That Online Personality Test You Took? It's Probably Wrong

If you've ever taken a personality test online, you might assume your results are compared to the average person. But a new analysis of the 2012 LessWrong survey reveals that many online tests compare you to other people who take online tests—a group that's already different from the general public. This skews your results, making certain traits look more "normal" than they really are.

The LessWrong community, known for its interest in rational thinking, took the Big Five personality test in 2012. The initial results showed they were only slightly more open‑minded and slightly less conscientious than average. But the researcher suspected this was wrong because the test's norms came from online test‑takers, who tend to be more open and less conscientious than the general population. So, the differences for LessWrong looked smaller than they should.

To check, the researcher compared LessWrong's raw scores to a representative sample of 1,015 Americans who took the same test. The results were striking: when compared to the general public, LessWrong users were much more open‑minded and much less conscientious. In fact, their average neuroticism was almost exactly the same as the general public, not lower as the online test suggested.

This matters because online personality tests are everywhere—used for fun, for dating, and even for hiring. If the comparisons are off, you might get a misleading picture of yourself or others. It's a reminder that who you're compared to makes a big difference. So next time you take an online test, check who the "average" really is.