In one of my classes, I was required to take a personality test, which is a dreaded task in my mind. To me, personality tests do not accurately asses the individual.
One fault in these tests is that the person taking the test may tend to idealize themselves, and therefore provide inaccurate answers. One may try to find the "right" answer, the answer that would make them seem like a better person, perhaps. The fact that some personality tests are multiple choice just sets up the participant for a struggle. For me, the given answer options were not satisfying, and I felt as though I fell in between two different choices. It is difficult enough to admit to your faults at all, but when you fault is given at an extreme as an answer option, it is unlikely that you may choose it.
Another source of error is the interpretation within the question. The prompt can be read and interpreted in different ways for different people, and they might answer the question in a manner that was not intented.
Lastly, I find these types of test very predictable. It is very easy to read what the question is trying to determine, therefore making it easier to sway the results in whatever direction you choose.
What is the point of personality tests? It's just an instrument to oversimplify peoples complexities. I believe that there is no accurate way to categorize individuals, which automatically deems all personality tests inaccurate. If you have time, I recommend you take this personality test, the Keirsey Test, and see how accurate your results are. It only takes about 15 minutes.
I definitely agree with you Isabelle. I think that personality tests do not fully reveal someone's true personality. The emotions that someone has or the actions that they take cannot be summarized in a single multiple choice answer. I think that people take personality tests to confirm what kind of person they think they are. They want to discover traits that they did not know they had, but many times if the test taker does not like the outcome, they blame the test. How a person portrays themselves might not be the same as how others see that person. A mistake in taking these tests are thinking that one online test can sum up a whole personality. Someone's personality can change depending on different situations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you guys. These online personality tests ultimately ask people to give answers of who they want to be, rather than who they actually are, which leads to inaccuracies. Even if people answered in full honesty, the results will still never be completely correct. To me, these tests are unnecessary and ludicrous, and give people the wrong idea of who they are, or rather, who they think they are.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with all three of you. I find that often times these tests ask you about how you would react in extreme situations. In my opinion, it is impossible to know how you would react if you are never actually put in that situation. We all want to believe that we would do the right thing, so most people would choose the same answer. However, when actually put in a trying situation, how many of us would actually do what we said we will? The truth is it is impossible to know. I agree that these tests can't accurately portrait who you are because I think it's almost impossible to know who you are. I learn new things about myself everyday and I like finding out who I am. So why should a personality test get to tell me who I am?
ReplyDelete