Distinct Traits: Personality, Similarity and Compatibility

Distinct Traits is the SimilarMinds personality test that measures 32 separate traits and lets you compare your profile with other people. Instead of reducing the result to one type, it shows a score for every trait, so you can explore a more detailed pattern of similarities and differences.

Take the Distinct Traits test · Explore compatibility

What the test measures

The 100-item test covers traits involving interests, habits, emotions, relationships and everyday priorities. Planning and Experimenting, for example, describe different tendencies; neither score needs to be the opposite of the other. Each trait is scored separately, so you can be high or low on several traits at the same time.

Reading your own results

The profile overview highlights your three highest trait scores. Expand the result to see all 32 scores, and hover over or tap a trait to read its description. A 0–100 score indicates where your answers fall on that trait's test scale. It is not your percentile rank among other people, and a high score is not automatically better than a low one.

Descriptions explain both useful expressions of a tendency and ways it can become less helpful. Read the whole pattern rather than treating a single label as a complete account of your personality. Scores close together should not be treated as sharply different ranks.

Comparing with another person

After completing the test, use Compare with someone or copy your comparison link. The other person can use their own Distinct Traits result to explore the pair. The comparison shows the two scores side by side and helps you identify where you resemble one another and where you differ.

Similarity and compatibility answer different questions

Similarity measures how close the two sets of trait scores are. A smaller average difference produces a higher similarity score. It describes resemblance on these scales, not a literal percentage of shared personality.

Compatibility uses a research-based formula to give different trait pairings different weights. Its purpose is to explore patterns associated with relationships, including cases where a particular combination may matter more than simply having equal scores. The comparison's percentile and reference labels provide context against the reference data; they are not a probability that a relationship will succeed.

Communication, circumstances, values and behavior also shape relationships. Use the scores as prompts for discussion and exploration. For the evidence behind the feature, read Personality Traits and Relationships and the research link inside the comparison results.

Saving and sharing

Your saved result sits alongside the other tests in your SimilarMinds profile. You can choose whether to show Distinct Traits on your public profile, share a results card, compare with someone, or retake the test. The public-profile setting and comparison controls serve different purposes: showing your result publicly is separate from sharing a comparison link.

Take the Distinct Traits test · Compare results · Read the relationship research