Hiya, and welcome to the flip side! I mentioned way back at the start of this blog that we can find different personalities to be aesthetically pleasing, or find certain personality traits more attractive than others. I promised I would delve deeper into this. So here I am, ready to tell y’all about it, sitting with my cup of strong, sweet caramel tea. Prepare yourselves.
Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, says the answer to why we find certain personalities attractive, lies in our brain chemistry. To be specific, the four neural systems that underlie our major constellations of personality traits—the dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, and estrogen/oxytocin systems. It is really, quite truly, fascinating. But I’ll summarise to keep it short and sweet.
Amongst other tests, Fisher used MRI scanners to confirm that participants' reported traits matched expected neural activity patterns. And the results I would love to discuss.
She found that people with dopamine-dominant personalities (curious, creative, adventurous types) tend to be drawn to fellow dopamine-influenced adventurers. Serotonin-dominant people (traditional, conscientious, and rule-following) are also drawn to people like themselves. On the other hand, testosterone-dominant people (analytical, skeptical, and tough-minded) and estrogen-dominant individuals (nurturing, contextual, imaginative) are drawn to each other, essentially to their behavioural opposites.
This is amazing to me, that the “opposites attract” theory that everyone seems to throw around so much is indeed proven correct, though only to a degree. However, I think there aren’t many people who would be willing to tie their crushes down in order to analyse their brain chemistry. If you are, I both admire your courage and fear you.
Another way to analyse personalities, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This is mainly to find as close to your official personality and emotional aesthetic as you can get. If you want to take the test, here’s the link: https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types.
I am an INFJ-A / INFJ-T, or an Advocate. To directly quote, Advocates are “very rare, making up less than one percent of the population, but they nonetheless leave their mark on the world. Advocates have an inborn sense of idealism and morality, but what sets them apart is that they are not idle dreamers, but people capable of taking concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting positive impact. They tend to see helping others as their purpose in life, but while people with this personality type can be found engaging in rescue efforts and doing charity work, their real passion is to get to the heart of the issue so that people need not be rescued at all..”
So, check it out, ma dudes. It’s worth the five minutes it took to take the quiz. But once again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I will say this over and over and over and over again until you get this. People just don’t fit neatly into boxes, or even Personality Types. These are generalisations used as a guide and as something to ponder. The only true way to get to know someone is to actually talk and interact with that person (gasps dramatically).
What I want to know, is what personalities you find attractive, so comment away! It can be in relation to friends, romantic interests or even just in general. I will leave you with a quote from my brother that hit me a bit too hard:
“I don’t know what to tell you, sis. He’s just tall.”
:’(
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