The process of becoming human

1. A coworker seems to have forgotten her lunch. What do you do?
a. Ask if she'd like to share your peanut butter-and-banana sandwich. When she declines, you continue to chat amiably and eventually invite her and her family over for dinner the following weekend.
b. Notice her distress, wonder idly what might be wrong, then finish your own lunch and return to work.
c. Tell her she is blocking the cafeteria door and had better get out of your way.

2. As you enjoy an evening stroll through your neighborhood, you come upon a little boy staring up at a tree and crying softly. What do you do?
a. Find out why he's crying, then offer to climb to the uppermost branches of the 40-foot tree where his kitten is presently stuck.
b. Notice his distress, wonder idly what might be wrong, then step around him and continue on your walk.
c. Tell him he is blocking the sidewalk and had better get out of your way.

3. Your dog is going crazy because his favorite rawhide bone slid under your upright piano. What do you do?
a. Calm your pet, then pull the 400-pound instrument away from the wall to retrieve the bone.
b. Notice his distress, wonder idly what might be wrong, then step around him on your way to bed.
c. Tell him he's keeping you awake with all the barking and had better be quiet.

Scoring: If you chose mostly A responses, this suggests you are a caregiver who feels the pain of those around you and does whatever is necessary to provide comfort. B responses indicate that you are a loner, content to live and let live. C responses indicate that you may be someone who would benefit from empathy training and anger management classes.

Every month, slightly more serious quizzes along the lines of this spoof appear in general interest magazines. People want to understand themselves better and will use whatever means are available to them to do so.

Researchers, too, are interested in finding the means to understand human nature. Personality theories cover a wide range of descriptions of the psyche and explanations for why we think, feel and behave the way we do. Behavioral psychologists like Skinner believe we are motivated by our environment; humanists like Maslow postulate that we are motivated by the drive to reach our highest aspirations. Proponents of psychoanalytic thought say the keys to the personality lay in subconscious memories of the past; cognitive therapists insist that the self is reinvented in the present by altering what we think about ourselves and our environment. The multitude of personality theories forms a continuum, with each school of thought offering not only a different perspective, but perhaps an additional piece to the puzzle.

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