Friday, July 09, 2004

Cultural Concurrence? Terry Teachout has an psychological tool (and I don't mean Freud) over at his blog. It's sort of like one of those internet quizzes (which major 15th century Magyar poet are you?) but actually, you know, interesting. It's 100 binary choices in the various realms of the arts (and some spice questions thrown in on sushi, computers, and city transportation) that he says will, er . . . I'll let him explain it:
Now it happens that I studied statistics and experimental design during my two-year stint as a psych major, back when I still thought I wanted to become a shrink. As a result, it occurred to me that if you collected enough data points about the taste of an individual, you could easily put together a test that would provide a fairly accurate measure of the extent to which the test-taker resembled the test-maker. It was this insight that inspired me to create the Teachout Cultural Concurrence Index, a battery of 100 questions that measures how closely your taste agrees with mine.
I am in 62% concurrence (although I had to throw out a couple of questions -- the only dance question I could really express a preference on was Astaire/Kelly).

Give it a try, and mull this: What sorts of choices would show up on a Cultural Concurrence list for you? Maybe Top Gun versus Days of Thunder?

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