Are We Unique?

I love personality quizzes.  I am frequently sucked into taking quizzes where I describe how I behave at a party (Um… I don’t go to the party?  Is that one of the choices?) or how I’d spend lottery money.  Of course I would click on an article that promised to tell me the ONLY WORTHY PERSONALITY QUIZ IN THE WORLD.

Because there are real personality tests out there:

Ones that are actually evidence-based and scientifically sound. That’s because, while most of the personality tests shared around the internet are, indeed, bogus procrastination devices, there is a science to personality, and it’s something that researchers really can put into a quantified, testable format.

It turns out that the test is just the Big Five, one that I’ve known about forever and have used to construct character personalities.  But reading the article made me remember why I like the Big Five and use it: that most of the time our personality swings in multiple directions, and it all comes down to a percentage of how much you fit somewhere, with other options being equally (though maybe less) possible.

For instance, I took the Personality Lab’s Sorting House quiz based on the concept of the Big Five and it told me that I was 81% compatible with Ravenclaw, the clear winner.  But I was 76% compatible with Hufflepuff, a close second.  I was 57% compatible with Slytherin but only 38% compatible with Gryffindor, which sounds correct EXCEPT I would have (1) put my compatibility with Gryffindor lower because I would crap my pants if (2) I had to sleep in the Slytherin section of the castle.  Not really even 38% brave of heart.

Anyway, the question I always have at the end of these things is whether our personalities are clumpable.  We’re told we’re unique; there’s no one earth is like us.  And yet I’m willing to bet that someone who takes the quiz above will end up with the exact same breakdown of 81%, 76%, 57%, and 38th for the corresponding houses.  And then what does it say about the two of us?  Are we more alike than two other random people or still equally as different?

Anyway take the quiz and tell me how you do.