19th-Century Personality Test

Are you a Romantic? ~ Are you a Liberal? ~ Are you a Nationalist? ~ Are you a Conservative?

Your task is to design a diagnostic personality test that determines whether a given subject is believes in Romanticism, Liberalism, Nationalism, and Conservatism.   

Your test must include . . .

• At least 2 questions/alternatives/answers to indicate each ideology. SIX questions in total.  These can be multiple-choice questions, image analyses, etc.

• a test-master with detailed analysis of each question explaining how each alternative indicates the ISM intended

For example, a multiple-choice question might ask the subject to complete this sentence:

   1.  "The French Revolution was _________." 

   A.  destructive and wasteful.

   B.  a victory for the oppressed.

   C.  glorious, like all things from France.

   D.  none of the above. 

In my test-master, I would explain the results like this . . .

Analysis of Question 1:

• If the subject answers A - "destructive and wasteful," s/he is adopting a conservative point-of-view, as conservatives thought that the French Revolution caused chaos and upset a perfectly stable status quo. 

• If the subject answers B - "a victory for the oppressed," s/he if probably more of a Romantic, since the Romantics idealized the common people and championed any sort of rebellion against traditional authority. 

• If the subject answers C - "glorious, like all things from France," s/he believes most in Nationalism, and values identification with the nation-state above all other connections. 

• If the subject answers D, no direct ideological leanings can be ascertained.

Keep these tips in mind as you design your test:

• Be sure to explain how your answers connect to the ideologies!  Your test-master, in which you should analyze and explain each question/answer, should prove to me that you can see each ideology from a variety of perspectives and draw clear connections to each ism.

• Be careful to test for these ideologies according to a 19th-century point of view!  Today's liberals would not answer questions in the same way as would a liberal from the 19th century, for example.

• Variety helps.  Your questions/answers should demonstrate that you understand multiple aspects of each ideology.  For example, Romanticism is much more than just an exaltation of emotion; it's a multi-faceted idea, and your quiz should approach it from a variety of angles.