You’re a Mad Scientist! This means that you have high positive and negative affect, or, put another way, you tend to feel both positive and negative emotions deeply. Everything is awesome or everything is terrible, depending on your mood. This leads to a cascade of good qualities: Mad Scientists usually are highly extroverted, passionate about their interests, deeply curious, and relentless seekers. We often see this profile in CEOs, entrepreneurs, consultants, and all types of adventure-seekers who travel for their jobs. But this affect profile does come with costs.
Mad Scientists, driven by their awesome or terrible moods, tend to make decisions rashly and spiral up or down. When things are good, they can be overconfident and blind to possible setbacks; when things are bad, they descend into unnecessary misery. They often overpromise on a wide range of issues—from attending a party that they haven’t the time for, to agreeing to an impossible work deadline. Additionally, their high energy (both good and bad) can exhaust friends, family, and work colleagues whose temperaments are more even-keeled.
As a Mad Scientist, your complementary profile is a Judge—people with low positive and negative affect. Judges can help you address the costs of your affect profile. They slow you down, help you make rational decisions, and are excellent at keeping you in check. Meanwhile, your affect profile can help. Judges be a little more carefree and to embrace life’s swings.
Remember, no affect profile is better than another. You are not rigidly bound to the best and worst qualities of a Mad Scientist. The point is to know yourself. Now that you know your strengths, act on them with purpose. And now that you know your weaknesses, keep an eye out for your pitfalls.