Have you ever wondered what you would be in animal form? One personality test has the answer. If you’re the kind of person who loves taking that tell you what type of flower you are or what Harry Potter house you’d be in, you’ll definitely connect with this. Maybe you’re loyal like a golden retriever, or have the leadership traits of a lion. Whatever the results are, they’ll give you unique insight into who you are and what kind of personality you have.
The personality test was shared by Michigan State University’s Center for Community Engaged Learning. It was originally developed by Gary Smalley and John Trent for their book “The Two Sides of Love.” It just has 10 short questions that can be answered in roughly five minutes, and it will tell you what your dominant and sub-dominant personality traits are, in the form of a lion, beaver, otter, or golden retriever.
The test consists of 10 sets of four words or phrases. Each word or phrase has a line next to it where you can write a number. You rate the words or phrases from one to four based on how well they describe you. For example, the first set is “likes authority,” “enthusiastic,” “sensitive feelings,” and “likes instructions.” Maybe you would rate those traits as 3, 4, 2, and 1, respectively. You can see how this works in the image below.
Michigan State University
The words or phrases are organized so that they make up four separate columns. After you go through and rate each group one through four, you add up your total for each column. The columns are labelled L, O, G, and B, which — you guessed it — stand for the different animals the test might identify your personality as.
After you’ve counted up your totals, you’ll know which animal is your dominant personality, or the one you scored the highest with, and which is your sub-dominant personality, or the one you scored the second highest with.
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Just like actual lions are known as the leaders of their ecosystems, people who are lions are also natural-born leaders. Getting results and achieving things is what drives them. Often, they can be found as managers in the workplace or as entrepreneurs forging their own path. They are laser-focused and put all of their energy into the present moment. Lions are good at making decisions and taking charge, especially when there’s no clear leader in a group.
Each personality type has its weaknesses, of course. For lions, that means being a little too aggressive. Sometimes others may feel like they were pushed aside in a lion’s quest to lead the pack and get results. Lions are also not known as the best listeners, and to get as much done as they can, they tend to be a bit impulsive. Lions are also likely to value the task at hand over the people around them.
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If you’ve ever seen an otter, you’ve probably heard it chattering away. That’s exactly what an otter personality type is like, too — talkative, extroverted, and outgoing. Otters are known as good networkers, so if you’re looking for a job, you might want to check in with one. They are great around people and very enthusiastic. They’re basically the kind of people most would say they want to surround themselves with.
There are some disadvantages to being an otter, though. Like lions, otters are impulsive and don’t always think through decisions as well as they could. They’re very aware of how popular they are, and that’s very important to them. They have a tendency to put their feelings over what’s logical as well. And if an otter is feeling the heat, instead of staying cool, they’ll lash out.
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You can probably guess what a golden retriever is like based on the fact that we already describe some people that way. Above all else, they are known for being loyal. They like to be around others, and they’re known for being good listeners. They’re interested in the quality of their relationships, not the quantity. Golden retrievers are also very supportive and can really be a shoulder to lean on for the people in their lives.
Unfortunately, golden retrievers might focus a bit too much on other people. They can be people-pleasers to a fault and often don’t push back on opinions offered by others. Instead, they just go with the flow. They also have the ability to take on a great amount of emotional pain from a relationship and still move forward with it, which isn’t always healthy.
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Like a real-life beaver methodically building its dam, people with a beaver personality type follow instructions as perfectly as they possibly can. They actually excel in jobs that have to do with quality control because they’re so focused on doing everything right. They’re very detail-oriented and work at a slower pace to ensure they do everything well. Their high standards manifest in the work they complete and the relationships they have.
It will come as no surprise that beavers are also perfectionists who struggle with their standards being a bit too high. This makes them hard on themselves when they don’t live up to what they believe is their full potential, as well as hard on others who work and think differently than they do. Beavers also attempt to avoid making decisions or getting into high-pressure situations because that’s not where they thrive.
Whether you’re a lion, otter, golden retriever, or beaver, you have plenty of strengths to celebrate as well as some weaknesses to work on. And if you read these descriptions and thought, “Huh, they kind of all sound like me,” you’re onto something. The personality types exist on a type of spectrum that means you have aspects of all four of them inside of you. One or two probably just stand out as being more relevant to you.
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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
