Who am I?

Well, well, well... I took this test online called the 'Cattel 16 Factor Test'. The link was sent by a friend and the email promised me the most accurate picture of my personality ever. Yaa..right! Anyways, I gave it a try and here are the results -

Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results Warmth |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 82% Intellect |||||||||||||||||||||||| 74% Emotional Stability ||||||||||||||| 46% Aggressiveness |||||||||||||||||| 54% Liveliness ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% Dutifulness |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 90% Social Assertiveness |||||||||||||||||||||||| 74% Sensitivity |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 86% Paranoia ||||||||||||||||||||| 62% Abstractness ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% Introversion |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 90% Anxiety |||||||||||||||||||||||| 74% Openmindedness ||||||||||||||| 50% Independence |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 86% Perfectionism |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 82% Tension ||||||||| 30%

So, I am emotionally unstable, an extreme introvert, as dutiful as a dog....mannnnn why did I even bother to take the test. It's such a load of crap X-(

There are lots of such tests available all over the internet. But seriously, can you tell all about me just by looking at how I've answered a set of pre-defined questions? I mean who answers these set of questions accurately? At least I didn't. Yeah, maybe 70% of them were accurately answered (after pondering for a lengthy 0.78 seconds) but the others...click, click,click,done.

Ask someone to rate his negative traits on a scale of 1-5 and I'm damn sure it won't go above a 3, even if he actually is the devil himself. On the other hand, ask him to rate his good side and I'm sure it won't be below a 3. So, the final result would most definitely be biased towards the positive side of one's personality. After all, I wouldn't want you to know that I'm a disaster waiting to happen :D

Now let's look at it from the tester's point of view -
If by some miraculous way, some test does highlight your negative traits in your face, do you think you'd take that test again? Or, recommend it to your friends? You'd be embarrassed to let them know your results. And heaven forbid if the same test shows your friend out to be the reincarnation of Gandhiji himself :) So, in simple logic...give people results they feel happy about, would like to talk about. They will then copy the link into their chain of emails and shoot it of to new 'victims'. Perfect marketing strategy huh?

Now, not only did the test give me crappy results, it also made me give up half an hour of my TV time to write this blog! But, I guess my 90% dutifulness rating compelled me to warn you people about what a load of bull these tests are.