59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (31 page)

SCORING

Look at the numbers in the top-right corner of the boxes that you have checked in statements 5 (“having excellent ideas”) and 10 (“having difficulty understanding abstract ideas”). Add these two numbers to find your score on the Openness dimension. If your score is 10 or less, then you should see yourself as a low scorer, whereas if your score is
above 10, you should see yourself as a high scorer. Write your total on the line below, and check either the Low or the High score line.

OPENNESS

Total of statements 5 and 10:———

———Low (10 and below)———High (above 10)

Now repeat this process for the remaining four dimensions:

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

Total of statements 3 and 8:———

———Low (11 and below)———High (above 11)

EXTROVERSION

Total of statements 1 and 6:———

———Low (9 and below)———High (above 9)

AGREEABLENESS

Total of statements 2 and 7:———

———Low (10 and below)———High (above 10)

NEUROTICISM

Total of statements 4 and 9:———

———Low (9 and below)———High (above 9)

A Quick Analysis, and a Few Handy Hints, Based on Your Scores

Openness
. High scorers tend to be imaginative and creative but also prone to boredom, and so strive to continually feed their mind with new ideas and experiences. Low scorers are more down-to-earth, and so tend to seek out situations in which they have to turn
an existing idea into reality, take small steps rather than initiate radical change, and follow well-established patterns and rules.

Conscientiousness
. High scorers are methodical, well organized, and dutiful, and perform best in highly structured and predictable environments where there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Low scorers are far more laid-back and find it easy to enjoy life, but may well need a helping hand when it comes to self-discipline.

Extroversion
. High scorers are energized by the company of others, are evening types, and are motivated more by carrots than sticks. In contrast, low scorers tend to be happiest working alone and in quiet surroundings, are most alert in the morning, and are motivated more by fear of punishment than promise of rewards.

Agreeableness
. High scorers tend to be trusting, friendly, and cooperative, but have to be careful to avoid situations in which others might take advantage of their overly giving nature. Low scorers tend to be more aggressive and competitive, and bloom in situations that require tough thinking and straight talking.

Neuroticism
. High scorers are prone to insecurity and emotional distress, and avoid situations that they find upsetting because those negative feelings take some time to fade away. Low scorers tend to be more relaxed, less emotional and less prone to distress, and they operate well in situations that others find stressful.

   
BEHIND THE BIG FIVE

Differences in brain function and upbringing may account for differences in the fundamental dimensions of personality.

For example, a relationship exists between extroversion and brain activation. If you open the top of someone’s skull and look in, you will see the wrinkled mass of tissue that is their cortex. This large lump of meat makes up about 80 percent of the weight of a brain and contains an amazing 100 billion neurons. Every cortex has a different pre-set level of arousal. Brain scans have revealed that people scoring low on extroversion have a high pre-set level of arousal. As a result, they avoid situations that further arouse their stimulated brains and are most comfortable when they are engaged in quiet, predictable activities. The exact opposite is true of those who score high on extroversion. Their brains have a much lower pre-set level of arousal, so they have a need for continuous stimulation. Because of this, they enjoy being with other people, risk taking, and impulsive behavior.

Other work has focused more on the relationship between personality and upbringing. For example, University of California psychologist Frank Sulloway believes that levels of openness are determined, at least to some extent, by birth order.
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According to Sulloway’s theory, because younger children haven’t developed the abilities and skills that their older siblings have, they explore novel ways to get their parents’ love and attention, and this, in turn, causes them to develop into more open, creative, unconventional, adventurous, and rebellious people. To test his theory, Sulloway analyzed the biographies of more than six thousand well-known people from many different walks of life, and he claims that the evidence is overwhelming. He notes that the vast majority of American presidents (including Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton) were firstborns, whereas leaders of revolutions, such as Jefferson, Marx, and Castro, were later in their families’ birth order. Likewise, when it comes to science, Sulloway argues that firstborns tend to be members of the scientific establishment, whereas younger siblings, such as Darwin and Copernicus, are the ones who propose radically new ideas. It is a controversial idea,
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but if correct, it provides a striking illustration of how subtle differences in childhood experience may have a surprisingly dramatic effect on personality.

THE CASANOVA EFFECT

Imagine deciding to quit your job and embark on a new career as a professional palmist. You invest in the requisite purple caftan, set up a small booth on the busy promenade in the nearest seaside town, and nervously await your first customer. A few moments later, a man walks in, sits down, and crosses your palm with silver. You carefully look at the stranger’s hand and try to spot any telltale clues that might give you a magical insight into his life. Is his soft skin a sign of office work? Do his chewed nails signal a recent job loss? Is his calloused palm suggestive of too much time at the gym—or does it reflect a strong need to find a love interest? According to some psychologists, you would be much better off ignoring his soft skin, chewed nails, and calloused palm, instead shifting your attention to the length of his index and ring fingers. Their argument is a curious one, which links the famous eighteenth-century womanizer Giacomo Casanova with some of Britain’s most famous soccer players.

According to his colorful autobiography, Casanova enjoyed the company of many European kings, cardinals, poets, and artists.
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At one point he describes how he spent time with the eminent German painter Anton Raphael Mengs. After a while, they started to argue, with Mengs berating Casanova for not observing his religious duties and Casanova accusing Mengs of being a child-beating alcoholic. As the situation moved from bad to worse, Casanova took it upon himself to criticize one of Mengs’s paintings. He pointed out that the index finger of a principal male character was longer than the ring finger and was therefore anatomically incorrect, as men’s ring fingers were longer than their index fingers. Mengs defended his work by showing that his own index finger was longer than his ring finger. Casanova stuck to his argument, showing that his ring finger was longer than his index finger, claiming that this was true of most men and arguing that his hands were thus “like that of all the children descended from Adam.” Affronted, Mengs asked Casanova, “Then from whom do you suppose I am descended?” Casanova replied, “I have no idea; but it is certain that you are not of my species.” As the argument escalated, they raised a bet of one hundred pistoles on the issue and promptly rounded up the painter’s servants to discover who was right. A quick perusal of the servants’ hands revealed that Casanova was correct, but Mengs quickly saved face by rejoicing in the fact that he could now boast of being unique in something.

Evolutionary psychologist John Manning, at the University of Central Lancashire, has dedicated much of his professional life to studying the differences in finger lengths described by Casanova. He argues that they reveal an important insight into the human psyche.
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Manning and his colleagues measure the length of people’s index and ring fingers, and then divide
the first length by the second to obtain what is commonly referred to as the “2D:4D” (second digit to fourth digit) ratio. If the ring and index fingers are exactly the same length, then the 2D:4D ratio will be 1.00. If, however, the ring finger is longer than the index finger, then the 2D:4D ratio will be less than 1.00, and conversely, if the index finger is longer than the ring finger, then the 2D:4D ratio will be greater than 1.00.

The research has conclusively revealed that the finger-length pattern described by Casanova tends to be associated far more with men than with women, with the average 2D:4D ratio for men being about .98, while the corresponding figure for women hovers around 1.00. In short, men’s ring fingers tend to be longer than their index fingers, whereas women’s fingers tend to be about the same length.

Why should this be the case? According to Manning, the explanation dates back to the very start of a person’s life and is closely linked to testosterone levels in the womb. After about six weeks or so, the level of testosterone in the womb changes, and those fetuses that are exposed to large amounts of the hormone develop more male characteristics, while those exposed to much smaller levels develop more female attributes. Manning argues that testosterone also plays a key role in determining the length of a person’s index and ring fingers, with high levels resulting in a relatively long ring finger. If Manning’s theory is right, a person’s 2D:4D ratio is related to the amount of testosterone that they were exposed to in the womb and should provide a good indication of the degree to which they possess psychological and physical traits commonly associated with either masculinity or femininity. According to this theory, people with low 2D:4D ratios will be more likely than others to exhibit masculine characteristics, while those
with high 2D:4D ratios will be significantly more likely to be in touch with their feminine side.

It is a controversial idea and one that has attracted its fair share of criticism.
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However, proponents argue that a large body of research now supports the theory, including work examining physical strength and sporting success. In one study, a group of men had their finger lengths measured and were then asked to complete various strength tests, including shoulder, overhead, and bench presses.
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The results revealed the expected relationships. Men who had lower 2D:4D ratios were able to lift heavier weights than those with higher ratios. Often the differences were far from trivial. For example, for overhead presses, those with 2D:4D ratios of .91 lifted twenty-four pounds more than those with ratios of more than 1.00. In another study, researchers turned their attention to student sprinters and found that their times in the 100-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter races were all related to 2D:4D ratios, with the faster runners having lower ratios.
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In another experiment, Manning and his team managed to measure the finger lengths of some of the best-known and most highly skilled soccer players in Britain.
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Attending a centenary celebration designed to mark the end of the 100th English League Championship, the researchers persuaded more than three hundred players to have their hands photocopied, and then compared their finger lengths to those of a control group of more than five hundred men who had never ventured onto a soccer field. The 2D:4D ratio of the players was significantly lower than that of the controls. Strong differences also emerged among the different groups of players, with high-performing “legends” and those who had played at an international level having especially low ratios.

Other work suggests that the 2D:4D effect may also extend to certain psychological traits. A great deal of research has
shown that men tend to outperform women in tests that involve the mental manipulation of spatial information (perhaps explaining the alleged fondness of women for turning maps around when navigating). In line with this finding, Manning believes that his research suggests that men with low 2D:4D ratios (who therefore, according to his theory, possess more “masculine” brains) tend to outperform others on these tasks.
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Similarly, he cites other work suggesting that when it comes to personality, women with lower 2D:4D ratios tend to exhibit traits that the researchers believe to be more male-oriented, including being more assertive and risk taking.
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According to Manning, the effect even extends to making music. Noting that there are about ten times as many male professional musicians as females, Manning argues that musical ability is associated more with a masculine brain than a feminine brain and that therefore highly skilled performers should have an especially low 2D:4D ratio. To test this idea, he measured the 2D:4D ratio of fifty-four male members of a well-known British symphony orchestra. Several sections of the orchestra were organized in a hierarchical way, with more highly skilled musicians taking key positions. Manning discovered that performers in these key positions did indeed have significantly lower 2D:4D ratios than their fellow musicians.
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In order to obtain a mysterious insight into yourself and others, it may well be better to forget traditional palmistry and instead focus your attention on the apparently important relative lengths of the index finger and the ring finger.