My Republican personality
May 18, 2012 3 Comments
After reading a recent Chris Mooney post, I was inspired to take a closer look than I have before at the American Political Science Review piece on the “Big 5″ personality factors and their relationship to political ideology. Turns out they are relying on the TIPI (Ten Item Personality Inventory) to assign these traits rather than a longer inventory. I’m sure the TIPI has been well-studied and is generally a valid shorthand for more extensive personality questionnaires, but in my case the results were quite at odds with longer personality inventories I’ve done. As mentioned earlier, “openness to experience” is typically a key element of a liberal personality and on a longer test, I did score above average. As this TIPI summary explains:
Openness is characterized by originality, curiosity, and ingenuity.
- This factor is sometimes referred to as Culture because of its emphasis on intellectualism, polish, and independence of mind.
- This factor is also sometimes referred to as Intellect because of its emphasis on intelligence, sophistication, and reflection.
Yet, what is the actual measure in the TIPI?
I see myself as open to new experiences, complex
Seems like very different thing to me. Oh, I’m a complex intellecutal alright 
, but I am certainly not somebody who seeks out new experiences. I’ve got real issues with the validity of these. On its face, these seems like quite different constructs. Answering this particular question honestly, I put “disagree strongly.” On a similar level, the conscientiousness measure is based on two items where my answers were in complete contradiction. I agree strongly that I am “dependable” and “self-disciplined” yet I also agree with the (reverse-coded) statements that I am “disorganized,careless” (you should see my desk!). Which is it? These are simply not the same construct. Here’s how I came out in an on-line TIPI:
Of course, a summary measure isn’t going to work for everybody and maybe I’m an outlier, but I have to admit to seeing conclusions based on this as potentially problematic. And yes, I am a damn emotionally stable extrovert.
About Steve Greene
I think this is yet another example that might provide some value in the aggregate data, but the vague questions are too messy for strong conclusions about individuals.
My opinion is that surveys like this give the appearance of being much more controlled and accurate than they are. The questions are ambiguous, and there’s the idea that we (a) fully understand all the components of different personality traits and (b) that these traits are mutually exclusive enough to fit neatly into discrete categories.
I like Mooney, and I think his idea is generally sound, but I hesitate to draw specific conclusions from his work. Then again, he’d probably say that — as someone who sees things in shades of gray — that’s exactly what my personality type would have me say.
I agree. Your last sentence is just perfect.
Yesterday at 7:00 am President Obama affirmed his administration believes firmly ‘water is wet’.
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wasted no time in denouncing both the policy and the science behind the policy stating that “The science is not yet firm on the wetness of water. Our own advisers looked at this closely, and we firmly believe that water is not wet, that wet water runs contrary to the American way of life and strong family values. This is nothing more then a blatant attempt to co-op sentiment and gain the polls since some people, not real Americans, but a small minority of people wrongly believe this to be true.” Romney continued “This is a repeat of Obama’s ‘The clear sunny sky is blue’ initiative, and like that, we will prove conclusively the science is simply wrong.”
Most Americans will remember that after the Presidents first ‘Blue Sky’ initiative tens of thousands of right wing pundits took to the internet and provided what they claimed was irrefutable proof of the sky being colors other then blue and proof showing that the majority of scientists who agreed with the white-house Administration were simply begging for lucrative ‘Blue Sky’ grant funding.
Last night Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart on the Daily Show played a clip of Mitt Romney implementing his own ‘Water is Wet’ initiative when he was Governor.
Senator John McCain was quoted as saying “You kids get the hell off my lawn! Damn troublemakers!” when asked about the presidents “Water is wet” initiative.