The Complete Guide to SBTI Personality Test: When MBTI Isn't Enough, the Internet Built Something Meaner

How It Started: My Feed Was Suddenly Full of "Clowns" and "Losers"

Honestly, I was annoyed by the spam at first.

I opened my WeChat Moments feed — three people showing off JOKE-R, two sharing Dior-s, and one posting DEAD — the one lying in a coffin. Captions all the same: "This is SO accurate" and "I'm laughing but I want to cry."

I thought: here we go again. MBTI hasn't even cooled down yet, and now there's a new one?

But that's how people are. While your mouth is saying "it's just horoscopes with a new skin," your finger has already clicked in and started taking the quiz.

After finishing, I sat in silence for a moment.

Not because it was accurate — but because it roasted you with such surgical precision that you couldn't argue back. And then I thought: how the hell does this thing calculate results?

So I did what any programmer would instinctively do — I dug into the source code.

What Is SBTI, Exactly?

SBTI stands for Satire-Based Trait Inventory — literally "satirical personality trait inventory." Just from the name, you can tell it was never meant to be serious.

It was created by Bilibili content creator @蛆肉儿串儿 (UID 417038183), purely as an entertainment personality test. But here's the interesting part: peel back its outer layer, and the skeleton underneath is surprisingly solid.

A few key numbers:

• 32 test questions (30 regular + 2 hidden alcohol-trigger questions)
• 15 assessment dimensions
• 5 psychological models
• 27 personality types
• Scoring based on vector distance matching

The tagline is one sentence: "MBTI is outdated. SBTI is here."

You can dismiss it as a meme, but its number of dimensions is nearly four times that of MBTI. That's actually kind of interesting.

Five Psychological Models: Way More Granular Than MBTI

MBTI uses 4 dimensions to slice people into 16 types. SBTI uses 5 models and 15 dimensions to slice people into 27 types — and each dimension has three levels (L/M/H), not a black-or-white binary choice.

🧠 Self Model

How do you see yourself? Do you know who you are? What are you living for?

• S1 Self-Esteem: Do you think you're doing alright, or do you think you're a piece of garbage?
• S2 Self-Clarity: Do you know what you want, or are you living in a fog?
• S3 Core Values: Are you the climbing type, or the lying-flat type?

💗 Emotional Model

What are you like in relationships?

• E1 Attachment Security: Your partner hasn't replied in 5 hours — do you think they're busy, or that they're cheating on you?
• E2 Emotional Investment: Are you the all-in type, or the ready-to-bolt type?
• E3 Boundaries & Dependency: Do you like being glued together, or do you need your own space?

🌍 Attitude Model

What do you think of this world?

• A1 Worldview: Do you believe in the goodness of human nature, or think everyone's selfish?
• A2 Rules & Flexibility: That class you're supposed to skip — do you skip it?
• A3 Sense of Meaning: Do you think life has meaning, or that nothing really matters?

⚡ Action Drive Model

Are you the "just do it" type, or the "say it and forget it" type?

• Ac1 Motivation: Do you do things to "gain something" or to "not lose something"?
• Ac2 Decision Style: Decisive or indecisive?
• Ac3 Execution Mode: Do it now, or deadline-driven?

🤝 Social Model

What's your style with people?

• So1 Social Initiative: Are you a social butterfly or socially anxious?
• So2 Interpersonal Boundaries: Do you warm up to people quickly?
• So3 Expression & Authenticity: Are you the same person in front of different people?

Honestly, these 15 dimensions are far more nuanced than MBTI's I/E, S/N, T/F, J/P. MBTI tells you "you're an INFP," and you nod and say "yeah, that's me." SBTI tells you "your self-esteem is low, your attachment is anxious, your worldview is pessimistic, your execution is basically zero, and your socializing is all an act" — and you go silent, because it's all true.

27 Personality Portraits: Each One Like Looking in a Mirror

This is the part of SBTI that went the most viral. 27 personality types, each with a Low Poly style character illustration, a Chinese name, an English abbreviation, and a brutally snarky description that pins you to the wall.

Let me highlight a few of the most representative ones:

CTRL · The Controller

Control-type personality, a human task manager. Everything must be in their grip — including but not limited to romance, work, and the air conditioning remote. The character is a blocky figure flexing its muscles — the control urge is written right into the body language.

JOKE-R · The Clown

The most shared result on social media. A red-nosed clown figure, hiding heartbreak behind a smile. Everyone thinks they're the person who "makes others laugh but is exhausted inside." The reason this type went viral is that it hits a universal nerve: we're all playing a role, and somewhere along the way of laughing, we forgot that we're actually not happy.

Dior-s · The Loser

This naming is the thing I admire most in all of SBTI. Dior plus an "s" — luxury becomes loser, one letter apart is the distance between dreams and reality. The character is a shirtless figure running in the darkness — seeing through the illusions of hustle culture and consumerism, but powerless to change anything, so just running. Running where? No idea. Just running for now.

BOSS · The Leader

Crown on head, stocky build, always climbing upward. High self-esteem, high execution, high goals. You definitely know someone like this, but you probably don't want to be them — because it's exhausting. And if you think about it, what exhausts them isn't the body — it's that they can't stop. The moment they stop, they don't know who they are anymore.

DEAD · The Dead One

The one lying in the coffin. Transcended all desires, the ultimate nihilist. Only this type can say things like "there's no fundamental difference between being alive and being dead." But honestly, anyone who can truly not care about anything has either seen through it all, or had enough of it all. Both possibilities are kind of heartbreaking.

SEXY · The Bombshell

Hands on hips in a yellow dress, confidence radiating like light. Their existence itself is seduction. There aren't many of this type, but whenever one shows up, they steal the spotlight — not because they're good-looking, but because they genuinely believe they're good-looking, and that kind of confidence is infectious.

DRUNK · The Drunk

Hidden type. Only triggered when you select "baijiu in a thermos flask" during the test, immediately skipping all calculations, 100% match. I genuinely admire this design — baijiu in a thermos, one option says it all, what's there to calculate? You're a drunk. The character is a beer-bellied figure holding a bottle, swaying around, practically performance art.

MUM · The Mom

Takes care of everyone, except themselves. This type looks warm, but it's actually the most heartbreaking one. Their boundaries are extremely low, their emotional investment extremely high, always worrying about others — until one day they crash, only to discover that nobody comes to take care of them.

ZZZZ · The Playing Dead

Completely motionless before the deadline, instantly resurrected when it arrives. Honestly, this might be the largest personality common denominator on the entire internet. Stop pretending — that's you. That's me too. That's all of us. The only difference is whether your deadline is tomorrow or tonight.

FAKE · The Fake

A master of face-changing, a completely different person in front of different people. The core is empty — not because there's no self, but because there are too many selves, too many to know which one is real. This type made me think for a long time: in a society that demands you play different roles in different contexts, is "authenticity" a virtue or a luxury?

Algorithm Teardown: How Does It Actually Calculate?

This is the part programmers care about most. After digging through the source code, I found that SBTI doesn't use a simple "count how many A's you picked" approach — it uses a legit vector distance matching system.

Step 1: Calculate Raw Dimension Scores

Each dimension has 2 questions, each scored 1-3. A dimension's raw score range is 2-6 points.

Step 2: Convert to Three-Level Encoding

Raw score ≤ 3 → L (Low)
Raw score = 4 → M (Medium)
Raw score ≥ 5 → H (High)

Step 3: Generate 15-Digit Vector

Your test result becomes something like this:

HHH-HMH-MHH-HHH-MHM

15 letters, each representing a dimension's high/medium/low. This is your "personality fingerprint."

Step 4: Distance Matching

The system has 25 built-in standard personality templates (DRUNK and HHHH are special cases), and calculates the distance between your vector and each template:

• L=1, M=2, H=3
• Take the absolute difference at each corresponding position, sum them up
• Maximum possible distance is 30 (all L vs all H)

Step 5: Calculate Similarity

Similarity = max(0, round((1 - distance/30) × 100))%

The template with the highest similarity is your personality type. If even the highest similarity is below 60%, the system assigns you to HHHH (The Happy Fool) — a catch-all type meaning "you're too unique, our templates can't contain you, so just live happily."

Easter Egg: The Drunk Override

If you select "baijiu in a thermos flask" in the hidden alcohol trigger question, all calculation results are immediately voided, forcefully matched to DRUNK at 100% similarity.

One option overrides all 32 questions' calculations — because anyone who chose that option really doesn't need to be tested anymore.

My Honest Thoughts

After tearing apart the entire SBTI, I have some strong feelings I need to get off my chest.

It's More Serious Than You'd Think

On the surface, it's all meme words like "loser," "clown," and "waste." But the underlying psychological dimensions are solid. Attachment security, self-clarity, decision style — these are core concepts in legitimate psychological research. It's just packaged in an extremely Chinese-internet way: make them laugh first, then make them think. This strategy is ten thousand times smarter than solemnly telling you "please evaluate your attachment type."

Vector Matching Is Way More Advanced Than Binary Classification

What's MBTI's biggest problem? It cuts you in half. You're slightly more I and you're an I, slightly more E and you're an E — 49% and 51% are two different types. Does that make sense? SBTI uses three levels (L/M/H) plus distance matching, meaning you're not being "classified" — you're being "located." You have coordinates in a 15-dimensional space, and the system finds the closest label to stick on you. What's the difference? Classification is either/or; location is near or far. You might be 80% clown but also 65% playing-dead — isn't that what people actually are?

Self-Deprecation Is More Honest Than Positive Energy

MBTI descriptions are always positive. INFP is "the idealist," ENTJ is "the commander" — every type reads like a compliment. SBTI is different: it straight-up calls you a "waste," "playing dead," or "clown" — and weirdly enough, you feel more comfortable after reading it.

Why? Because the uncomfortable truths might actually be the truth. Young people are tired of hearing "you're great," "you deserve it," "you're one of a kind." What they need more is a mirror that says "yeah you kind of suck, but it's fine, everyone sucks." SBTI is that mirror. It doesn't beautify you, but it doesn't look down on you either — it just honestly tells you, this is who you are, have a laugh about it.

It Went Viral for a Reason

The essence of personality tests isn't science — it's social currency. You take the test, screenshot it, post to your feed, your friend sees it and says "haha you're totally the clown," then goes and takes it too. SBTI's character illustrations are ugly-cute in Low Poly style, instantly recognizable, naturally suited for screenshot sharing. Plus those sharp and funny descriptions — every single one could be reshared as a standalone joke.

It's not a more scientific MBTI — it's a more fun MBTI. When it comes to going viral, fun always beats science. You won't reshare a paper, but you'll reshare an image that says "You are ZZZZ, The Playing Dead."

Don't Take It Too Seriously — But Don't Dismiss It Either

One last heartfelt thought: this is an entertainment test, don't use it as psychological diagnosis. But if a certain description made you pause and think for a few seconds — those few seconds of self-reflection might be more valuable than the test itself.

SBTI doesn't tell you "who you are" — it tells you "who you think you are."

The difference between those two questions is what's truly worth thinking about.

Final Words

I pulled out SBTI's complete question bank, the detailed descriptions of all 27 personalities, the breakdown of every dimension, and that matching algorithm, and made them into a complete gallery page. Pure frontend, no backend, just open and browse:

SBTI Personality Test · Complete Gallery

If you're curious which type you are — go take it. Then come back and check the gallery description, think about whether it's right.

Oh, and if you got DRUNK... then you probably really don't need to test. People who put baijiu in a thermos — their personality type IS putting baijiu in a thermos. Nothing to analyze. 🍺