Talking About Questimity

AND IMMEDIATELY BEGINNING WITH THE CONCLUSIONS, WITH THE KEY WORDS DESCRIBING THE PROPERTIES OF THE QUESTIM POLE (based on the analysis of the list of marker questions given below, which turned out to be most closely correlated specifically with questimity) Questimity: IRRITABILITY AND A STRONGLY DEVELOPED, EASILY ARISING FEELING OF DISGUST.
From this follows a NARROW RANGE OF ACCEPTABILITY AND A FREQUENT IMPULSE TO EXIT A STATE OF EQUILIBRIUM, doubts, initiation of questions and posing of problems (but by no means the notorious interrogative intonation in the voice), impatience and intolerance, fastidiousness, pickiness, rejection, selectivity in communication, disturbance of calm, dissatisfaction, nervous tension, denial of existing orders, nonconformism, easy fixation on certain defects and shortcomings, on the lack of something, difficulty coping with losses and great difficulty abandoning harmful habits. More often strong self-criticism. Also easily notices signs of illnesses in oneself, tends to exaggerate them (an indication of right-hemisphere dominance). Inclined to mentally and even physically separate oneself from others (a consequence of irritability and a narrow range of acceptability). Predominant right-hemisphere dominance at least for the posterior, temporal regions of the brain (development of musical hearing, more frequent dominance of the left eye and left ear). And rather, on the contrary, left-hemisphere dominance for the anterior, frontal regions of the cerebral cortex (in tendency – more frequent right-handedness and a better, in comparison with declatim types, apparatus for planning long speech utterances). The questions of the following list of QUESTIMITY CORRELATES are presented without any selection or sorting. These are all questions that, in a sample of 4800 questionnaire items that have already undergone the analysis procedure, showed the highest absolute correlation (among all 15 traits) specifically with the level of questimity–declatimity of their respondents. The linear correlation of respondents’ answers to the question with their questimity is indicated after each question.

1. I tend to “wind up” illnesses: when I get sick, I assume the worst – immediately up to some kind of fatal disease. 0.45
2. I often have a depressed, depressive mood, and without any visible reasons. 0.43
3. I always get irritated when someone tries to emotionally manipulate me, even in a mild form. 0.42
4. I get irritated when I am temporarily distracted from something, because it is hard for me to quickly switch attention. 0.41
5. In my words and actions I often go “against the current” – I even like it. 0.40
6. I am squeamish, and it often happens that after shaking hands with certain people I try to go wash my hands as soon as possible. 0.38
7. To publicly admit one’s mistake means to damage one’s authority. 0.38
8. Something often brings me to anger. 0.37
9. I get very irritated when tasks or assignments are imposed on me. 0.37
10. A reaction of disgust easily arises in me toward something. 0.36
11. I am a person who is easily irritated. 0.36
12. I have a certain nervous irritability toward everything unpleasant or incorrect. 0.36
13. I have had or have chronic cystitis or urethritis, which usually worsened during hypothermia. 0.35
14. I am squeamish and irritably uncompromising toward everything bad, stupid, and obviously incorrect. 0.35
15. I am more than others prone to being offended, irritated, and hot-tempered. 0.35
16. I often quarrel and take offense. 0.35
17. I am quite squeamish and avoid sick people. 0.35
18. I tolerate cold poorly. 0.35
19. In conversation I often feel bodily tension within myself, which appears from a strong and hard-to-restrain desire to object to the interlocutor (or the lecturing speaker). 0.34
20. I am characterized by impatience if I dislike something. 0.34
21. I react very painfully to extraneous touches and unpleasant smells. 0.33
22. I often cannot make a choice or take an action because none of the options suit me. 0.33
23. If some activity brings me pleasure, I can get stuck on it for a long time, so that it is hard to tear myself away and it even interferes with other matters and interests. 0.33
24. I avoid touching anything dusty or dirty – I am squeamish and afraid of catching something. 0.32
25. Any discomfort irritates me greatly. 0.32
26. As a rule, chronic infections relapse for me after hypothermia. 0.31
27. I often experience fear or anxiety. 0.31
28. I am easily offended by remarks. 0.31
29. It is hard for me to be flexible in communication with bad people. 0.31
30. It is usually very hard for me to tear myself away from an activity that I enjoy. 0.31
31. I cannot tolerate any injustice toward myself, even if it infringes me in something minor. 0.31
32. What is more characteristic for you? – 1) A striving for wholeness and unity, readiness to unite people and to unite with them. 5) Unwillingness to unite and to bring others together. 0.31
33. Even very weak external irritants can deprive me of inner peace. 0.30
34. From certain things I often develop an accumulating irritation. 0.30
35. There are people who evoke in me an almost physiological feeling of disgust. 0.30
36. I am sometimes inclined to greatly exaggerate the severity of my illnesses, mistakenly assuming the worst. 0.30
37. It is usually hard for me to distract myself from some disappointment or grievance. 0.30
38. I show aggressiveness if my freedom is restricted. 0.30
39. I think that I experience feelings of disgust or revulsion more often than others. 0.29
40. I fall into aggression if I see and understand something for sure, while others do not see it. 0.29
41. In a collective, I sometimes remain for a long time in the role of a “black sheep.” 0.29
42. In achieving my aims from others through persistence, I often lack flexibility. 0.29
43. Living with someone in the same room has always been unbearable for me. 0.29
44. In my soul I often feel some kind of burning protest in connection with something. 0.29
45. I often catch colds – immunity against cold viruses is clearly reduced (meaning various acute respiratory infections with a runny nose or “tickling” in the nose and throat). 0.29
46. My skin has an increased predisposition to all sorts of infections (for example, pimples often appear at the site of blackheads, scratches usually become inflamed, there may also be increased susceptibility to fungal diseases, etc.). 0.28
47. Many surrounding phenomena or people shock me and seem unpleasant and therefore intolerable. 0.28
48. I often experience and go through a feeling of almost physical disgust – toward certain products, smells, animals, or the manner of behavior and speech of some people. 0.28
49. I am easily thrown off when I am interfered with and distracted from work. 0.28
50. I often act contrary simply in order not to be led by someone. 0.28
51. I have increased squeamishness toward everything dirty. 0.28
52. The smell and sight of scattered excrement or an especially dirty garbage dump with wriggling worms can easily cause in me an almost nauseating disgust. 0.28
53. In work I poorly sense the boundaries of what is permissible – that is, I do not know how much work and with what quality needs to be done so that the result is at the required level. 0.28
54. I often have it happen that a feeling of rejection, irritated protest suddenly and sharply arises. 0.28
55. In my emotional feelings I often immerse myself in past experiences. 0.28
56. I am squeamish: no feces, sick чужих children, other people’s saliva, sweaty handshakes, other people’s dishes. I will panic-hide from all this and wash, wash, wash. 0.27
57. It is true that I rarely allow anyone to touch me and my clothing with their hands, no matter whom I am talking to or interacting with, even among friends and even in a crowd. 0.27
58. I tolerate heat better than cold. 0.27
59. The slightest noise prevents me from reading and working. 0.27
60. Various trifles often drive me out of myself. 0.27
61. It is very hard for me to tear myself away from a pleasure once it has begun. 0.27
62. Other people’s disagreement or misunderstanding only intensifies my protest and my desire to insist on my own rightness. 0.26
63. In the autumn–spring period, when there are many sick people on the streets, I very easily “catch” a cold or the flu. 0.26
64. It is hard to convince me if something has already “gotten into my head.” 0.26
65. I often carefully move away from a person if during a conversation they come too close to me. 0.26
66. A radio or television turned on in the neighboring room often prevents me from falling asleep. 0.26
67. I slowly get used to changes in my usual environment – a touring life in hotels would be a burden for me. 0.26
68. I hate it when someone dictates or even simply advises me on the order of work. 0.26
69. From nettle burns, strongly itching blisters quickly pop up on my skin. 0.25
70. Current, momentary failures strongly knock me “off track.” 0.25
71. Many smells often irritate me. 0.25
72. Errors and dark streaks in life are always perceived by me as an incomprehensible and undeserved injustice. 0.25
73. In life I greatly lack communication with mutual understanding and mutual care. 0.25
74. Even with small cuts, my bleeding does not stop for a long time. 0.25
75. I cannot recall in detail and particulars the events and conversations of my distant past – I simply cannot. 0.24
76. I avoid sick and unhappy people – they seem to suppress me with their appearance and spoil my mood with their bad aura. 0.24
77. I always become very indignant if someone is “more equal than me” and has broader rights, some privileges and advantages compared to me. 0.24
78. During conversations with people, bewilderment or protest, objection often sounds in my voice. 0.24
79. I am always angered and irritated if people start asking questions while I have not yet finished expressing my thought to the end. 0.24
80. I often pestered relatives with angry “scenes” and hysterics. 0.24
81. When reading a book, I often look straight to its end or at least to the bottom of the page. 0.24
82. I feel deeply unhappy at the necessity of starting to economize. 0.24
83. In my speech, both oral and written, there are many long, complex sentences. 0.24
84. In written texts I demonstrate higher aggressiveness than in oral presentations. 0.23
85. I get irritated if during a trip on public transport a neighbor peeks into the newspaper or book that I am reading. 0.23
86. It often happens that it is very hard for me to tear myself away from a game I have started, although more important matters are waiting. 0.23
87. In conversation I have a habit of separating myself from others (that is, I am more likely to ask a partner: “So are you finally going?”, and hardly likely to ask: “So are we finally going?” 0.23
88. I sometimes have a fear of death, a fear of disappearance. 0.23
89. I easily get irritated in the course of my explanations if they are not perceived immediately and correctly. 0.22
90. There are issues in which my character is marked by very great obstinacy. 0.22
91. I fly into a rage if I am unnecessarily awakened or distracted during a meal. 0.22
92. Having become drawn into some process, I often find myself unable to get out of it. 0.22
93. In childhood I liked to watch crawling insects for a long time. 0.21
94. I always feel sick of carrying out assignments that I do not understand or consider foolish. 0.21
95. It is hard for me to arbitrarily control my imagination – either it irresistibly carries me somewhere on its own, or it does not respond and remains silent, like a partisan. 0.21
96. I know how the so-called “volitional sensorics” differs from “sensory perception,” and how “black” logic differs from “white” logic. 0.21
97. Visual monotony tires me and always quickly becomes boring. 0.20
98. It is very unpleasant for me to watch television scenes of surgical intervention on the human body, when the body is opened and internal organs are visible. 0.19
99. I often use the word “very” in my speech – to emphasize importance, significance, magnitude, or contrasting brightness and expressiveness of something. 0.19
100. I absolutely cannot tolerate it (I will definitely sort it out) if people call names or make insinuations with bad subtext toward me. 0.19
101. I really dislike it when unpleasant and bad forecasts of the development of events are imposed on me – I can “explode” in response. 0.19
102. I shun everything ordinary, gray, and unattractive – I am afraid of “catching” it myself. 0.19
103. I get very easily irritated when I have to explain something for a long time to a slow-witted listener. 0.19
104. With little-known people I am usually demonstratively friendly, but at home I often have scandals. 0.19
105. Do you have a congenital hump on your nose? 1) None at all 3) There is a small hump 5) There is a pronounced hump 0.18
106. I have vision problems. 0.18
107. I have had pains in the region of the heart. 0.18
108. To my taste, in most people there is too much primitive-animal and too little spiritual and truly human. 0.18
109. I very painfully endure deprivation of something habitual – I begin to constantly think about where I could get it. 0.17
110. In conversations with people I more often ask and pose questions than answer – in any case, such a conversational style is somehow more habitual for me. 0.17
111. The sight of some well-known faces evokes in me an almost physiological revulsion. 0.17
112. In a state of stress I become significantly more aggressive than usual. 0.17
113. I often have a sensation of difficult breathing (at least once every two weeks I notice this in myself). 0.16
114. I would be suited to work as a tuner of musical instruments – I have absolute pitch for the “height” of a note. 0.16
115. At a table or on a bench I more often prefer to sit: 1) To the left of my interlocutor. 3) I don’t know, it varies. 5) To the right of my interlocutor. 0.16
116. Matriarchy in the history of civilization was better than patriarchy. 0.15
117. I always experience unpleasant irritation when someone talks about their prospects and opportunities, thereby, in my view, humiliating others. 0.15
118. Practically everything that I encounter every day seems to me overly ordinary and mundane, having its long-familiar “taste” and meaning. 0.15
119. More often in my head I think through not a narrative chain of events, but some single object of interest, examining it from different sides and in comparison with something. 0.15
120. One of my eyes sees much worse than the other (number 5 if the difference in visual acuity is very large, number 1 if there is none at all). 0.14
121. As a rule, I am satisfied with a minimum of information – further conclusions I draw independently. 0.13
122. Which proverb do you like more? – 1) “They carry water on the offended.” 5) “Even alone in the field one is a warrior – do not give up!” 0.13
123. I draw well. 0.13
124. I recognize leadership only in people who are smarter and more talented than me. 0.13
125. In childhood I was somewhat afraid of and avoided unfamiliar dogs, although none had ever bitten me before. 0.12

KEY WORDS DESCRIBING THE PROPERTIES OF THE DECLATIM POLE (based on the results of analyzing the list of marker questions presented below, which, among all 15 socionic traits, turned out to be most closely correlated specifically with declatimity) Declatimity: NON-IRRITABILITY AND A WEAK, DIFFICULT-TO-ARISE FEELING OF DISGUST.
From this follows a BROAD RANGE OF ACCEPTABILITY, CONTENTMENT WITH WHAT EXISTS WHILE IGNORING ITS DEFECTS AND A STRIVING TO ESTABLISH EQUILIBRIUM, certainty, patience, tolerance, acceptance, imperturbability, smoothing over questions and problems, acceptance of existing orders, conformism, non-selectivity in communication and indiscriminateness in contacts, confidence that what they have said and done will also be accepted by the audience, easily suppresses the unpleasant and copes with losses easily, easily ignores defects, shortcomings, or the lack of something (sometimes sincerely not noticing them at all), relatively more easily (in comparison with questims) gives up harmful habits. More often weak self-criticism. Often does not notice and ignores symptoms of illnesses in one’s body. Inclined to identify oneself with the environment, with other people (a consequence of non-irritability and a broad range of acceptability). Predominant left-hemisphere dominance—at least for the posterior, occipito-temporal regions of the brain (weak musical hearing, confusion in the perception and reproduction of similar sounds). And, in tendency, rather on the contrary, right-hemisphere dominance for the anterior upper frontal-parietal regions of the cerebral cortex (more frequent left-handedness and a worsened, in comparison with questims, apparatus for planning long speech utterances). The questions of the following list of DECLATIMITY CORRELATES are presented without any selection or sorting. These are all questions that, in a sample of 4800 questionnaire items that have by today already undergone the analysis procedure, showed the highest absolute correlation (among all 15 traits) specifically with the level of questimity–declatimity of their respondents. The linear correlation of all respondents’ answers to the question with their questimity is indicated after each question (a negative correlation indicates that an affirmative answer to the question belongs specifically to the declatimity pole). In questions with alternative answers, the “yes” answer corresponds to answer option No. 5.

1. The feeling of physical disgust is practically unfamiliar to me. -0.41
2. What is more characteristic for you? 1) Rejection, fastidiousness, pickiness, detachment, rejection. 5) Attraction, conformity, a tendency to join oneself and to unite others, sometimes—indiscriminateness in relationships. -0.38
3. It is hard to bring me to irritation. -0.37
4. It is usually easier for me than for others to reconcile myself with some existing orders, even if I consider them wrong. -0.37
5. I easily adapt to any social changes. -0.35
6. Having done wrong, as a rule I honestly and without attempts to wriggle out admit my guilt. -0.35
7. Quite often I convince people of the usefulness of resignation and various kinds of concessions. -0.33
8. I like to compare objects by their quality, usefulness, and price. -0.33
9. In what state do you more often go on the offensive against other people or their interests? 1. In a keyed-up or dissatisfied state 5. In a calm and balanced state -0.33
10. Choose what fits better: 1) I am not inclined to yield to general opinion and mood. 5) I do not like to remain in the minority and I easily tune in to the wave of general opinion and mood. -0.31
11. In childhood, instructive fables appealed to me more than fairy tales. -0.31
12. I can, from memory, draw a quite recognizable face of a specific person (a portrait or caricature). -0.31
13. I am excellent at working with a wide variety of people. -0.31
14. Since youth I have believed that scientific discoveries sooner or later turn into evil. -0.31
15. I willingly listen to other people’s stories about personal sorrows and troubles. -0.30
16. I easily allow other people to set tasks for me. -0.30
17. If people in a group make fun of me, I barely notice it and usually just do not pay attention to it. -0.29
18. I easily manage my physical sensations; if I wish, I can ignore them completely. -0.29
19. I am indifferent to the comfort of a bed—I fall asleep easily anywhere. -0.28
20. I always willingly think about topics related to my career. -0.28
21. Sometimes I like to drive myself almost to exhaustion—I know how to get a buzz from fatigue. -0.28
22. When I hear an obvious lie (not concerning me personally), I am tolerant of it; it does not irritate me much. -0.28
23. I calmly and without difficulty ignore trolls who attack me on the internet. -0.27
24. How many children do you plan to have over the course of your life? 1) None 2) One 3) Two 4) Three 5) Four or more -0.27
25. I can, without problems, communicate on equal terms with a person whom I do not respect. -0.27
26. At a first quick visual glance at a situation I notice many visual details, but omit the whole. -0.27
27. If on your coat of arms you had to depict hanging two-pan scales, in what position would you depict them? – 1) Unbalanced, the pans at different levels 5) Balanced, the pans at the same level -0.26
28. In communication I am very good at “relaxing” my tense and worried partner, reducing the dramatic intensity of the situation for them. -0.26
29. Which are you closer to? – 1) Doubt 5) Certainty -0.26
30. The orders and relationships existing in society have never embarrassed me—I know how to adapt to them. -0.26
31. If I were to write a poem, then with high probability it would contain a lot of playful irony. -0.26
32. It is true that I am not afraid of defeats. -0.26
33. Yesterday’s opponent can easily become my friend and ally tomorrow. -0.26
34. I can better and longer than others endure various unpleasant or painful sensations—perhaps I am simply more indifferent to them. -0.26
35. I like being like everyone else. -0.26
36. I try not to clutter up and I throw away, give away, or sell books and reference materials that will not be needed in the near future. -0.25
37. My more preferred genre in theater or books: 1) Heroic drama—when a lone hero confronts the majority and does not give up. 5) Instructive and educational comedy—when an imperfect hero is re-educated by the surrounding positive environment. In the end—a happy ending, where the hero is re-educated and successfully passes the final trial, and society joyfully accepts him into its ranks. -0.25
38. I more often dream about other countries than about future times. -0.25
39. Thinking over some problem or task, I try in the end to arrive not at one but at several alternative solutions at once. -0.25
40. Of all colors I would prefer a calm, even, neutral gray color. -0.25
41. In music I love and can listen for a long time to jazz improvisations. -0.25
42. In speech I constantly and consistently substitute some sounds for others—I say, for example, always “zhachem” instead of “zachem,” “fino” instead of “vino,” I constantly replace the hard-to-pronounce “zdanie” with the easier-to-say “dom,” etc. (the substitutions may be different; what matters is their presence and consistency). -0.25
43. If I declare some views, then these are always the views of some group of persons with which I am connected. -0.24
44. I often say aloud the proverb: “The master is his own lord.” -0.24
45. As a performer, I do not ask unnecessary questions and I do not experience doubts in the course of the work. -0.24
46. As a rule, I stop to gawk at street incidents. -0.24
47. Most dissatisfied people need to change not their environment, but their attitude to reality. -0.23
48. I would gladly jump from a height on a strong rubber bungee cord. -0.23
49. I have more than three personal friends, and I am always loyal to them, in any difficult moment. -0.22
50. It is easy to “approach” me with praise of my skills and my businesslike qualities. -0.22
51. On a bet or for a prize in the amount of a day’s wages, I could quite well put my hand into a jar filled with gray woodlice (without experiencing particular disgust) in order to retrieve a key from the bottom. -0.22
52. I like attending meetings of former fellow students, classmates, etc. -0.22
53. I am almost always calm regarding the state of my health. -0.22
54. I am quite tolerant of other people’s attempts to emotionally manipulate me. -0.21
55. I would like working at a meat-processing plant. -0.20
56. What is worse? – 1) Lightweightness of decisions. 5) Hesitations, stops, and unplanned turns while performing actions -0.16
57. I have a tendency to deposit excess fat on my body. -0.14
58. It is difficult for me to precisely enter the key when singing—by ear I poorly sense pitch, I “slip” off the required key. -0.11
59. If you smoke, then how? 1) It often happens that I smoke several in a row to calm down 5) No, that practically does not happen 3) I do not smoke -0.10

From neuropsychology it is known that hypochondria is tied to an active right hemisphere, and ignoring illnesses—to an active left. And from multiple recent studies in neuroscience it is known that disgust and the feeling of loss (defect, loss) are handled by the anterior part of the so-called “insular cortex” (insular cortex, “insula”), which is a fold of cortex recessed inward in the temporal region. With physical damage to the insula (especially right-sided), a person’s feeling of disgust and rejection sharply weakens, and the ability to experience a sense of loss is lost. In a positive sense, this also makes it easier to abandon harmful habits (for example, smoking). Thus, questimity–declatimity is obviously connected, first, with the activity of the bilateral insular cortex, and second, with hemispheric asymmetry.