Big 5 personality traits reflect positive effects for religiosity

I think this map is really interesting, showing that in various cultures, certain personality types tend to be more prominent. No real surprise. But just interesting.

Precisely what I had guessed some time back, too.

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That gives you a sense of where I’ve been in regard to organized religion. But I’ve never thought religion is a big con job. I just don’t have any tendency toward conspiracy thinking.

But I know nothing of any organized mysticism. If there are any hierarchies, practices or creeds I do not know of them and don’t seek them out. (I guess that fits my new MB determined strategy of Confident (some would say OVER Confident) Individualism.

Hey this was fun, @Kendel. Looking forward to seeing the table expand over time if it does. I’ll say good night as the dogs are giving me that look that says it’s nighty-nite/get-a-treat time.

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My “5 big” results were:
Openness: 94%
Conscientiousness 56%
Extraversion 40%
Agreeableness 52%
Neuroticism 4%

My Meyer’s Briggs results were:
Mediator INFP-A
66 introverted
73 intuitive
57 feeling
54 prospecting
88 assertive

The results of the first test make sense to me, but I found some of the results of the second (feeling rather than thinking?) to be more unexpected and interesting… measuring things on a different spectrum it seems.

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I think a number of things can affect results, even the way a few questions in one sitting may strike us differently than during another.

Mine have also changed quite a bit over the years in the F/T pair. I am closer to the middle now than I used to be and sometimes, have strayed over to F even. Even though there are claims that our personalities don’t change, I think life and maturity do actually cause some changes.

Here are the profiles for the results you got yesterday and the one you probably expected get. See which you think best fits the way you understand yourself:

Introduction | Logician (INTP) Personality | 16Personalities.

What do you think?

I also was a mediator INFP. Hum. I agree that my mood at the time definitely affects the results of these type of tests. And, I tend to be less anxious now than before I retired. And hopefully am a little more patient and empathetic.

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So, we have a lot of test results assembled, and a PM to me, with results to keep in the PM.
I’ve blabbed quite a bit. I’m wondering about how people see their personality trait measures as they pertain to religion as well.

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Great question–and I think that your mentions of the cultural personality types and also our tendency to emphasize our desired (goal) types are really relevant.

I probably shy away a lot from certain aspects of faith that others love. While I wanted to be a monk as a 15 year old and liked contemplation and reading, I would not be at all interested in “This Present Darkness” aspects. I tend to be nearly a deist, practically. There’s only one time I ever thought God might have been leading me–and I think, in retrospect, it was really more of Haddon Robinson’s “God leads you by giving a mind that thinks things through and takes the time to make better decisions.”. So, chakra and so on give me the fantods, as Huck Finn would say. That’s in contrast to my blessed grandma, who attended a Pentecostal church for a while after growing up in the Reformed church–and always talked about dancing and art.

My marks were:

Openness–94
Conscientiousness–56%
Extraversion–37.5%
Agreeableness–90%
Neuroticism–42%

I think I edged everyone out of that department! Whew, @Mervin_Bitikofer !

Addendum: I see that @jpm is up there, too. :slight_smile: Glad to hear that!

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Maybe a certain threshold of neuroticism helps one cope around here?

If this keeps up, we’re gonna have to get T-shirts made, Randy.

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I think a high openness score leaves me more comfortable with doubt and uncertainty in religion. We are all pretty much in the same boat here, and I wonder if the test were given to fundamentalist Christians, moderate leaning Christians, and progressive leaning Christians, if there would be significant differences in the groups. No doubt there would. The question would still remain, do those religious groups create that mindset, or just attract those who have that mindset?

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Over the years, I’ve taken MBTI and many other “personality tests,” including the free version of Enneagram. My problem with them (and maybe it’s only my problem) is that I wind up mapped all over the place. I don’t really know much about the Enneagram, but I respect Marlena Graves and she uses it for spiritual direction, as @Christy mentioned.

Totally beside the point, but I was recently surprised to learn Rohr is here in Albuquerque.

The Big Five Personality Traits is the first one I’ve done that felt “right” to me. I answered honestly expecting it to show my present state of mind, but it came up with something deeper. Hmmm. My scores: O 100, C 48, E 52, A 90, N 54.

Edit: Sorry for initially posting the images. I stuck them up there for reference while I transcribed the numbers.

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They are in the spreadsheet now.
Interesting you felt like that test reflected better. I had a hard time with it. I usually do, though. I need a test that will trick me from analyzing the test itself and trying to figure out the “best” (most flattering, I’m sure) answers.

I can’t help myself,

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Yeah… Somebody was telling me his health has really declined recently. He’s quite old, as one can observe watching anything more recent of his.

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I would, too, particularly after seeing the variety of answers from the various tests people have participated in.
Lots of us have show off our test resuts but not really discussed past that.
Is there anything about particular personality “types” that show a predilection to religious belief? Or not? Or some other type of questions?

I do not know much of these tests. What makes me curious about the results is that we change throughout our life. Some things in us change much, some things less. Does this kind of ‘big 5’ traits stay the same or change as we change?

I am currently interested about the eastern orthodox doctrine of deification (theosis). It is about changing to the likeness of God. Not in the sense that we become gods but in the sense that we are restored to the state of being images of God. This kind of doctrines assume great positive changes within us during the growth process as a believing Christian. If such changes happen, it questions conclusions about the relationship between the personality traits and belief/religiosity. Which one was first?

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Merv, I’ve watched about 2/3 of the video, and most of it hasn’t been scary. Some parts, though…. I thought his point about our best traits being our worst enemies carried some real value. THere were a few other things I thought were really not-worth, but forgot to note them and will have to look back over it tomorrow. I think he’s finally starting to get to the actual content of the “system.” I’ll try to watch the rest soon.

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I looked at the Big 5 scores you have told (and made my own test). What is striking is the relatively high scores for openness (58-100%; me 71%) and agreeableness (52-90%; me 75%). I assume that our scores are not a random pick. Maybe biologos forum acts as a selective filter, you have to have fairly high openness and agreeableness to stay here.

Neuroticism seemed to vary a lot. Most of you got relatively high scores of extraversion, compared to mine (15%). These are probably not as essential for writing on this forum.

My own scores were probably somewhat skewed because English is not my native language and I was not fully sure about the meaning of all words/questions. In these it was often easiest to tick something in the middle of the row. Anyhow, the ‘Big 5’ is a test of our own impression of ourself, not a neutral or objective test.

Our perception of relative scores also reflect our culture - we judge ourself relative to those around us. Most of you probably live in a culture favoring small talk etc., I live in a culture where all older people do not appreciate those who talk without having something meaningful to say - it is completely ok to be quiet together, better than talking just to fill the air with sounds. Local culture is changing in this respect so the young generations talk even when they have little to say, just to fulfill the social function of language (small talk). There are also other cultural differences between the generations. Maybe I would score myself differently when comparing myself to the old vs. young generations.

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Rings true to me. Around my family and where I’ve lived in the US, it feels rude not to be responsive verbally. I’ve become capable of being more sociable but I find myself drawn to activities where I can drop all the chatter. I would have been quite happy in the culture where you grew up.

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I just tried 3 different free enneagram tests online. I got 3 entirely different results. The last one was really funny. It thinks I am tough, straight-forward and intense.
I got what I paid for!
@knor I think we’re learning more about the tests and methods, than about ourselves, which is pretty much what you had said.

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I think the tests are pretty worthless personally. Everyone I know just reads the descriptions and picks what feels most like them. I don’t always act like my number, because I am socialized to be more responsible. I also don’t go around sharing my deepest fears and unmet longings, so that stuff is something you just have to recognize about yourself, not get diagnosed by questions.

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