Are you for Bush or Kerry? and other Norwegian quizzes (Part II)

Personality Tests

Many cultures show a preoccupation with personality and self-evaluation. Individuals in Norway are no exception to this, searching for information that would somehow clarify their position in the social world. Personality quizzes, if answered honestly, can serve as an immediate feedback mechanism, allowing the individual to privately reflect on his or her own characteristics and potential. In the same sense, these quizzes can also serve as a norming mechanism, placing human behavior within a defined category or spectrum that is culturally appropriate.

Norwegian personality quizzes appeared under six broad categories: personality in context, metaphoric extension, on the spectrum, inner fame, the inner you, and you and your potential.

Personality in context
Quizzes that examine individual behavior in specific contexts can be particularly interesting in that they target cultural moments where a defined range or set of behaviors is considered appropriate. Tests in this category explore items such as expressiveness, extroversion, and etiquette in common contexts and act as a measuring stick for personal performance.

What are you like at parties? (http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/spray/testd... )
Where do you sit in the classroom? (http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/spray/testd... )
What kind of student are you? (http://www.start.no/quiz/2003/07/24-6827... )
What kind of youth and nature person are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
What kind of cell phone user are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
What kind of artist are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )

Metaphoric extension
While sometimes organized around absurd dimensions, these quizzes are interested in comparing individual properties with things in the cultural and material world. Whereas quizzes in the previous category examined how context affects individual behavior, these quizzes are invested in taking the individual out of context in order to draw some conclusion about the enduring characteristics not just of personality, but of the universe.

Which Harry Potter character are you? (http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/spray/testd... )
Which superhero would you be? (http://www.start.no/quiz/2001/09/30-4123... )
What kind of dog are you? (http://www.start.no/quiz/2001/03/28-3131... )
What pop star are you? (http://www.start.no/quiz/2001/09/21-4087... )
Are you an alien? (http://www.start.no/quiz/2001/06/20-3587... )
Which Harry are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
What vegetable are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
Which planet are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
Which city are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
Which fairy tale princess are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )
Which cliché are you? (http://spray.nettavisen.no/testorama/?id... )

On the spectrum
Spectrum quizzes tend to focus on one dimension of personality, defining what can be considered the normal and extreme upper and lower ranges of acceptable behavior. These tend to identify popular "socially evident" categories (e.g., "party animal" as opposed to risk-taking or extroversion) as salient to individual measurement.

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