Ever wondered why your best friend always seems to steal the spotlight at parties, while you prefer the comfort of a good book? The answer might lie in the world of personality types.

Millions of people find value in studying personality traits: their own, those they care about, and more broadly for trying to understand human behavior - what makes us unique and, perhaps, what we can learn from patterns of thought, feelings, and behaviors. Scientists have been on a quest to crack the code of human personality, and they've stumbled upon some pretty interesting findings.

Gerlach et. al. (2018) carried forward a line of research that began to home in common patterns within personality data. They analyze large datasets (hundreds of thousands of completed assessments) to explore common patterns and discovered four distinct types.

• Average: Balanced and stable without extreme lows and highs in traits.
• Role Model: High agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Likely to be empathetic, responsible, and sociable.
• Self-Centered: High extraversion, low agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Exhibits narcissism and disagreeable behaviors more regularly.
• Reserved: Characterized by low openness and moderate mix of other traits. Less emotionally reactive.

Understanding these personality types isn't just a fun bit of trivia – it can help us navigate relationships, choose careers, and even improve our mental health. To provide our Users with easier access to these insights, In8ness has recently updated its reporting to include additional details of how five factor scores may align to these patterns, including the following sections.

1. Comparison Between Four Types and Subject's Trait Scores

This area highlights the details of trait alignment between the Subject and their closest match to one of the Types. It also shows a comparison with the other three types.

2. Comparison: Differences Between User Traits Relative to Four Types

The Types are broad generalizations across large datasets. Therefore, there will almost always be some deviation between a given person's traits and the Types. This section provides a detailed comparison of how the Subject's traits deviate from each Type.

3. Comparison: Weighted Average of all User Traits Relative to Four Types

Here, the five factor traits are generalized into a single point on the 5-dimension grid. That point represents the center of the space within the chart for the Subject and compares that to the center space for each of the four Types.

Now, these sections are all part of the standard reporting. Check them out for yourself, by taking our free five factor personality test - sign up here!.