So I’m taking the Braverman Assessment for my naturopath. The Braverman Assessment, if you don’t know it, is a questionnaire that evaluates a person’s dominant personality type based on four key neurotransmitter profiles: dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA and serotonin. By answering a series of true/false questions about your memory, energy, and character, you can supposedly determine which of these four neurotransmitter “natures” is dominant and how this impacts your personality and health.
Anyway, one of the true or false statements on the test (which has captured my attention) is: “I am an impulsive thinker”. Which is a weird statement, since “impulsive” literally means “done without forethought”. Could I be an impulsive person, who acts without forethought? Absolutely. Could I be an impulsive thinker who thinks without forethought? Chronologically improbable.
I’m guessing the word they’re looking for is “compulsive”. Compulsive describes an action or behavior driven by an irresistible urge. If that is the word intended, I believe I may have incidentally answered the question already.
I complete the quiz and submit it but not without first marking up the spelling and grammatical errors. The naturopath will now know more about my personality than they’d ever hoped for.
Is it weird that I, a supposed scientific rationalist, periodically go to the naturopath (and acupuncturist) at all? Probably. But then again, perhaps I’m simply science dominant, with an undertone of mysticism? Because I do think healing is at least one part art to say, every two parts science. Some of the best medicine I’ve ever received was from these alternative, empathetic weirdos who actually take the time to ask questions and administer bizarre quizzes. In fact, I feel better already.
Question: do you enjoy personality tests and if so, which are your favourites? I recall being pretty deeply enamoured with the pseudoscientific Myers-Briggs; although all the possible results are rather too positive. What is the value of a personality test after all if at least one of the possible results isn’t simply: you’re an insufferable prick?