research.outofservice.com



OutOfService.com, created by Jeff Potter, has run personality and self-awareness tests since 1997. The tests are derived from scientific psychological research, and the feedback provided to participants is based on statistical analysis of large amounts of data.

Many of the tests on OutOfService.com have been developed in collaboration with several respected researchers and professors as parts of ongoing research. Most notably, Dr. Samuel Gosling of the University of Texas has provided thoughtful guidance and opportunities.

OutOfService.com has been featured in numerous news publications, including the New York Times, US News & World Report, CNN, the London Metro, the BBC, and ABC News. Over 5 million tests have been administered to visitors across the globe.

  • If you want to take a personality test, please visit the main homepage.

  • If you are an academic researcher and are interested in collaborating or using data from this site as part of a study, contact me.

Publications & Presentations

  • Denissen, J. J. A., Geenen, R., van Aken, M. A. G., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (in press) The Big Five Inventory (BFI) - Dutch version. Reliability, validity, and factorial invariance across age groups and languages. Journal of Personality Assessment.

  • Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (in press). The geography of personality: A theory of the emergence, persistence, and expression of regional variation in basic traits. Perspectives in Psychological Science.

  • Rentfrow, P. J., Jost, J. T., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (in press). Statewide differences in personality predict voting patterns in 1996-2004 U.S. presidential elections. In J. T. Jost, A. C. Kay, and H. Thorisdottir (Eds.) Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification. Oxford University Press.

  • Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (in press). The developmental psychometrics of Big Five self-reports: Acquiescence, factor structure, coherence, and differentiation from ages 10 to 20. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

  • Wood, D., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2007). Normality evaluations and their relation to personality traits and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 861-879.

  • Ramírez-Esparza, N., Gosling, S. D., Benet-Martínez, V., Potter, J. P., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). Do bilinguals have two personalities? A special case of cultural frame switching. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 99-120.

  • Srivastava, S., John, O, P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2003). Development of the Big Five in Adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent change?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

  • Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H., Tracy, J. L., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2002). Global self-esteem across the lifespan. Psychology and Aging.

  • Robins, R. W., Tracy, J. L., Trzesniewski, K. H., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2001). Personality correlates of self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality

Presentations

  • Half a million cases wiser: Lessons learned collecting Internet data. Paper presented at the 2001 meetings of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.
    Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2001).

  • Age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90. Poster presented at the biannual meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development. Minneapolis, Minnesota.
    Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H., Tracy, J. L., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2001, April).

  • Self-esteem across the lifespan. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, Texas.
    Tracy, J. L., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2001, February).

  • Personality profiles of internet and non-internet research participants. Paper presented at the 1999 meetings of the American Psychological Association, Boston.
    Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (1999, August).

Collaborators