Breaking News: I'm Neurotic

     It's official. Some poncy, expensive, "Child of our Time" experiment has told me what I have known all along; I am neurotic. I worry, I get worked up, I get stressed out, I go crazy. It feels good, to be right. Along with the neuroticism, this test has also told me I am high in "openness", which means I am creative and see the world in a different way from all you uncreative losers, nice people.

     Here is the official graph that I was presented with. Wow, I totally made that sound like I was presented an award. An award for being "anxious" as my Mum once called me. As you can see, my neuroticism, is off the scale. My conscientiousness, extroversion and agreeableness are all about the same, and my openness is my second highest trait.

Openness: Imaginative, creativity, seeing the world in a different way. People with high scores tend to find generating imaginative ideas easy and tend to daydream a lot throughout the day. Also, openness comes with a innate desire to travel and see other places.

Conscientiousness: Dependability, organisational skills, hard-working. People with middle scores, like mine, tend to not to be workaholics, but have the ability to strike a balance between working and socialising.

Extroversion: Positive emotions, desire to seek out risk taking and pleasurable experiences. People with scores like mine are comfortable meeting new people and enjoy social occasions. 

Agreeableness: Sympathy, empathy, kindness. People with scores like mine are likely to be aware of other people's feelings and needs, going out of their way to help them. Also known as people pleasing, agreeableness is how well you can get along with other people.

Neuroticism: This is a person's response to a stressful situation. People with high scores are often tense, anxious and stressed. They also tend to experience changeable moods, which swing around in extremes.

     Okay, that's the definitions and explanations. I'm not sure about the extroversion trait, especially looking back over my start at university. I do like meeting new people, but I still get nervous about it; it doesn't come as naturally as the extroversion explanation might say. Although, that could be my neuroticism coming into play.

     Looking further into the information I was given, it also seems like I'm heading into the wrong career. I've been told by the "Child of our Time" that I should be going into an economic career. Well, I'm a Psychology student, so you couldn't get further from "economic" if you tried.

     Also, when you look at my scores, I'm high in "openness" which is creativity, and I'm high in "neuroticism". So, why would a career in the economy be good. It's not creative or imaginative, so I'd be bored out of my brain, and I get stressed easily, so I'd probably be stressed all of the time, especially when you look at today's economy.

     So, as a Psychology student, I will bow out with the criticism that sure, this study takes in personality and its effects on our lives, but no, it does not take into account other influences, such as interests, or the fact that some people can't make up their minds and randomly select where they are going in life.

     More on that nugget another time!