I was just going to link to this on Facebook \u2013 it seemed cute, until I read the following section:<\/p>\n
Your Pet May Predict<\/em> Your Personality<\/a> <\/p>\n The 44-question survey delved into the five dimensions of personality thought to encompass the spectrum of personality types:<\/p>\n "In terms of personalities I would say Woody Allen is at one end of this spectrum and the "Dude" from the Big Lebowski<\/i> is at the other," Gosling says.<\/p>\n Forty-six percent of those who took the survey identified themselves as dog people, while 12% said they were cat people. Twenty-eight percent said they were both and 15% said they were neither.<\/p>\n According to the findings, self-identified dog people were 15% more extroverted, 13% more agreeable, and 11% more conscientious than cat people.<\/p>\n Cat people were about 12% more neurotic and 11% more open than dog people.<\/p>\n "These are not huge differences," Gosling says. "There are certainly many, many cat people who are extroverts and many, many dog people who aren’t."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Your Pet May Predict Your Personality<\/a><\/p>\n Puh-lease. THE<\/strong> five<\/em> dimensions of personality? I used to joke that \u201cmultiple personalities\u201d were classified as a disorder by people who didn\u2019t have one<\/em>. I\u2019ve always disliked the need people in social sciences feel to pretend they are physicists or mathematicians working with laws and certainties. Come on: 5 dimensions?<\/p>\n For the sake of argument, let\u2019s pretend that 6 billion people fit into 5 boxes \u2013 or one box with 5 corners. Is everyone ready to sign-off on these<\/em> five? Hell, there\u2019s only one negative attribute in the bunch. I wish only one in five people exhibited a negative dimension 20% of the time.<\/p>\n Look at the list again. How is it ordered? Is the \u201cspectrum of personality types\u201d \u2013 I like the suggestion that maybe personalities are analog, not digital, but I bet the proponents don\u2019t believe in gradations \u2013 between Neuroticism (Woody Allen) to Conscientiousness \u2013 not the Dude, man. Does the Dude represent Extraversion or Agreeableness or Openness. Try to arrange those 5 traits in a spectrum. (OK, now I\u2019m playing physicist.)<\/p>\n What about all these very precise \u2013 not the same as accurate \u2013 percentages? Doesn\u2019t 13% sound more scientific than \u201ca little more than one in ten\u201d? Yeah, precise numbers are the \u201cbig boy pants\u201d of the social sciences. Try to reach any conclusion based on the numbers presented.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t blame Gosling for the intellectual sloppiness of the writer and\/or editors in using the word \u201cpredict\u201d when they mean reveal<\/em> or indicate<\/em>. In the end, I\u2019m most irritated by this article and study ignoring one underlying question: Are you drawn to things\/people\/animals that are like you or to things\/people\/animals that are unlike you?<\/p>\n If you are open, aren\u2019t you open to a pet that says nothing about your personality? Likewise, if you are agreeable? What\u2019s more neurotic than having a pet that contradicts the predictive powers of one\u2019s pet? Perhaps, only the conscientious take pains to find the right<\/em> predictive pet.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had 3 dogs and numerous cats (to which I am allergic \u2013 what does that say about my personality, that I choose to live with irritation?). And, given the \u201cspectrum\u201d (hear the sneer) above, by process of elimination, I am neurotic.<\/p>\n Remember: There are 3 kinds of people \u2013 those who are good with math and those who are not. Or, there are two kinds of people \u2013 those who think there are two kinds of people and those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was just going to link to this on Facebook \u2013 it seemed cute, until I read the following section: Your Pet May Predict Your Personality The 44-question survey delved into the five dimensions of personality thought to encompass the spectrum of personality types: Conscientiousness. Common behaviors include self-discipline, sense of duty, and a tendency … Continue reading Your Survey Methods May Predict Your Personality (a science-based WTF?!)<\/span> \n
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Cat People vs. Dog People<\/h5>\n