Friday, July 15, 2011

Friday Fun: In which Hogwarts House do you belong?

The Sorting Hat on Harry Potter
The Sorting Hat perfectly divines people's personalities, something us mere muggle psychologists can only dream about doing. Yet we continue to try. So in honor of the final Harry Potter movie premiere tonight, I scoured the internet to find some psychology-based quizzes that will tell you, with science-backed certainty, in which Hogwarts House you belong.



A quick overview of the houses for those of you who don't have your Hogwarts primer handy:



 "You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;


 Students of Gryffindor are typically brave, daring, and chivalrous




You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;


Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working



Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;


Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.



Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
--The Sorting Hat Song


Slytherin students are typically cunning and hungry for power




The Quizzes:
The first quiz is from personalitylab.org which was developed by Chris Soto, a professor of personality psychology at Colby College. This 122 question quiz is based on the California Child Q-set and requires you to rate a series of statements on a 9-point scale (1 = Extremely Uncharacteristic to 9 = Extremely Characteristic).

The second quiz is from helloquizzy.com, a website created by OKCupid.org. According to their website, this 126 item quiz is true or false and was "formed using questions similar to those used in the NEO-PI Personality Inventories, measuring the "Big Five" Personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism)."

I've always thought of myself as either a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. I took both of the quizzes to see where they placed me and (drum roll please)...

The first quiz let me know I was a member of Hufflepuff and gave me the following breakdown about my Hogwarts House personality:
Hufflepuff: 83%
Ravenclaw: 67%
Gryffindor: 57%
Slytherin: 44%

The second quiz put me in Ravenclaw with the following break down:
Ravenclaw: 59%
Hufflepuff: 49%
Slytherin: 48%
Gryffindor: 42%

Confession: I'm more than a bit embarrassed that I'm more of a Slytherin than a Gryffindor (and nearly as much a Slytherin as a Hufflepuff!) according to helloquizzy.com. But this quiz did give me several detailed paragraphs of information about my Ravenclaw personality, letting me know things such as the fact that "openness to experience" is an essential part of the Ravenclaw house and that these individuals are intuitive creatures and the quintessential researchers. That may describe me, but I'd like to think their comment that I should leave the leading up to others is less than accurate; and they definitely got it wrong when they suggested I lacked a "rule-abiding quality."

I'd be curious to know who came up with these detailed personality assessments based on Hogwarts Houses (does anyone remember Rowlings describing Ravenclaws as lacking "rule-abiding qualities"?). I'd also love to know what details they give about the personality in the other three houses (but not enough to go back and try to rig the quiz three times. Yes... I considered it).

Why the differing results?
You know, besides the fact that they are sorting me into fictional houses and thus there is no true, validated, scoring system? Well, overall the questions contained similar content, but the difference between selecting a number on a 1-9 scale and having to select true or false affected my answers. This is because for the true or false questions I was forced to select many traits I'm not sure about, or feel I only do a little, as being either or not it was characteristic of me, and that can be hard to do! Welcome to the difficult world of muggle personality measurement.

Ultimately it was really fun and interesting to take both of the quizzes and see how I answered the questions on each of them, and hey... I ended up being a Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw, which is right where I thought I should be (I'd love to claim I was a Gryffindor, as I'm sure we all would, but I think after just a few interactions with me you'd know bravery and fearlessness are, unfortunately, not my defining characteristics).


Take one or both of the quizzes and let us know what you scored in the comments!!


For more information about the California Q-set and the Big Five (and their relation to each other):

McCrae, R., Costa, P., & Busch, C. (1986). Evaluating comprehensiveness in personality systems: The California Q-Set and the five-factor model Journal of Personality, 54 (2), 430-446 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1986.tb00403.x

26 comments:

  1. What I find interesting is, given how JK Rowling has defined the houses, how she defines what a hero should be, or perhaps more specifically, what kind of person she wants her readers to aspire to be. Like most heroes of western culture, bravery is again championed over other qualities like intelligence and justice, suggesting that is not as important to know what you are doing or that what you are doing is just for all, but more that you pursue something you believe in with passion and without fear. Such aimless passion works in stories where protagonists have good hearts with strong moral compasses (intuitively doing what is right), but such an assumption sadly fails in the real world. Attributes like intelligence and a sense of justice should not be so readily overlooked.

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  2. Gryffindor: 70%
    Slytherin: 69%
    Ravenclaw: 53%
    Hufflepuff: 49%

    Apparently, I am equal parts brave/daring AND power-hungry/cunning... I guess someone has to be the villain on this blog! Expelliarmus!!!!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. And don't worry about not being rule-abiding... being just and following the rules are not the same thing. To uphold justice I would gladly break all kinds of rules.

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  5. Hufflepuff: 93%
    Ravenclaw: 72%
    Gryffindor: 46%
    Slytherin: 39%

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  6. Krausologer - I think you make a great point about books like Harry Potter defining our conception of a hero as being brave and that we should consider a broader definition of hero (especially since it means that is hope for me yet as a heroine!).

    But I also think that Rowlings does a good job of presenting complex characters that are more than just the key characteristics of their houses. For example, Hermione is shown to be very intelligent and clearly has a sense of justice as she fights to free the house elves, and Cedric displays bravery as he competes in the tri-wizard tournament.

    And a small aside - since people who know me may read this blog and laugh if they think I referred to myself as being NOT rule-abiding, I have to clarify that I was actually commenting on the fact that Ravenclaws supposedly do not follow the rules, and that, contrary to this, I am quite rule-abiding (though I hope that would no longer be the case if the rules were being used to put a Dark Lord in power).

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  7. The feedback from tests I took concluded, with various phrasings, that a fifth house should be created and named in my honor. I'm OK with that.

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  8. Slytherin: 73%
    Gryffindor: 62%
    Ravenclaw: 56%
    Huffelpuff: 55%

    Slytherin haters to the left.

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  9. Huffelpuff: 89%
    Gryffindor: 81%
    Ravenclaw: 75%
    Slytherin: 49%

    Hmm...about what I expected.

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  10. Its great to see that these quizzes produce a range of results - we have every house represented now! I'd love to know which quiz you took when you post your results.

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  11. Gryffindor: 87%
    Hufflepuff: 76%
    Ravenclaw: 64%
    Slytherin: 32%
    YESSSSSS!!!!!! Ilovee Gryffindor and Hufflepuff

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  12. Gryffindor: 95
    Ravenclaw: 70
    Hufflepuff: 81
    Slytherin: 57

    "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" more like "Gryffindor: Because we blur the line between bold and stupid every time." ;D

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  13. With the first quiz i got
    Slytherin 66%
    Ravenclaw 52%
    Gryffindor 45%
    Hufflepuff 38%
    and with the second quiz i got
    Slytherin 81%
    Ravenclaw 62%
    Gryffindor 60%
    Hufflepuff 40%
    with the results from both quiz's i came up with the same result with is SLYTHERIN!!! not what i expected but now that think about it i agree with the results :D

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  14. With the First Quiz i got
    Ravenclaw 89%
    Hufflepuff 80%
    Gryffindor 72&
    Slytherin 49%

    Second Quiz
    Ravenclaw 52%
    Gryffindor 52%
    Hufflepuff 48%
    Slytherin 47%

    Looking at the result its shows I'm a Ravenclaw not surprise really lol i always thought i will fit in that house.

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  15. 2nd quiz:

    Gryffindor: 64%
    Ravenclaw-47%
    Hufflepuff-46%
    Slytherin: 43%

    I always thought I was more Gryffindor/Ravenclaw then Hufflepuff/Slytherin, but Pottermore put me into Slytherin, just because I chose water and Left a few times, which I still don't understand. :)

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  16. Gryffindor-54%
    Hufflepuff-54%
    Ravenclaw-50%
    Slytherin-41%

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  17. I am a close call between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, which essentially means that I am a smart, hardworking marshmallow.

    Although, somebody now needs to due a study and see if people of similar houses really do hang out together...

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    1. I have a group of four friends; I am the Snake (pretending to be a Raven), another girl is a clear Gryffindor, a third is a sweet, kind, would-never-hurt-a-fly Hufflepuff, and the last is a mix. Personally, I think she's a bit of a Slytherpuff, but...

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  18. Quiz 1:

    Slytherin: 65%
    Ravenclaw: 53%
    Gryffindor: 49%
    Hufflepuff: 35%

    Quiz 2:

    Slytherin: 82%
    Ravenclaw: 81%
    Gryffindor: 69%
    Hufflepuff: 50%

    So: Slytherin :)

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  19. personalitylab:
    83% Hufflepuff
    77% Ravenclaw
    71% Gryffindor
    55% Slytherin

    helloquizzy:
    44% Hufflepuff
    36% Gryffindor
    20% Ravenclaw
    24% Slytherin

    Overall: Hufflepuff

    Correct. Although I thought I would be a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but now that I think of it my mum would defiantly be in Hufflepuff and I'm more like her. My dad one the other hand... pure Slytherin. Seems like I'm nothing like him. How a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin got together?
    Don't ask me.

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  20. To uphold justice, if you break all rules, does that make you a just Hufflepuff, or a rebellious Slytherin, or a brave Gryffindor? To break rules, you need to be brave (Gryffindor); since you are going against rules, you are rebellious (Slytherin); and, you are actually upholding justice (Hufflepuff). So, where would you belong? This is exactly why I have a problem with JKR's sorting basis. Things are not so black & white in the real world, as they are portrayed in the books.

    For example, I am brave enough to stand up to my friends but I'm not a risk-taker (Gryffindor or not?), I love analyzing things but I'm not witty (Ravenclaw or not?), I'm extremely fair-minded but I'm not patient (Hufflepuff or not?), I'm resourceful but I don't possess leadership qualities (Slytherin or not?).

    Therefore, when Pottermore sorts me in a particular house, I feel extremely discomforted 'cos I don't portray ALL the qualities of that house, and it feels as if all my other qualities which correspond to the other houses get completely ignored. I'm quite a complicated personality. And if I have to choose which house I would like to be part of, I would have a very tough time, 'cos I do not favor any one single house.

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    Replies
    1. Your a little like Neville long bottom. Although the reason Neville took long in the sorting is because the hat wanted him in gryffindor but he wanted ol' quiet hufflepuff. See for you, you don't need to be all of the characteristics to be in a group. See I'm a gryffindor because I show a lot of chivalry but also I got straight a's iN my classes often so I'm more of a Gryffindor but I'm also a Ravenclaw. Although I would stick up for my friends and I am loyal to my group. Although I hang out with two hufflepuffs, a ravenclaw, and another gryffindor.

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  21. I completely agree with anonymous right above me. Actually, my results from helloquizzy represent my complex characteristics, and the way I don't fit into any one house, perfectly.
    50% Ravenclaw
    49% Hufflepuff
    49% Slytherin
    43% Gryffindor
    I am intelligent, wise, mature, and believe in learning and growing, I am patient, fair-minded, loyal, and believe in equality and justice, I am subtle, sly, manipulative, and believe in indirect methods of achieving one's goals, and I am brave and will stand up for what is right. But I don't believe knowledge is everything, I am not hardworking, I am not arrogant or especially ambitious, and I am not reckless. So where do I fit?
    As anonymous (above me) said, the world is not black and white, and people's personalities do not always fit into boxes, especially ones with such obvious stereotypes as the Hogwarts houses.

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  22. I had very similar results to Amie.

    Quiz 1:

    49% Gryffindor
    66% Ravenclaw
    76% Hufflepuff
    54% Slytherin

    Quiz 2:

    59% Ravenclaw
    57% Hufflepuff
    50% Slytherin
    42% Gryffindor

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  23. 1st quiz:
    74% Slytherin
    73% Ravenclaw
    60% Gryffindor
    55% Hufflepuff

    2nd Quiz:
    63% Slytherin
    53% Gryffindor
    52% Ravenclaw
    40% Hufflepuff

    I really found this interesting, considering I've been sorted into Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff numerous times, but not Slytherin. (It is my House preference, though.) These are by far the most thorough of the sorting quizzes I've taken, focusing mainly on personality traits and not how you would react to given situations. I thought I was kind of a Slytherpuff, really. I'm guessing that I'm not Ravenclaw because I study and learn for the sake of getting the best score possible and not for the sake of knowledge- that would really be the key difference. I've never been known as cunning or sly, and I'm not sure about the manipulation, actually.

    Also: I'm a Gryff on Pottermore.

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  24. Because you when it comes to getting the highest grade possible, that's a slytherin trait because you are striving for the best

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