I’m an Introvert Who Likes New Ideas

Maggie Koerth-Baker says personality tests are all junk science except for one: the Big Five test. Fine. So I took it. Would you like to know how I came out? Of course you would! But let’s put it into chart form, shall we?

My comments:

  • Conscientiousness. I’m not sure I’m quite that conscientious. But, yeah, I tend to be a pretty focused and reliable kind of guy.
  • Openness to experience. I’ve always wondered what this really meant, and now I know. According to the writeup, it’s a mishmash of openness to experience and openness to ideas. I’m a person of settled habits who’s not all that open to new experiences, but I am open to new ideas. I love new ideas. This averages out to an above-average score, but it still seems to me that we’re using the same label for two different things here.
  • Neuroticism. Yeah, I have mood swings and tend to focus more on negative emotions than positive ones. On the other hand, I mostly stay calm and I bounce back from setbacks relatively quickly. So that all averages out and I end up…about average on this metric.
  • Agreeableness. I think I probably scored higher than I should have here. Sure, I’m generally polite, but I’m not especially well-liked or sociable. Then again, it’s not like I’m a monster or anything. This score probably isn’t way off. Maybe by 5-10 points at a guess.
  • Extroversion. I dunno. If I were guessing, I’d say I should have scored lower. Then again, I’m not a hermit and I don’t go to pieces around new people. I’d just prefer that they all go away.¹ I actually have my own score for this, in fact. I’ve discovered that I’m OK in groups of five or less. Six can go either way, though it’s fine if it’s people I know. Above that I tend to go pretty quiet. These are exact numbers, by the way, not estimates. The tipping point is six. Always six.

I would judge a personality by the extreme traits, not the ones that are just average. In my case, it means I’m introverted, conscientious, and open to new ideas. All in all, I’d say that sounds about right.

¹Oddly, I quite enjoy meeting up with readers when they happen to be in town. I suppose that fits, since this always falls well under the six-person rule. On the other hand, after I’ve met someone I tend not to stay in touch very well.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate