuineness.

My twenty-fourth strongest feature is diligence and perseverance. I’m a quitter.

Rock on.