- What sort of person am I?(This is the most difficult question of
all to answer truthfully.) The following is a checklist of the
points you should consider, based on Cattell’s classification
of primary personality factors. In each case, assess the extent
to which either of the paired descriptions applies to you:
■ Outgoing – warm-hearted, easy-going, participating,
extroverted; or
■ Reserved– detached, critical, cool, introverted.
■ Intellectual– good at abstract thinking; or
■ Non-intellectual– better at concrete thinking.
■ Emotionally stable– calm, able to face reality; or
■ Affected by feelings– emotionally unstable, easily upset.
■ Assertive– independent, aggressive, stubborn; or
■ Submissive– mild, obedient, conforming.
■ Enthusiastic– lively, happy-go-lucky, heedless, talkative;
or
■ Sober– prudent, serious, taciturn.
■ Conscientious– persevering, staid, rule-bound; or
■ Expedient– ‘a law unto yourself’, bypasses obligations.
■ Venturesome– bold, uninhibited, spontaneous; or
■ Shy– restrained, diffident, timid.
■ Tender-minded– dependent, over-protected, sensitive; or
■ Tough-minded– self-reliant, realistic, a no-nonsense ap -
proach.
■ Suspicious– self-opinionated, distrustful, hard to fool; or
■ Trusting– free of suspicion or jealousy, adaptable, easy to
get on with.
■ Imaginative– speculative, careless of practical matters,
wrapped up in inner urgencies; or
■ Practical– inclined to action rather than speculation,
regulated by external realities, careful, conventional.
■ Shrewd– calculating, penetrating, worldly; or
■ Artless– guileless, ingenuous, natural.
■ Apprehensive– a worrier, depressive, troubled; or
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