Why Him? Why Her? - Him Her 6

 

"My friends and family would say I have traditional values." Because the drive to follow social norms is a hallmark of the serotonin system, I thought Builders would be particularly partial to this statement.

To establish the degree to which a member is a Director, I offered the statement "I am more analytical and logical than most people." High-testosterone men and women, I believed, would feel this described them accurately.

And because Negotiators tend to be highly imaginative due in large part to estrogen activity, I included the statement "I vividly imagine both wonderful and horrible things happening to me."

Then, with psychologists Jonathan Rich and Heide Island, whom I invited to join me on this project, I perfected the questionnaire. It was launched nationally as part of Chemistry.com in February 2006. The point of this test: to measure your biological profile for dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and estrogen—or the degree to which you are an Explorer, Builder, Director and Negotiator.

As I write this paragraph, some five million Americans have filled out the questionnaire, along with another 1.8 million in thirty four other countries, because this personality test forms the basis of the more extensive questionnaire and matching system used by Chemistry.com. And upon reviewing the data in a sample of 39,913 anonymous members of Chemistry.com, I vividly saw how differently each of these four personality types thinks and acts.

But I wanted to know more: Does each personality type like to do something different on Saturday night? What are their religious and political preferences? Do they pursue different vocations? Where does each type prefer to live? What kinds of friends does each type see regularly—a social crowd, intellectuals, adventurers or activists? How often does each type fall in love? What are their views on kissing in public? Do they regard sex as an important part of marriage? How much personal autonomy and closeness does each type need in a partnership? I was even curious about the state of their sock drawer: messy or neat?

So I also asked these and other questions and examined the responses in this same sample of 39,913 anonymous members of Chemistry.com. The group's average age was thirty-seven; 56.4 percent were women; and 89.6 percent were heterosexual. Explorers were 26 percent of the sample, while Builders were 28.6 percent, Directors were 16.3 percent, and Negotiators were 29.1 percent of the population.

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