Going Nuts Over Online Personality Tests

from the overdose-of-introspection dept

I have a friend who absolutely loves to take random online personality tests, and then get me to take the same tests to compare our personalities. I've discovered what kind of dog I would be, what kind of rock star, what action hero, what comic book character, as well as whether or not I was left-brained, too assertive, depressed, or too damn happy. I don't put much weight in any of these tests (and usually they seem way too obvious - it's pretty easy to manipulate the test answers to get whatever result you want), but it appears that some people are addicted to classifying themselves and testing themselves online over and over again. Some think it's because we live in a narcissistic society, where everyone wants to think only about themselves, while others just think it's healthy introspection. Of course, not all of the tests are serious, and I wouldn't believe most of what they tell you. In fact, the article says that the website for Paxil, a drug for people with "social anxiety disorder", has an online personality test that is a little too quick in suggesting you might want to run to your doctor and ask about your social anxiety symptoms.