Personality tests

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This post was written by Irene Morales

Introduction

Personality tests are something I've always enjoyed. Mainly because I love answering questions about myself and how I act :), but also because I'm just really interested in knowing what type of person I am, how I react to things, how that affects my life and how I can use it to improve. Basically, I believed that if I was sorted into a certain group it would be easier to find out all those things. But is this actually effective or just society's way to categorise us?

In this post we take a look at some of the most popular personality tests and whether or not they are accurate and useful, and if so how we can use them.

This post contains...

🤔 What personality tests are
🔎 Scientific validity & reliability
📋 Test 1: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
🔢 Test 2: Enneagram
🧮 Test 3: The Big Five model & the HEXACO model of Personality
🕯 Conclusion
🔗 Links to tests

What are personality tests?

A personality test is a questionnaire or some other standardised instrument designed to reveal aspects of an individual's character or psychological apparatus.
These tests originated to help with personnel selection in the armed forces. More specifically, the developers of these tests hoped that by studying personality and potential mental health issues, one would be better able to determine which soldiers were better or worse suited to fly military aircraft. From there on, different people have developed different personality assessments with different theories.

Scientific validity & reliability

To asses the usefulness of these tests we have to take into account its validity and reliability.
To know whether a test is valid or not we have to asses how well it measures what it claims to measure. On the other hand, if a test is reliable or not, tells us how accurate the results are. Would you get the same results if you took the test more than once?

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

AIsabel Myers and Katharine Briggs are credited for creating the all too famous Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
The MBTI measures four pairs of opposing preferences, which are inborn and value-neutral, to form a person’s four-letter type.” The assessment discerns between “Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I),” “Sensing (S) or Intuition (N),” “Thinking (T) or Feeling (F),” and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P),” resulting in 16 different personality types.

However, we have to take into account that people and their personalities are not binary, but are much more on a continuum. You’re not a pure introvert or a pure extrovert, but usually somewhere in the middle.
The insights of the MBTI are generic enough such that when you read your description, you can certainly identify with parts of it, but it’s not a truly accurate and comprehensive description of who you really are. In one study, researchers found that 50 percent of people received different results the second time they took the test, even just five weeks later. So this test both lacks validity and reliability

On the contrary, this doesn't mean we can't use these results for anything, it just means that we have to take them with a pinch of salt and maybe choose several traits from different types you identify with and explore from there.

Additionally, there are some other tests like the NERIS Type Explorer, wich give you a broader spectrum of you traits (uses the Big 5 personality traits) but still uses the MBTI acronyms.

Enneagram

The enneagram is a guide that includes 9 personality types, called enneatypes, as well as their relationships with each other. In other words, the enneagram of personality generically describes 9 archetypal mental models that allude to behavioral tendencies and that, depending on the state they are in, can approximate each other.
Through these personality types or a specific enneatype, the enneagram sheds light on the limitations and potentialities that we have.

Although it is not based on scientific bases but rather on pyschological thinking and similarity categorization, we could say that it is a base for people interested in starting and going deeper into knowing themselves better. Each type of personality linked to the enneagram embodies certain characters and patterns of behavior, thought and feeling that, when verified, cause in the individual a greater and better understanding of oneself, the main objective of this system. Based on the analysis of these internal traits and detecting where attention is directed on a daily basis, the person can choose whether to continue with the same patterns or try to change them if they no longer serve him or her or if they have to adopt others for new situations.

The Big Five model & the HEXACO model of Personality

Widely used in contemporary psychology, the so-called 'big five model' tries to define which are the great domains that define the human personality. It is one of the most famous ways of structuring personality, which is why it is frequently used to carry out numerous studies and also in the Human Resources departments of companies to analyze which position each employee can best fit into. Experts speak of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

The test was shaped by an empirical process and while not perfect, most studies since have demonstrated more acceptable levels of validity and reproducibility. So far, they have demonstrated considerable power in predicting job performance and team effectiveness.
Some researchers have even mapped the big five to relevant brain regions.
And while the Big Five model is far from perfect, there’s growing support for a HEXACO model of personality, which is essentially the Big Five with an addition of a sixth trait: honesty-humility.

Conclusion

People sometimes expect personality tests to tell them some hidden secrets to their character.
But the truth is that a personality test can only tell you what you tell it. Accuracy with the test is entirely based on how honest and self-reflective you are with your answers. The real utility is in that it facilitates the process of introspection and reflection. Taking a personality assessment helps someone consider some of their strengths and weaknesses, and begin having some important but difficult conversations. Learning about oneself allows one to stop acting automatically, to be aware of one's way of being and to be able to freely choose which attitudes to adopt.