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In the context of a personality quizz, what does 共同志向性 means?

I feel it is something like the quality of being a good team-player, but not sure.

Google does not know

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It is not a common word. It was probably made up by the person who designed that quiz, or is a technical term that is used only under a particular school of specialists. '協調性' would be a more common word perhaps with a similar meaning. –  sawa Aug 9 '11 at 14:00
All the answers indicate that this is a positive trait. Are we sure this isn't a negative trait like 付和雷同...? Like "I intend to cooperate because I can't take the lead by myself" or something? –  istrasci Aug 9 '11 at 14:35
@istraci whether a trait is positive or negative depends on perception. E.g. "strong determination" may also be interpreted as "stubbornness" by some. –  Flaw Aug 10 '11 at 1:58
@sawa: This word is not seen by users, it is used internally by the quizz's designers. –  Nicolas Raoul Aug 10 '11 at 2:43
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4 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

I think Google actually knows part of the answer.. at least my Google. According to her, there are two possible meanings, both of which are (social) psychology terms.

communal orientation: "desire to give and receive benefits in response to the needs of and out of concern for others"

  • The first Google result is an academic paper (Google Quick View), which cites "Clark, Ouellette, Powell, & Milberg, 1987" as its source for the methodology of measuring communal orientation ("共同志向尺度")
  • The definition above is given by another paper which cites the same 1987 paper.

co-orientation: "[the process of] lining up of attitudinal orientations [toward shared topics] in a compatible way"

  • The 8th result explains that 共同志向 is a term from a social psychology model, namely T. M. Newcomb's A-B-X system.
  • The definition above is given by an encyclopedia of communication theory that explains the A-B-X system.

Since the question context is about personality and the latter term is about an objective process in a relationship, I guess "communal orientation" is the source word for 共同志向性. So, the quiz can be asking how much you're willing to give without expecting anything in exchange.

Some of the other Google results show usages outside the context of academic psychology, like corporate mottos, but they're very few.

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共同 - doing together, cooperation

志向 - intention

- characteristic (-ity, -ness)

I would say combining them would yield "the characteristic of the willingness (of an individual) to cooperate" or the "cooperativeness" of the person.

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I'd say "Common aspiration" or "dessein commun" (if you pardon my French :P), as a perk, or as a thing you have/share.

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I think being a good team player is a pretty good assessment of the meaning - a "spirit of cooperation" - very similar to the answer Flaw posted.

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