We can measure a key aspect of your personality with just seven questions. Please rate the following on a scale from 1 (very false) to 4 (very true):
1) If something bad is about to happen, I’m usually afraid or nervous.
2) I get quite hurt by criticism or getting told off.
3) I get quite worried or upset when somebody seems to be angry with me.
4) I usually get quite worked up if I think something unpleasant is going to happen.
5) I worry when I’ve done badly at something important.
6) I am more fearful than my friends.
7) I worry about making mistakes.
Add up your scores to measure your behavioural inhibition system (BIS). This system – one of two aspects of Jeffrey Alan Gray’s biopsychological theory of personality – is involved in avoiding things that are boring, painful, new and scary or otherwise unpleasant. The average score is around 18 for men and 21 for women. People with a high score are sensitive to such unpleasantness and go out of their way to avoid it. They also show high levels of anxiety when escape from such a situation is difficult.
Interestingly, two recent studies have found that left-handers score higher on this questionnaire than right-handers. Similarly, left-handed marmosets are more fearful of approaching new food than right-handers and freeze for longer when they hear an eagle. This is because the brain systems responsible for the BIS are largely in right hemisphere, which is dominant in left-handers.
Fancy some more quizzes? Order Psy-Q by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £8.99) or £6.99 from bookshop.theguardian.com
