Your Brain: The Missing Manual

Dissecting Your Personality

In the following sections, you'll analyze each score separately. To get an overview of where you fall, you can fill your results into the scoring sheet starting on the next page (also available for download from www.missingmanuals.com).

On either side of the scale for each personality factor are some commonly used adjectives for people with high or low scores. For example, high extraversion scorers are more likely to be described as talkative and assertive.

Note

Each of the five factors represents a continuum. The "good side" and "flip side" lists you see here define the extremes. Most people fall somewhere in the middle and have characteristics from both sides. However, they usually have more of one side than the other. It's also important to remember that your position can shift as you age, and may change based on your current mood.

Introvert	Extravert
The good side: Quiet, reserved, shy, serious	The good side: Talkative, assertive, active, outspoken, energetic, confident
The flip side: Withdrawn, submissive, loner	The flip side: Bossy, noisy, overbearing, exhibitionist

Egocentric	Altruistic
The good side: Independent, skeptical, self-driven, competitive	The good side: Warm, sensitive, trusting, forgiving
The flip side: Cold, argumentative, selfish	The flip side: Gullible, ...