This quiz in the Christian Science Monitor aims to tell you. I don't vouch for this bit of light newspaper fare, but I have to admit that the summary of my answers nailed my outlook to a T. You get back what you put into something like this of course, but I found the questions mostly intriguing and the resulting summary spot on.
The CSM described their methodology thus:
This quiz is based on polling data and peer-reviewed research from an array of academic fields which have explored how socioeconomic status helps shape our inner and social lives.
The quiz doesn't really produce a scientifically valid result, but, as newspaper features go, it was interesting and amusing. Follow me into the tall grass for couple of sample questions, the summary that identified my outlook as middle class and a poll.
The quiz has 30 questions. Perhaps I lack insight, but as I answered them, I really didn't much grasp which way my responses might be trending.
Here are a couple of examples and how CSM explained (italics) the significance of the responses:
2. When you're driving and you approach a crosswalk with a pedestrian at one edge, how likely are you to stop?
o I let pedestrians do the stopping – it's easier for them, and my time is precious.
o It depends on how much of a rush I'm in.
o I usually stop, unless it's clear that I can scoot in front of them safely.
o I always stop – it's the law, and they shouldn't have to wonder what I'll do.
A striking relationship between the "status" of cars approaching an intersection (calculated from their make, age, and appearance), and their likelihood of illegally cutting off pedestrians, made headlines after a 2012 report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences indicated a positive association between social class and unethical behavior. Of 97 cars, the shabbiest ones always stopped for pedestrians, whereas 46 percent of the fanciest cars cut them off.
*snip*
9. Which emotion do you think this woman was more likely feeling, when the photo was taken?
o nostalgia
o amusement
The . . . woman was photographed laughing in Istanbul's Gezi Park, as she watched her friend let a journalist photograph his beard, freshly died red to support the 2013 Gezi Park Resistance Movement. You earned lower-class points if you guessed she was amused, rather than nostalgic.
After I completed the quiz, the summary that described me so well read like this:
Your results
MIDDLING
Your habits and perspectives most resemble those of middle-class Americans. Members of this group tend to be gentle and engaging parents, and if they're native English speakers they probably use some regional idioms and inflections. Your people are mostly college-educated, and you're about equally likely to beg children not to shout "so loudly" as you are to ask them to "read slow" during story time. You're probably a decent judge of others' emotions, and either a non-evangelical Christian, an atheist, or an agnostic. You tend to breastfeed for three months or less, drink diet soda, and visit your dentist regularly. There's a good chance that you roll with the flow of technological progress and hate heavy metal music
Take the quiz, if you dare, and tell us in the poll how well it summed up your outlook.