Nearly not normal!
How normal are you? is the title of a new TV programme on channel one. The show asks an audience of potentially normal people all manner of searching questions to find how normal they are socially, financially, in work and relationships. There's even an online questionnaire which, according to the blurb, has been 'developed with expert help from internationally renowned psychologists and which has provided some very interesting new statistics'. If you believe the spin then all this has stimulated 'thought provoking debate between the panellists and viewers at home'. Yeah right!
I took the personality test. I got a bit stuck on question 11 that asked 'If you say something bad behind a friend's back, how long do you feel guilty?' I don't normally say bad things about my friends so I had to think hard for an answer. I decided on, A. I don't feel guilty. There was no box to explain that I don't feel guilty because I don't do it. It would have been a lie to choose any of the other possible answers, B. For a couple of minutes afterwards, C. All day or D. I feel guilty for weeks. The statistcs show that it is normal to feel guilty for weeks. I don't believe this result. People who talk behind other's backs (especially friend's backs) are unlikely to be the type who lie awake at night feeling guilty about it, or am I just being cynical here? I'm told by the computer 'You answered A, I don't feel guilty which is not normal for this question'. To the question 'Do you like your own company?' I answered 'Yes' which is 'nearly not normal' for this question. Nearly not normal! Is this a standard expression used by all those internationally renowned physiologists who helped develop the test or is it, as I suspect, a load of gobbledegook?
Finally I'm assured that overall in the area of Personality since I scored 30 out of 64, I have a nearly normal personality. That's all right then, I guess. Normal is boring, nearly normal has to be a whole lot more interesting.
I took the personality test. I got a bit stuck on question 11 that asked 'If you say something bad behind a friend's back, how long do you feel guilty?' I don't normally say bad things about my friends so I had to think hard for an answer. I decided on, A. I don't feel guilty. There was no box to explain that I don't feel guilty because I don't do it. It would have been a lie to choose any of the other possible answers, B. For a couple of minutes afterwards, C. All day or D. I feel guilty for weeks. The statistcs show that it is normal to feel guilty for weeks. I don't believe this result. People who talk behind other's backs (especially friend's backs) are unlikely to be the type who lie awake at night feeling guilty about it, or am I just being cynical here? I'm told by the computer 'You answered A, I don't feel guilty which is not normal for this question'. To the question 'Do you like your own company?' I answered 'Yes' which is 'nearly not normal' for this question. Nearly not normal! Is this a standard expression used by all those internationally renowned physiologists who helped develop the test or is it, as I suspect, a load of gobbledegook?
Finally I'm assured that overall in the area of Personality since I scored 30 out of 64, I have a nearly normal personality. That's all right then, I guess. Normal is boring, nearly normal has to be a whole lot more interesting.
posted by Omykiss at 2:44 pm
4 Comments:
Hmmm? Now for me this just raises the questions of What is normal? and Who decides it? and Who wants to be 'normal' anyway? I know I'm not 'normal' and I'm glad of that, makes me seem interesting...I hope!
I'd much rather be unique!
Nearly not normal
That is an odd expression!
Hi all,
Yes I agree ... normal is a pretty terrifing thing to be. Viva la difference, that's what I say!
Post a Comment
<< Home