Have you ever found yourself sitting around, just wondering to yourself, "If Mussolini were alive today, would we be friends?" If so, we've got just the quiz for you.
The F-Scale was created in 1947 by German philosopher Theodor Adorno. In the aftermath of WWII, Adorno sought to create a standardized way to quantify a person's authoritarian tendencies, in the hopes of better understanding how these ideas take hold and why. The scale was tied to a test, which measures a number of personality traits that Adorno found to be predictive of fascist views, including cynicism, views on sex and morality, and the level to which the subject strives to "fit in" with the masses. Each test-taker was assigned a score that supposedly quantified his or her soul's resemblance to those of fascist poster-boys like Hitler and Franco.
In the years since the F-Scale was conceived, scholars have pointed out the test's numerous limitations — such as the fact that a set of hypothetical statements answered in a lab setting may not say much about a person's actual actions and behaviors. Still, while it probably won't help weed out the next authoritarian dictator, the test is pretty darn amusing. I, for one, learned a lot about myself — while the rest of the Wellness team scored predictably low (liberal airheads, the lot of 'em), my higher score was accompanied by the following cryptic rating: "You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American." Wait, that's a good thing...right?
Click through to take the quiz — your results just might surprise you. (io9)