[FRIAM] Political compass teest

Mon Oct 12 13:02:53 EDT 2020

Glen, 

You get at one of the central empirical questions of Psychology:  What is the relation between what I say and what I do?  More generally, what is the relation between the information we get from a first person view and a third person view of the same person?  The question you raise about the test is interesting.  If you treat it as behavior, then it contributes to a third person view; if you treat it as self report, then it contributes to a first person view.  Am I responding to the test, or am I reporting on my response to the test?  

"Who knows what evil lurks in the human heart?  The 

Shadow....."

Nick 

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ???
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2020 10:41 AM
To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Political compass teest

On 10/12/20 9:12 AM, Steve Smith wrote:

> uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ wrote:

>> 

>> sunday: Economic Left/Right: -8.75

>> Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.92

>> 

>> monday: Economic Left/Right: 7.75

>> Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 5.9

> Can you name these two humunculii who took these tests?

Yes. The first one was my anarcho-syndicalist (not his buddy who thinks social democracy is reasonable, but the one who actually believes there is such a thing as "libertarian" and thinks social democracy is a stepping stone to authority). The 2nd one is a model I made of a local small business owner with whom I had an excellent, free ranging, ~3 hour discussion with on Saturday. He runs the new cider taproom in downtown Olympia, used to organize male and female sports events for some college, also runs an arcade somewhere, etc. At the start of the conversation, not knowing anything about me, he began with the standard "liberal" attitudes. By the end of it, he was revealed to be a fairly *reasonable* right winger who accepts that most people are liberal. The conversation sampled a huge space, from violence in the streets, to how to raise children, gay marriage, drinking venue strategies for attracting legislators while "in session", etc. We got along very well and agreed on almost everything. I could easily *be* him if I'd lived his life.

> I tried to self-reflect (after reading your analysis here) on what 

> direction or in what manner, taking this test and comparing results 

> with others here suggests.   Did I become *more* 

> Liberal/Anti-Authoritarian through the process?  Or did I react to the 

> score I got and recalibrate myself?   No clear answer.

The test is inherently reflective, designed to change you. I've been taking it in some form or other since college, when someone accused me of being a Libertarian and, hence, began going to their meetings. It seems closely akin to what "talk therapists" and cults do. Ask the right questions, in the right way, and you'll get the answers you want. What I find irritating is the belief that what I (or some other nutjob) *say(s)* they think/believe maps to what I (or some other nutjob) will *do*.

FWIW, I don't actually *care* that it's propaganda and influential ... I'd just like everyone to engage their executive function while being manipulated. I like my slaves to *know* they're slaves. >8^D

--

↙↙↙ uǝlƃ

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