To celebrate Halloween we released a test to find out what scares our users and to see if there were any links between this and their personality. We have now had a look at the results and have discovered some interesting correlations.
We asked PersonaBubble users to rate their level of fear on the following things:
The Dark- Ghosts
- Spiders
- Zombies
- Public Speaking
- Heights
- Small Spaces
- Blood
- Flying
What we discovered was that People who said there were more scared of any of the items in our test seemed to be less socially confident than those who weren’t scared. People who have lower social confidence tend to dislike having to speak in front of groups and becoming the centre of attention – which would explain why this trait is particularly found in people who said they were scared of public speaking. People who have lower social confidence also tend to have a well-developed sense of what others are feeling and they are acutely aware of subtle changes in sights sounds or other physical sensations. This sensitivity may cause them to rate their level of fear higher than other people.
We also found that a couple of fears stood out regarding their links with certain personality traits.
People who said they were afraid of Zombies were more warm than people who weren’t afraid of them. People who are warmer seek emotional closeness with others and enjoy people who show their emotions openly. Such people may be uncomfortable in situations in which interpersonal contact is not accessible , as Zombies are humans who have had all emotion and warmth stripped from them, this might explain why people with this trait fear them.
Of the list of fears we presented our users, the fear of Heights was probably one of the more rational. This might explain why people who say they are more afraid of heights also tend to be more down-to-earth thinkers. People with this personality trait focus more on obtaining information from their five senses and like concrete factual realities. They tend to struggle with more abstract or conceptual ideas which would explain why they are more likely to find heights scary as there is a real factual reason why this is a threat; the fact they could fall to their death.
Which of the things on the list are you most afraid of and how do they match up with your personality? Take our free personality test and our fears test to find out and let us know what you discover in the comments section below.
