The last of the personality series (for now).
The Big 5, or CANOE (or OCEAN), is one of the most scientifically valid of the personality tests.
CANOE (or OCEAN depending on who you ask) is an acronym. It measures 5 personality traits:
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism/Negative emotionality
Openness to experience
Extraversion.
Please watch my favourite TED Talk of ALL TIME: Who are you, really? - Brian Little
This test tends to be less popular in non-academic circles, my guess is because it's not as fun. This test gives you percentages — they determine where you lie on a scale. It's not like the MBTI that assigns you letters. It's a lot easier to say, "Oh, yes, I am an INFJ," than it is to say, "Oh yeah, I scored 69 on the conscientiousness scale," and then having to remember 4 other percentages.
There are also issues about it maybe being sexist (or at least, many of the online versions of the test are, as opposed to the real deal thing) and despite answering the questions the same way, they score you differently depending on whether you are a man or a woman. Also, they ignore the fact that some people are non-binary and let's be real, lots of sites do that. How hard would it be to add a couple other options? C'mon people, get with the times!
Anyways.
This seems to be fairly accurate. Someone did this test and said they got the same results every time.
So what were my test results?
77/100 for agreeableness.
69/100 (lol) for conscientiousness
77/100 for agreeableness.
75/100 for negative emotionality (which is neuroticism)
88/100 for open-mindedness
65/100 for extraversion (ha ha ha okay).
You can see why this one is less fun to share. I am not going to be able to remember all these numbers. But! This is a (more) scientifically valid personality test! And it has been able to accurately determine things. Like those who rate higher for negative emotionality tend to have anxiety and depression which is like, "duh!" but still.
What is nice about this test is that they break it down even more. So I didn't just get 65/100 for extraversion, I got 62% sociability, 50% assertiveness, and 81% energy level. The assertiveness thing is spot on. I hate being assertive but that doesn't mean I can't be. I am pretty 50/50 when it comes to that.
This test doesn't tell me that THIS is what I am, per see. It's framed more like a suggestion. As someone with a higher score for negative emotionality, that might mean I am emotionally sensitive and have mood-swings. And I am very emotionally sensitive and do have mood-swings so they're right. But they never claim that this is who a high scorer is; their language is generalized, it's non-specific.
I used a different site than the last time I took this test so it makes sense that it would be a little different, but also I am a different person than I was a couple of years ago. This test allows for change more than the others — or at least versus astrology which is very set in stone, you can't change when you were born! By not assigning anyone letters or a Type, it lends itself to flexibility.
At least, that's what I think, I am not a psychologist.
Personality tests are pretty interesting stuff. This one may be less fun, but you still end up learning quite a bit about yourself, or at least, what your tendencies may be. But personality tests also depend on the mood you're in when you take them and where you are at in your life.
Personalities are fluid. Who I am today will not be who I am 5 years from now, and I am excited to find out who I become. And then having to repeat that cycle... oof, this could get tiring.
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