People who score in this range are frequently seen by others as showing little interest, liking, or concern for other people. If you are a low scorer, values such as pleasure and excitement in life are probably important to you. There may be times when your emphasis on personal pleasure makes it hard for you to show concern for others. Of course, showing concern and feeling concern may not be the same for you. It is possible that some of your behavior that others may see as self-centered is not intended to express the lack of social interest that it does. Your interpersonal relationships could improve if others had a better understanding of your interest in them.
Scorers in this range are seen by others as neither highly concerned about the welfare of mankind nor as extremely self-centered. You may actually be quite concerned about the welfare of others. Your social interest, however, may be focused on specific people, sometimes causing others to feel that you're not particularly concerned about the general human condition. If you are comfortable with how and toward whom you express your social interest, then any negative comments from others will not (and probably should not) concern you.
If you scored in this range, other people probably see you as genuinely concerned about humanitarian issues in your community. You emphasize in your dealings with others their concerns and feelings and are probably quick to help someone in need. High scorers generally value peace, equality, and family security more than they value personal pleasure or an exciting life. You most likely concern yourself with your loved ones and those relationships serve as a source of satisfaction for you. In addition, consistent with Adler's theories, high social interest people seem to be satisfied with life in general and report less depression and unhappiness than those who score low on this scale.
About the ScaleIn 1911, Alfred Adler, originally a disciple of Sigmund Freud, broke from Freudian psychology to develop his own views on personality, pathology, and therapy. Adler's main criticism of Freud's work was its lack of concern for the social, interpersonal life of the individual. This concept of social interest remains, today, as the cardinal characteristic of Adler's theories. Adler defined social interest in terms of an "interest in the interests of mankind." He saw it as a positive attitude toward others, concern for their welfare, and empathetic and sympathetic understanding of their needs. Perhaps what social interest is not can be illustrated by this brief story:
Psychologist James Crandall noted in 1975, after his review of the theoretical work in the area of social interest, "...it was surprising to find that there apparently has been no attempt to develop a standardized measure of the concept." The Social Interest Scale reflects his work to develop just such a measure. You'll find that this test is unlike many of the others in The Mind Test. Rather than "yes-no" or "true-false" questions, the Social Interest Scale asks you to choose which of the two personality traits you value more highly. This choice forces you to think about your own interests and about what is important to you as you relate to other people. Such an approach is consistent with the concepts developed by Alfred Adler. It allows you to determine which traits you value rather than responding on the basis of what you think others (society) would like you to say. |