Upon completing our personality test, you will receive a list of five scales, each one with a value in percentages. You may wonder what those mean.
Here is a quick guide.
These percentages show how strongly your test responses support a particular personality trait when compared with its opposite trait. The five trait pairs include:
- Mind – Introverted or Extraverted
- Energy – Intuitive or Observant
- Nature – Thinking or Feeling
- Tactics – Judging or Prospecting
- Identity – Assertive or Turbulent
It’s important to remember that this scale is not a comparison to other people. It’s all about you and your answers to the test. Scoring “65% Extraverted” on the scale does not mean that you are more Extraverted than 65% of all test takers. The percentages are based on your answers, alone, as an individual.
The two opposing poles of each of the five scales represent endorsing 100% of the statements for each trait. For example, using the Mind scale, one end would be “100% Introverted” and, at the other end, “100% Extraverted.”
The midpoint between the two opposing traits in the pair is 50%. The percentage values show your position on all five scales – the higher the percentage, the stronger you likely express the trait on the side of the high percentage. The closer the score is to 50%, the weaker the trait. Theoretically, and for purposes of illustration, if the score passes below 50% for one trait, it starts increasing the percentage and describing the strength of the other trait in the pair.
If you score “65% Introverted,” theoretically, you could reverse the scale by subtracting 65% from 100% to show that you endorsed about 35% of the statements for Extraversion. Scoring “35% Extraverted” will not affect your five-letter personality type. You’re still an Introvert. But there may be some useful information in knowing the amount of influence the opposite trait might exert on your personality. There will likely be some differences between people who score “10% Extraverted” and “45% Extraverted.” For a more refined look at where you land on the trait scales, we suggest you visit the Trait Scholar tool.
While your main expression of the trait rests on the side with the highest percentage, you may still express enough of the other trait to take on some characteristics that are not typically a part of your type profile in its purest form. For instance, a very Extraverted person may, on occasion, read a book rather than go to a party. Or a very Introverted person may feel compelled to publicly voice their opinion at a rally instead of staying quietly at home.
Adaptation is also a factor to consider. No personality is immune to outside influences. We all adapt to survive in the world. After a while, our adaptive behaviors can become a habit and seem like a “natural” part of our personality. So, in that one area, you may not fit the profile exactly because you’ve adapted to something different. But again, you’re likely to find that most of the profile remains an accurate description of your personality.
For these reasons, you may find that sometimes, when reading a description of your personality type or trait, you may not feel that it applies to you. That’s fine. It would probably be unusual if you didn’t occasionally find something that doesn’t fit.
People who answer 100% of a trait’s statements positively are rare indeed. Similarly, less than 100% alignment with the characteristics described in your profile doesn’t mean that you’re not the type or trait you’re reading about. It just means that there is room for balance – and your personality has space for more than just the specialized characteristics of a single trait. You still belong to the same club. And you’re likely to find that, for the most part, the rest of the profile fits with remarkable precision. For a more thorough picture of the way your traits balance, visit the Trait Scholar tool.
Which trait should you claim if it’s somewhere between 55% and 50% and so close to the divide between the two traits? You’ll find some guidance on how to handle that in our Core Theory article, “Unsure About Your Personality Type?”