BuzzFeed

Today, a buzzfeed quiz popped up in my news feed on Facebook. I decided to take the can we guess your personality based on how you cook mac and cheese. After taking the quiz, it told me that I am a perfectionist. So, I decided to take the quiz two more times. Each time I gave a different answer. The result I got for the second test was that I am currently a student in college. The third time I took the quiz, I got that I am a perfectionist. The results of this quiz was created to match anyone’s personality type regardless what answer they put for the questions. When I scrolled through Facebook, I saw comments like “Wow how did they know? and Yes, I am a perfectionist.” The Barum effect once again comes up in my day to day life. Those who spend their free time on buzzfeed taking quiz believe the results that are given to them because it is a vague response designed to match everyone’s personality type. 
We talked about what makes a good personality test in class a few months ago. Some things that make a good test is validity, reliability, agreement, and prediction. A test that can supposedly guess one's personality type based off of how they cook mac and cheese is an example of non reliable personality test.

Barum Effect

In class, we talked about the Barum effect. The Barum effect is a person’s tendency to accept a vague, general description of their personality as strikingly accurate. We did an activity where we wrote a sentence and had a paragraph given to us the next day that had analyzed our personality based off of our hand writing. Little did the class know, everyone got the same exact analysis. The majority of the class said that they agreed with the analysis that was given. In a class of twenty people, it is impossible for every single student to have the same exact personality.

The Barum effect showed the class that individuals are more likely to believe something “official” about their personality even if they know deep down that it is not true. My group and I thought that the analysis on our hand writing was spot on to our personality. It was interesting to see how easy someone’s mind can change based off of one thing. Once we were told that the analysis was fake, my group proceeded to start talking about all the qualities that were listed that didn’t quite describe them. I think seeing that change in opinion was the most interesting thing about the activity. 

Fish-and-water effect

My roommate is very messy! She will wait weeks at a time until doing the dishes, the trash only gets taken out if I do it, and the room is always a mess. She is aware of my personality and how I like to work and live in a clean environment, or else I cannot focus. Since she is the exact opposite, she does not view cleaning as a priority. I have tried leaving subtle hints such as “I want to sweep the floor today or Wow this week the room got very messy!” After my hints went unnoticed, I would ask her to help me clean. I would be told that she would do it, but one month has passed and it is still not done. Just the other day, she said to a friend of ours, “What do you mean? I am the cleanest roommate out of all of us!”

She is showing us the example of Fish-and-water effect. This effect falls under S Data which is used to measure someone’s personality. Fish are always in water, therefore they do not realize that they are always wet. The same goes for people. For example, my roommate is very messy all the time, but does not acknowledge or attempt to realize it.