British not as reserved as the stereotype suggests

October 07, 2013, 4:23 PM GMT+0

Our pan-European personality test reveals that the British are more extroverted and less emotionally stable than the stereotype suggests.

YouGov’s pan-European personality test uses the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) survey to produce a national average score for emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness to new experiences.

The results shows how the UK’s average personality matches up against the French, German and Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

The survey provides a unique insight into the national psyche of the respective countries and allows us to test common national stereotypes. The research suggests that the British aren’t quite as polite and reserved as the national stereotype would dictate.

Contradicting the shy and restrained stereotype, the British scored ahead (47%) of both the French (45%) and Germans (43%) for extroversion. However the Nordic countries were way out ahead on this measure with an average 59%.

The Nordic states are also the most open to new experiences with a score of 67%, higher than the British and French (both 61%) and Germans (60%).

The traditional British stiff upper lip may also be a thing of the past - in our test the British, at 60%, lagged behind the Germans (63%) and the Nordics (68%) for emotional stability, although the fiery French stereotype was confirmed as they came in fourth on 55%.

Germany topped the table for conscientiousness, with a score of 76%, narrowly ahead of the Nordics (75%) and the British (73%). with the French coming in with a score of 69%. Meanwhile the score for agreeableness lay between 66% and 64% for all four groups.

Image: Getty

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