FW: Personality Tests

I wonder about all these personality tests that get flung about the internet. It seems that a lot are attributed to the Dali Lama but there is never any evidence to back up this claim. While some of these are fun and just involve the sharing of little known information with your friends, others require you to make a wish and promise you its fulfillment if only if you send the email out to a certain number of people. And I quote (from the most recently received one), “[if you send this to] 0-4 persons: Your life will improve slightly. 5-9 persons: Your life will improve to your liking. 9-14 persons: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next three weeks. 15 or more persons: Your life will improve drastically and all that you wish will come true.” So why do I have to send it around to people to get my wish?

A few of my friends have done big personality tests going to a clinic of sorts (it sounded like some fun). I wonder if the symbols used in such tests truly do describe a person. For instance, there was something in one of the tests about going through a forest seeing an animal and being asked to describe it and how you would confront it. This is supposed to describe how you see your problems and how you deal with them. Then there was also something about a cottage, maybe a gnome with a key and a body of water all which are symbolic of one’s own personality. The funniest test I found out there on the internet (my whole five minutes of searching) was drawing a pig, which tells you all about yourself.

Not that I’m discrediting the tests however. Just why send them in the first place and then condition the promise on sending the same email to more people? I’ve talked with my brother about the science of reading other’s handwriting which I found to be a fascinating subject: crossing the letter t up high reveals lots of confidence while a low cross on the t shows lack of confidence. Maybe the way we view symbols really does show our personality. That, at least, I can believe. (So is the glass half full or half empty?)