Can personality be tested in a laboratory? Hans Eysneck, a prominent psychologist who died in 1997, thought so. He felt that one’s personality could not be determined simply by describing one’s thoughts and feelings, but rather the underliying physical causes that cause the personality. Wanna see if it’s right? Do you consder yourself an extrovert (one who is friendly, outgoing, talks freely, etc.) or an introvert (keep to yourself, quieter, work in the background, etc.) Try this short experiment out and see if it works! All you need is a string, Q-Tip, and some lemon juice.
1)Tie a length of thread to the center of a double-tipped cotton swab so that when you hold it by the string the swab hangs perfectly horizontal.
2) Swallow three times and immediately put one end of the cotton swab onto your tongue.
3) Hold it in your mouth for thirty seconds.
4) Remove the swab and put four drops of lemon juice on your tongue.
5) Swallow and immediately place the other end of the swab on the same spot in your mouth. Hold it there for thirty seconds and then let the swab hang.
If you are an extravert, the swab will remain close to horizontal. If you are an introvert, one end will hang down noticeably, indicating that you produced a large amount of saliva in response to the lemon juice. The theory behind the test is that if a person is classified as an introvert, then their biological response to outward stimuli would be greater. As an individual who does not depend on the surrounding environment for stimulation, an introvert’s personality would indefinately shape how he or she responds to the environment. For example, an introverted person would be less likely to shout out a response when excited than an extroverted person. An extroverted individual can feel more comfortable with their public image in the sense that they respond honestly to external stimuli with what their personality actually wants to perform. Therefore they must have external stimuli in which to respond to. With this constant stimulation and response to environmental stimuli, the responses themselves can become passe, and as with the inrovert the extrovert’s biological responses would be shaped by their personality. Thusly an introvert’s response – the salivation after the introduction of lemon juice – would be greater because the personality’s response, and therefore the body’s response, would be less conditioned to responding to the environment. The extrovert’s response is less salivation after the introduction of lemon juice.
