Alvaro Gonzalez asked a question that has caused me to reconsider the basic personality model underlying Siboot. That personality model has three dimensions: Nasty_Nice, Deceitful_Honest, and Submissive_Dominant. I had asked Alvaro to construct facial expressions showing each of the eight combinations of these values. The eight are:
Nasty + Deceitful + Submissive
Nasty + Deceitful + Dominant
Nasty + Honest + Submissive
Nasty + Honest + Dominant
Nice + Deceitful + Submissive
Nice + Deceitful + Dominant
Nice + Honest + Submissive
Nice + Honest + Dominant
Alvaro asked me to provide examples of what I meant by these combinations, a question that I could not completely answer. That calls into question the validity of the personality model. If the personality model doesn’t work, then I have to redesign everything.
I am confident, however, that this personality model works; I think that the true problem is that the single-word descriptions do not properly communicate the meaning of each of the dimensions. So let’s go over each of them:
Nasty_Nice is easy. Its pValue is could be called Hatred_Affection. Its Accordance value is “good natured” or “friendly”. How much does Actor A like Actor B?
Deceitful_Honest is also easy. Its pValue is Distrust_Trust, and its Accordance value is suspiciousness_gullibility.
But now we turn the crucial issue of orthogonality: how independent are the two dimensions? Is it possible to simultaneously like somebody and distrust them? How likely is it to simultaneously dislike somebody yet trust them? Normally distrust engenders dislike, but while the two are commonly somewhat parallel, they are not necessarily parallel. That is, it is entirely plausible to have either combination.
Lastly we come to the troublesome dimension: Submissive_Dominant. This one is not so easy to characterize. Its pValue is something like disrespect — or fear. I wonder: could we think of Submissive_Dominant as the Accordance value for something more fundamental?
We can also describe the three dimensions in terms of the verbs that would be used to apply each dimension in inducing another person to carry out some action. Thus “request” invokes that person’s affection for the requestor, whereas “command” invokes that person’s fear/submissiveness for the commander.
But there are two aspects of this: respect and fear. If Darth Vader tells you to do something, you do it because you fear him. But if Obi-Wan Kenobe tells you to do something, you do it because you respect his judgement. These seem quite independent; should they be conflated? Or should they be separated?
Orthogonality requirements enter into this decision. Is respect like trust? Is fear correlated with dislike?
Here’s a way of thinking about it:
Daddy does what daughter asks because of his affection for her
Frodo does what Gandalf asks because of his respect/admiration for him.
Underling does what boss asks because of his fear of the consequences of not obeying.
But is not respect/admiration close to trust? Should these three be conflated?