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4-Way Stop: A personality Test

How a simple 4-Way Stop can tell you about your personality

By Tristan MitchellPublished 5 years ago 2 min read

The other day I was driving to post office when I stumbled upon a 4-way stop. I then got a little uncomfortable as there were 3 other cars that pulled up at the same time. What was I to do. Go first, wave my hand as if a director- signaling who goes first, or do I let everyone else go first. For someone who has anxiety (Including me) this can be a troubling event. Even though it is as simple as things come. To distract myself I began to think of other ways to look at it. This one instantly came to mind. A 4-way stop can tell you about your personality. To explain this here are a few example, but I would also like to mention that of course things are random sometimes. People sometimes act randomly for a multitude of reasons, they might just happen to feel confident that day. They might be very sad that day. You never know but this is just a theory and my opinion on it that applied to the right situation can be useful. Back to the examples. So lets say you get up to the stop sign with at least one other person at the same time. If you let the other person go before you then that may show traits of generosity, shyness, or carelessness. On the other hand though depending on how you let them go, that being the words you say or your actions it could also show traits of rudeness(if you swore when letting them go or let them go angrily towards them). That is just one small example of the many possibilities to examine, and since I said examples plural- here is another one. If you came up to the 4-way stop with someone else at the same time and you instantly, almost not even stopping, zoomed straight through then that may show traits of aggression, assertiveness, or confidence. Each of the many examples you could come up with have many different traits you can see from each one. Not just the 3 or 4 that I mention. To put this theory into a more real life scenario we can think of someone going on a date. Lets say that you are picked up by someone and are driving to some restaurant nearby. You then pull up to a 4-way stop. You also notice that someone else has pulled up at the same time as you two. Your date then sticks their hand out the window and waves the other car through. If you thought of this situation through the lens of the theory I have presented then you might think "Oh they might be the type of person who likes to be in control of things in their life." You could think of so many different traits that could be the result of this situation though. You would also know best because you are there living it and seeing how the other person reacts. Now this may just be a theory but hey, give it a try, just ponder it the next time your in the car or someone else driving and pull up to a 4-way stop the same time as someone else. "What personality traits does this reaction lead me to believe is present?"

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About the Creator

Tristan Mitchell

I'm Tristan Mitchell, college student majoring in Psychology. I love basketball and football. I enjoy reading books and watching movies. Listen to all types of music and I love to write!

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