Archive for November, 2009

What is a personality test November 23rd, 2009

One of the favorite human pastimes is to understand oneself and other persons. And it is often much harder to understand oneself!

One instrument that may make it easier are personality tests.

A personality quiz aspires to depict aspects of a person’s character that stay stable throughout that person’s lifespan, the individual’s character pattern of conduct, views, and feelings.

Already the old Greeks…

An early model of personality was posited by Greek philosopher/physician Hippocrates.

His theory divided personalities into four groups, depending on which bodily fluid was dominating the personality, into sanguinic, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic

Modern tests

The 20th century heralded a new interest in defining and identifying separate personality types, in close correlation with the emergence of the subject of psychology. As such, several distinct tests emerged; some attempt to find specific features, while others try to identify personality in general.

There are numerous different types of personality tests. Common personality tests consist of a large number of items, where respondents must rate the applicability of each item to themselves.

Projective tests, such as the TAT and ink blot tests are a different type of personality test which attempt to assess personality indirectly.

Scoring

Personality tests can be scored using a dimensional, where different aspects of personality ar rated on scales, or a typological, where each aspect is placed either in one type or in another, approach.

Dimensional approaches such as the Big 5 describe personality as a set of continuous dimensions on which individuals differ.

Typological approaches such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator describe opposing categories of functioning where individuals differ. Normative answers for each category can be graphed as bell curves (normal curves), connoting that some aspects of personality are better than others.

Ipsative test responses offer two equally “good” responses between which an individual must choose. Such responses (e.g., on the MBTI) would result in bi-modal graphs for each category, rather than bell curves.

Personality tests such as the Strength Deployment Inventory (r), which assesses motivation, or purpose, of behavior, rather than the behavior itself, combine a dimensional and typological approach as described here. Three continuums of motivation are combined to yield 7 distinct types.

Many, but by no means all, psychological researchers believe that the dimensional approach is more accurate, although as judged by the popularity of the Myers-Briggs tool, typological approaches have substantial appeal as a self-development tool.

Few personality tests accurately predict behavior in a specific context. For example, with some of the five factor model tests, only one of the five factors is significantly correlated with job performance.

Emotive tests can become prey to unreliable results as most people strive to pick the answer they feel the best fitting of an ideal character and therefore not their personal response.

Test evaluation

There are several criteria for evaluating a personality test. Fundamentally, a personality test is expected to demonstrate reliability (produce similar results when a person takes the test again) and validity (the results show what they claim to show).

Criticism and controversy

Biased test taker interpretation

One problem of a personality test is that the users of the test could only find it accurate because of the subjective validation involved. This is where the person only acknowledges the information that applies to them. This is related to what is called in psychology as the Forer effect.

Personality versus social factors

In the 60s and 70s some psychologists dismissed the whole idea of personality, considering much behaviour to be content specific. This idea was supported by the fact that personality often does not predict behaviour in specific contexts. However, more extensive research has showed than when behaviour is aggregated across contexts, that personality can be a modest to good predictor of behaviour. Almost all psychologists now acknowledge that both social and individual difference factors (i.e., personality) influence behaviour. The debate is currently more around the relative importance of each of these factors and how these factors interact.

Respondent faking

One problem with self-report measures of personality is that respondents are often able to distort their responses. This is particularly problematic in employment contexts and other contexts where important decisions are being made and there is an incentive to present oneself in a favourable manner. Work in experimental settings (e.g., Viswesvaran & Ones, 1999; Martin, Bowen & Hunt, 2002) has clearly shown that when student samples have been asked to deliberately fake on a personality test, they clearly demonstrated that they are capable of doing so.

Several strategies have been adopted for reducing respondent faking. One strategy involves providing a warning on the test that methods exist for detecting faking and that detection will result in negative consequences for the respondent (e.g., not being considered for the job). Forced choice item formats (ipsative testing) have been adopted which require respondents to choose between alternatives of equal social desirability. Social desirability and lie scales are often included which detect certain patterns of responses, although these are often confounded by true variability in social desirability. More recently, Item Response Theory approaches have been adopted with some success in identifying item response profiles that flag fakers. Other researchers are looking at the timing of responses on electronically administered tests to assess faking.

Psychological Research

Personality testing is frequently used in psychological research to test various theories of personality.

Research published by David Dunning of Cornell University, Chip Heath of Stanford University and Jerry M. Suls of the University of Iowa reveals that observers who are not involved in any type of relationship with an individual are better judges of the individual’s relationships and abilities. These workers have studied a large body of investigations into self-evaluation, indicating that individuals may have flawed views about themselves and their social relationships, sometimes leading to decisions that can impact negatively on other persons’ lives and/or their own.

Additional applications

A study by American Management Association reveals that 39 percent of companies surveyed use personality testing as part of their hiring process. However, ipsative personality tests are often misused in recruitment and selection, where they are mistakenly treated as if they are normative measures.[1] More people are using personality testing to evaluate their business partners, their dates and their spouses. Salespeople are using personality testing to better understand the needs of their customers and to gain a competitive edge in the closing of deals. College students have started to use personality testing to evaluate their roommates. Lawyers are beginning to use personality testing for criminal behavior analysis, litigation profiling, witness examination and jury selection.

Dangers of using personality tests

It is easy for personality test participants to become complacent about their own personal uniqueness and instead become dependent on the decription associated with them. This can be potentially dangerous with persons who are already suffering from a form of identity disorder or may be a catalyst to instigate particular behaviours in a person who was previously believed to be of sound mental health.

Examples of personality tests

    * The Rorschach inkblot test was introduced in 1921 as a way to determine personality by the interpretation of abstract inkblots.

    * Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a 16-type indicator based on Carl Jung’s Psychological Types, developed during World War II by Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs.

    * Keirsey Temperament Sorter developed by David Keirsey is influenced by Isabel Myers sixteen types and Ernest Kretschmer’s four types.

    * The 16PF Questionnaire (16PF) was developed by Raymond Cattell and his colleagues in the 1940’s and 1950’s in a search to try to discover the basic traits of human personality using scientific methodology. The test was first published in 1949, and is now in its 5th edition, published in 1994. It is used in a wide variety of settings for individual and marital counseling, career counseling and employee development, in educational settings, and for basic research.

     * The Strength Deployment Inventory, developed by Elias Porter, Ph.D. in 1971 and is based on his theory of Relationship Awareness. Porter was the first known psychometrician to use colors (Red, Green and Blue) as shortcuts to communicate the results of a personality test.

Your SEO Linking Strategies Will Determine Your Success November 23rd, 2009

Write book, want reader; have website, want visitor.

For this to happen, your website has to be a prominent landmark on the search engine landscape. This SEO does for you. SEO services use leverage like link baiting, link building and social media marketing to increase the visibility of your site. In each of these tools, the content is crucial.

The content written for link baiting should be attractive enough to hook the visitor like a fish on a tackle. Perhaps a “must visit this summer” or ‘penny vacations this summer’ is a better bait than a mundane ‘places to visit this summer’. How can a visitor wanting to travel this summer not click on a link such as these?

Link building, on the other hand, involves quality content to lead the visitor to your site from other relevant links. For instance, if you sell cell phones a visitor may come from a link that says something like “cell phone accessories link exchange” that’s found on another website.

Remember, there’s no set rule for the length of a quality link. If you sell shopping carts for websites you may have a link that says “web templates with shopping cart” or if you sell search engine optimization services the link may be short and sweet, such as “seo service plans“.

Social media marketing does what it says – it promotes your content on social media websites like Yahoo Buzz and others. And if internet reports are to be believed, these social sites send visitors in droves to your site.

So now you are popular and your PR (page ranking) will probably be raised by the search engines. Google ranks pages from 0/10 to 10/10, in order of increasing importance. It is also indicative of the number of incoming quality links that page has; it is, to put it simplistically, a good page. A good page rank is like a school grade – you feature high on the list of selected candidates at universities, in this case the search engine. However, you are not allowed to rest on your laurels. There is an update every three months and your page rank may go up or down, depending on how well connected you are.

Also be aware that some people throw up issues of ethics in the SEO business. There is much talk about exploitation of search engines. However, another group of people rubbish this and believe that a search engines cannot be manipulated. So if your website is flagging, hire an efficient SEO service today that will typically work in accordance with search engine regulations and webmaster guidelines. You can buy a service to suit your pocket, or even avail installment plans. An important thing to remember, though, is that the results will take a few months coming, post search engine optimization.

Can The Facebook’s brand new Newsfeed Voting Render Digg Useless? November 23rd, 2009

Though at this time in the preliminary phase, Facebook hopes to provide a function that will allow users to vote on items in the newsfeed. Facebook’s newsfeed attraction engages a unique algorithm to call up items it it judges will be appealing to a user. The voting feature would help visitors have control over what is ‘interesting’ and should come up in the newsfeed.

It’s much easier to support on an article by clicking the plus or minus button, versus clicking a link that routes the visitor to a different page. Thus Facebook is anticipating that visitors will be more disposed to vote on items even if they don’t click on them. This will send back very valuable information to Facebook, which they may not at present get from visitors who see something and remark on it in their minds but don’t click on it. At the very least it’ll improve the usefulness of the algorithm, much like Google’s algorithm is constantly improving itself based on user actions.

Currently, ads also get listed on the newsfeed. One believes that the voting system will also allow a user to minus the ad and keep it from appearing again, including similar ads. 

Finally, Facebook can use this voting feature to look across their users to discover what the most voted headlines are - positive and negative. Sound familiar? It’s the precisely same system operating the popular site, digg.com. With an estimated 50 million users, Facebook has a massive pool of members to gather information from and observe trends across a large sample group. This feature will explode Facebook’s value by billions, and could decrease Digg’s by several million.

Whatever the outcome, as these two goliaths of the Web 2.0 industry battle it out, there will be a consistent stream of digg clones and facebook clones pecking away at their heels, forcing both websites to innovate and come up with new ideas.

There is no launch date as yet , but it appears as if it’s imminent, as it is currently in the testing phase, accessible to Facebook employees only.

CRM Info

How To Play The Guitar Even If You Are A Beginner November 22nd, 2009

If you want to play the guitar and you are a beginner do not frustrated. There are several options available. One of the easiest and recommended ways is to download and watch beginner guitar lessons on the internet.

There are several online guitar lessons that will teach you how to play the guitar for beginners at extremely cheap prices. The cheap price is not the only benefit. Since there is not shipping involved you can see these video guitar lessons instantly!

Online guitar lessons are made to allow you to have a great time while you are learning to play the guitar.

You have the flexibility to learn when and where you want, at your own place.

You can use material targeted just for your needs and you can play the songs that you always wanted to play.

There are several guitar websites that are being taught by real guitar professional guitar teachers. So you don’t have to worry about the quality of the lessons.
You should visit a guitar site like how to play guitar beginner to find out how you can learn to play the guitar if you are a completely newbie.

With some good online lessons and guitar material you can teach your self the guitar whether it is night or day. Learn to play an acoustic, bass or an electric guitar fast and easy.

But remember that the key to learn how to play guitar is practice!
Well yes you are learning new things by doing the work, here, this is playing guitar, simple.

When you become persistent and learn how to play guitar the right way, the results will come and you could soon realize you are playing better and better, and that’s probably the reason, why you even started to learn how to play guitar the right way.

Also you should take note of this. Whatever you do you should never rush! Just take your time and the results will come.

What Can Adelaide Offer? November 22nd, 2009

Adelaide’s CBD measures just one square mile. Wherever you are in the city, it is within the heart of Adelaide. Festivals, food, arts, culture, shopping and sports, this is Adelaide. Whether you want to party or relax on your next holiday, South Australia’s capital has it all. With vibrant inner-city districts, stunning architecture and lush gardens, plenty of hotels and motels to choose from, Adelaide is the perfect venue for all sorts of vacation activities.

Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, located on the Torrens River and surrounded to the east by the ranges and to the west by the beach, it prides itself on its live music and arts scene, its historic building heritage and its central location to one of Australia’s best known wine growing regions, the Barossa Valley.

You might prefer to follow in the footsteps of sporting champions at the world-famous Adelaide Oval. Or retreat to the beachside suburbs of Henley Beach, Glenelg & Semaphore. As Adelaide is situated on the coast, its beaches are numerous. One can choose between city beaches or quieter out-of-town beaches about half an hour from the city centre.

Since Adelaide is situated in a gulf, the beaches are calm and safe. For those who enjoy surfing, the open sea beaches are about one hour away. Since the beaches face west, one can enjoy the most magnificent sunsets.

There is little doubt that Adelaide Oval is indeed one of the most picturesque and photographed cricket grounds in the world. Australians take their sport extremely seriously, and Adelaide is without doubt an important member of the Australian sporting scene.

Residents of Adelaide can play or watch a number of sports including AFL, swimming, tennis, netball, soccer, hockey, cycling, horse racing and a variety of water sports. South Australians pride themselves on their level of involvement in sport and have a proud tradition of participation and winning in a wide variety of sports.

The mighty Murray River is an hour’s drive from Adelaide. It is a favorite aquatic location for South Australians and provides many diverse leisure activities such as skiing, angling and swimming.

At the University of Adelaide the new Business School creates a stimulating multidisciplinary learning environment that fosters the pursuit of leadership and excellence in both research and education.

South Australia has over 78,000 small businesses. Of these an estimated 55,000 are located within the Adelaide metropolitan area. Almost 40% of these employ between 1 - 19 people making small business a major source of regional employment within Adelaide.

Adelaide offers a diversity of food, wine & culture, it offers a thriving sports scene and growing small business sector. When planning your next holiday destination or a new residential location take a close look at Adelaide. When in Adelaide do not hesitate to use the Adelaide Locality Directory to find everything form community groups, hospitals, restaurants, accommodation, employment and much more.

Do Professional Chefs Use Stamped Knives? November 22nd, 2009

Can a stamped blade chef knife feel well balanced to a professional chef? A forged knife blade is made from a single billet of high quality, carbon stainless steel. The billet gets forged into the proper shape by hammers that wield tons of pressure on each blow. Several other steps in the manufacturing process grind, sharpen and polish the blade. Top brands are Henckels knives and Wusthof knives.

An inexpensive Chicago Culery chef knife in contrast is punched out from a ribbon of high carbon stainless steel into a nearly perfectly formed knife blade. The stamped blade is heated and cooled several times to get the desired tempering hardness and then finished and sharpened like the more expensive forged chefs knives.

As far as professional chefs are concerned weight is the only significant difference between a forged blade and a stamped blade knife of the same size. The forged blade began its life with more material and will weigh, on average, about 2 oz. more than a stamped blade. Hundreds of hours of slicing, dicing, mincing and chopping by chef testers has not conclusively determined a clear winner as to which blade type feels better balanced, or better in the hand for professional use. It appears that the overall weight of the knife, including the handle, may be more of a deciding factor in selecting the best chef’s knife than the way the blade is manufactured.

Since the right balance, or “feel”, is considered by many professional chefs as the most important characteristic of a chefs knife you now know that there is very little difference in the preference of professional chefs bewteen a forged blade chefs knife and stamped blade chefs knife.

where to get inexpensive car insurance November 21st, 2009

What types of things do you think should be included in your mobile home insurance coverage?  The reason why the answer to this question is not as simple as it might appear is because while a mobile home in many cases is just like a traditional home, there is no land ownership covered in a mobile home insurance coverage, which means that particular care needs to be taken in respect to physical damages and liability coverage.

Where can one get inexpensive car insurance

Consider this situation.  You are parked in a mobile home park.  Your mobile home insurance coverage includes physical damage.  A huge storm erupts, your mobile home is relatively unscathed, but the awning you had attached to the side of your mobile home and the contents that were under that awning at the time of the storm, were all swept away in the resulting wind and rains.  Now if this was a home ownership situation, in most cases, insurance coverage would include any items contained on the land surrounding the house that you live in.  But, because you do not own the land that is surrounding your mobile home, you may find that your mobile home insurance coverage does not extend to things outside of the mobile home itself.

In another scenario, let’s assume that you have your mobile home parked near a river or something similar.  You have friends that come over for a visit and while they are there you decide to move the mobile home a little further away from the river bank.  During the process of moving your mobile home you inadvertently hit a small tree, which in turn hits one of your visitors resulting in a broken arm and some bruising.  Your visitor is not impressed and sues you for emotional stress and loss of earnings due to the accident.  Does your mobile home insurance coverage include such a situation?  Not necessarily.

liquor liability insurance quotes

You see because the mobile home hit the tree rather than your visitor directly, then there may not be coverage included in your regular mobile home insurance coverage. The coverage you have might only extend to the tree.  Because you do not own the land that the visitor was standing on when he got hit by the tree, in theory your liability claim may not extend to that action.  However, by law, because the damage sustained by the visitor was caused indirectly by your mobile home, you could still be sued. 

So when you are discussing what you should be covered for with your mobile home insurance, make sure that the mobile home insurance coverage includes any liabilities such as the cases outlined above. Of course you can also discuss monthly car insurance quotes .

Long Walks And Sciatica November 21st, 2009

Seems like every time I want to take a long walk, I end up with back pain and then pain shooting down the back of my leg. I’ve had it often enough that I’ve learned that it’s referred to as “sciatica.”

At first I was worried that it was a “disk problem,” which is what it is a lot of the time. I visited a Houston Chiropractor that was able to adjust me and then showed me some stretches to help it out.

Next up, I was in Montana taking a long, long walk. It started to act up again, so I was thrilled to find a Billings Chiropractor available during the time I needed him. He had another machine in addition to being able to use his hands — called a spinal decompression machine. That helped out quite a bit, doing kind of like the old days when you’d just get tractioned out.

Got a lot of relief, but couldn’t quite figure out why a long walk would trigger such a painful event? It was when I was walking at an event and had to visit a Virginia Beach Chiropractor when things became more clear.

I had a sacroiliac problem, also called the “SI joint.” This made a lot of sense. That particular joint is aggravated by walking! Since the joint is supposed to glide smoothly back and forth when you walk (and it wasn’t), then every step just became another way to aggravate things.

Me walking was more like poking a stick in my back the further I went. So it was only a matter of time. Now I get adjusted on a semi-regular basis to make sure that joint is working the way it’s supposed to.

I’ve also followed the stretching advice of my first chiropractor and have seen major improvement in how it all goes together.

 

Best Teeth Whitening-What to Consider November 20th, 2009

If you want the best teeth whitening then you will have to read these 3 points below-

1. Cosmetic dentists offer several whitening procedures, which may be quite costly. For example, applying bleaching gel to the teeth in conjunction with laser treatment to accelerate the tooth whitening process. But most people opt for more economical and convenient “at-home” teeth whitening procedures. - portion of article from ezinearticles,Ashley Hilton

2. …you must check whether the product is using any chemicals that do direct reaction with the enamel part of our teeth. If so, it is better that you stay away from the system instead of choosing it as the best teeth whitening system. Many people here do the mistake and choose the product that gives instant sparkling effect even at the cost of enamels. Be sure that you check the reputation in the market before you buy a product. - portion of article from ezinearticles,Charles Howard

For more reference, visit this site http://www.bestteethwhiteningreviews.net/disclaimer/

3. Last but not least, they should offer a free trial - This is very important. There are many reputable stores online that offer free trial of their teeth whitening products for the first 14 - 30 days. The good thing is, if you are not happy with your results you can cancel before your trial period ends. - portion of article from ezinearticles,Casey Gentles

For the best teeth whitening products, make sure it offers a free trial period and a refund policy.  Those are must have safety nets to have.

As always, before making any lifestyle changes, do seek a dentist for opinions.

Fabulous Summer Style Apparel, Jewelry, and Fragrances November 19th, 2009

Before you realise it summer will be back, so now is the time to start thinking about the fabulous apparel, jewelry, and fragrances that will make you shimmer. This season, it’s all about the perfect glow - inside and out.

After a day in the sun, you’ll be ready for a night on the town. This season, cocktail dresses are always solids, but you can go beyond the all-purpose “little black dress.” Coral tones will be hot again this year, and brown is the new black. As for style, go above the knee, but opt for cocktail dresses that reveal “something” rather than “everything.” For inspiration, recall classic red carpet looks - a backless dress with a high collar, a plunging neckline with a full back - and go for one rather than both. A woman’s allure comes from the aura of mystery that surrounds her. Remember to keep them guessing!

Accessories will play a huge role this summer, with diamond jewelry once again taking center stage. When selecting your diamond jewelry, however, go one or two steps beyond sensible and on to memorable. Earrings, necklaces, and rings that pair diamonds with other precious or semi-precious gems make a statement. So look for diamonds and sapphires, diamonds and amethysts, or diamonds and topaz.

A woman’s style isn’t complete without her signature scent, and summer is a wonderful time to try new designer fragrances. Give Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio a whirl, or take a whiff of 24 Faubourg by Hermes. Chanel and Givenchy are classics, but try Ungaro or Max Azria for some fabulous fun.

Beauty always comes from the inside out. During the summer, your body needs plenty of water and fresh foods to look its best. And don’t forget to nourish your soul as well. Indulge in good friends, great books, or whatever replenishes your spirit. When you do, you’ll know that your fabulous clothing, jewelry, and fragrances simply showcase your exquisite inner and outer beauty.