Which Hogwarts house do you belong to? Which Friends character are you? Which Rock band are you? How conservative/liberal are you? – Sounds familiar?! We all have seen this and taken such quizzes.
They easily catch your attention, and you can wait to click on the link and find what you get. And after we get the result, we share it on our social media accounts and encourage our friends to participate too. Why do people like to play quizzes? What makes these quizzes viral? Let us try to understand.
- Create one’s identity
Most of us are just an insignificant speck in this wide world filled with billions of people. As we grow, we try to establish our identity. Online quizzes like the ones mentioned above, help us in finding subjects that we are interested in.
The quizzes more or less point to a category that you belong to, based on your answers. When you share the quiz and find people who got the same results as yours, you get a sense of belonging.
You discover who you are, what you like and on what subjects you possess knowledge. Thus, we love quizzes as they, in a way, help us to discover new information about ourselves.
- Self-gratification
Sometimes, we take quizzes that test our knowledge of something we know we love. It could be anything from sports teams to automobiles. When we take such a quiz and get the right answers, it boosts our morale.
An online quiz has the power to change your mood. Getting all the answers right, we can reassure ourselves that we are knowledgeable enough in the particular subject. It makes us feel good about ourselves, which in turn makes us more confident in those subjects.
- The joy of sharing
Any post, video or quiz can become viral only if it is repeatedly shared a million times. Thus, it is no surprise that the makers of online quizzes allow sharing the links for the quizzes. After you get your result, you can share it along with the link to the quiz. When shared with friends and family members, you also get to see who all think alike and which members think differently. Overall, it turns out to be a fun exercise of learning about each other without making any special effort.
- Let people know what you are good at/which category you fall into
Imagine simply posting the fact that you are good at quickly calculating stuff or have deep knowledge of ancient history.
That will likely come off as ‘showing off.’ Nobody wants to sound vain, especially when people judge all your actions online. Now, imagine taking a math quiz and sharing your results – suddenly, all the vanity has vanished into thin air!
You no more sound self-centred. Quizzes offer a way to subtly let the world know what you are good at. This could be another reason why people love taking online quizzes.
- Stay in the loop
The whole point of being on social media is to not get left behind. The whole world is quickly moving from one fad to another. Every week you see a new challenge, with everyone nominating everyone else.
Quizzes reflect the current trends, political ideas in vogue and much more. These are temporary and will remain only until the idea is trending. Thus, people may want to rush to the quiz before they miss out on what’s new. Trending quizzes help people stay in the loop. Also, if you are not clear on a subject, a quiz can help establish your stance.
- The categories
The internet is a wide space. You will find quizzes on all subjects – you name it; you’ll find it. From space science to music, from theatre, films to geography, there are numerous quizzes in scores of categories. Thus, no matter who you are, no matter what your likes are, you will easily find a quiz for you. The fact that there is something for everyone can be the biggest reason why people like to play quizzes online.
The next time you find yourself sharing the results of a quiz you enjoyed, you won’t be wondering why do people like to play quizzes! You now know why.
