To tell you the truth, my pdoc has said this - 'gut reaction'. I didn't listen to him but I did listen to you. I went back and read each of the questions again and looked for my very first reaction. There were some interesting results. I'd like to share them with the hope that you'll return to this thread and see if you can help a bit more because I did run into some problems - but maybe they aren't insurmountable.

Instead of analyzing (which seems like a poor word choice because it happens in a fraction of a second and I think of analyzation as something that requires time) first and then trying to answer, instead I answered first and then tried to analyze my answer. Why analyze at all? Well, we all have prejudices and filters on a subconscious level for starters and sometimes that can hide the truth from us. Second, I know that I am not above lying to try and keep myself safe if I feel threatened - and I find these tests, revealing myself to someone whom I don't trust to have my best intentions in mind, makes me feel vulnerable - i.e. not safe.

"Do you dread going into a room by yourself where other people have already gathered and are talking?"

My first reaction was 'no'. It was based on the fact that I associate dread with fear. I do not fear entering a social situation. When watching my mind work while asking the question - I had 'no' in mind as soon as I got to, "Do you dread" It was a visceral reaction to the idea that I was afraid. In fact, I paid very little attention to the rest of the sentence after that....just some fluff about going into a room with or without someone where other people were doing something. I was so focused on the concept of 'dread'.

"I have close friends who served time in prison."

Again, I had my mind made up as soon as I got to the plural use of the word 'friend'. I don't have friends (plural) - so really, it made no difference how the rest of the sentence finishes. My answer would be 'no' or 'false'. Again though, still seems to miss the spirit of the question. I would surmise that the question is really trying to determine if I choose choir boys or bad boys - so I think answering 'false' to this one based on a gut reaction misses the mark.

"I enjoy violent sports and movies."

Very interesting discovery here when I went with my gut reaction. My gut reaction was 'false' or 'no' and that was determined by this point in the sentence, "I enjoy violent sports". At this point, the inclusion of 'movies' made no difference to my answer. But! And this is a big but; when I changed the order of the words in the sentence to "I enjoy violent movies and sports." - changing the order of the words 'movie' and 'sports' so that 'movie' was first, my answer changed. My gut made up it's mind after "I enjoy violent movies" and adding sports to it didn't change my gut reaction.

While fascinating - it adds another layer of problems to my answering these questions this way. When I go with my gut, apparently I make up my mind before the question is done - and subsequent information in the sentence is disregarded. As a result, changing the order of the words in the sentence can elicit different answers. That might not seem like a big deal, but psych tests always ask the same question a dozen different ways to test for consistency.

lol - I so get this.