Probably the most fascinating person I know is me! I can speak for hours and hours on the subject and still not get bored. Or run out of things to talk about!

And now What Makes You Tick?, a new piece of software from Third Program, has helped me find out even more about myself. Won't my friends be fascinated when I tell them?

Trying to be scientific about the human personality is a difficult business, as many a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist will tell you. Even so there are two measures that help to provide a rough and ready guide, and the program uses both of them.

The first is the scale of introversion as opposed to extroversion. Put simply, this means whether you're shy or outgoing. The second scale measures whether you are emotionally stable (placid) or neurotic (anxious, easily agitated). This may sound a bit dry and academic but it's not at all. In fact it's fascinating!

You run the program and your micro asks you fifty questions on seemingly unrelated subjects, one after another. You're supposed to answer them as quickly as you can. This is probably because if you think too much about the answer you'll tend to give one that may be an improvement on the truth!

At the end your answers are analysed and you're shown where you appear on the two scales. While the program makes no claim to completeness it is amazing how accurately it assessed people I've tried it on out. Not only that but they all enjoyed using it. Maybe I'm not the only one to find himself fascinating.

Dare I say that it could be used to break the ice at parties? Certainly it tells you a lot about people, even if it's only their reaction to the program. In fact I was the only person it was wrong about. I'm much more calm, collected and emotionally stable than it says I am. And if it doesn't change its opinion of me I'll start sulking!

Peter Gray