Opinion What's your experience with personality tests? Also, a character quiz (just for fun)! :)

[Illusory]

Hey guys! I was wondering if anyone finds personality tests/assessments useful - Myers Briggs (MBTI), Enneagrams, Big Five Traits, (dare I say, even..) Zodiac Signs.

I'm asking because these type of tests seem really popular in mainstream media and it drives a lot of interest.

I can see where it might be a tool used to inform you of the qualities you currently possess. It can reveal or confirm the qualities that you exhibit. However, people change and so I think personality tests are kind of a snapshot of where you perceive yourself within a larger colour palette of humanity momentarily. They are only as accurate as the time that you take them.

I can also see where it could be problematic by putting labels and people in boxes. It sort of implies a "fixed" mindset/personality or set up expectations that you have to meet in order to fit that category. Moreover, the depictions themselves doesn't capture the person as a whole. It could come up distorted or make you feel like a caricature of what you really are as it lacks context of personal/lived experiences.

Also if you haven't taken one, I think this one was interesting because it's a little different from the rest. Character Quiz

Feel free to share the results too (or keep it to yourself). This one is mine:

Apparently, I have a three way tie between Iroh, Ambrose, and Han, which was kinda exciting. I love tea and Iroh!

So what do you think of personality tests? What's your experience taking them? How do you feel about the results - was it congruent to your self-image or not? What do you like or dislike about them?

It's an open forum! And most importantly, have fun!

 

[Rabbit.]

Personality quizzes feel like a reflection. I kinda agree that they don't really encompass a whole individual, but I'm also not really the type of person to take it too seriously. For the most part, they're really subject to personal interpretation - if you relate to the traits or not. Personally, I think they're just fun to do. I don't think too much of the results.

My closest match of the bunch is Patrick Jane from The Mentalist (84%). I've sadly not seen the show so I can't comment on the accuracy. As far as the traits go, it seems to align with me and my values - freelance, experimental, persistent, and explorer all sound like me.

 

[Illusory]

Personality quizzes feel like a reflection. I kinda agree that they don't really encompass a whole individual, but I'm also not really the type of person to take it too seriously. For the most part, they're really subject to personal interpretation - if you relate to the traits or not. Personally, I think they're just fun to do. I don't think too much of the results.

My closest match of the bunch is Patrick Jane from The Mentalist (84%). I've sadly not seen the show so I can't comment on the accuracy. As far as the traits go, it seems to align with me and my values - freelance, experimental, persistent, and explorer all sound like me.

That's true. A lot of it boils down to identity and how we define ourselves which is why it's so interesting for me. I don't take my results that seriously either. I just think it's interesting to discuss in case anyone was really into psychology. I find that field is full of ideas that we can learn from.

I'm glad you resonate with the character too!

 

[Idea]

My result:

Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz results

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Some years ago, I had a "personality test phase", just doing whichever ones I could get my hands on that even somewhat interested me. I think part of me was impressed by how accurate they sounded, and just kind of liked seeing the complements. At the same time, however, I also knew they were all to some extent bogus. Pseudo science, faulty statistics, results purposefully crafted to apply to literally anyone just short of that verse from Bo Burnham's Repeat Stuff:

"I love your hands cause your fingerprints are like no other.
I love your eyes and their blue-ish, brown-ish, greenish color.
I love that when you smile, that you smile wide,
and I love how your torso has an arm on either side."

That said, while I realize a lot of it was bogus, seeing just what parts resonated with me, and trying to take the questions of these quizzes seriously really helped become increasingly introspective. Combined with my already existing interest in philosophy, this was extremely helpful and formative in finding who I am, what I want to be, and what I value. Though I wouldn't necessarily recommend the same means I used, I think this sort of anchor on my wants and identity is something a lot of people could really use who don't already have one.

In fact, it has even helped me as a roleplayer, as this introspection quizzes trained in me also helped me figure out what I like or don't like in roleplay. Not to mention being at the basis of me creating one of my most popular threads to date, my superpower quizz.

Aaah, there was something else I wanted to bring up, but it's not coming to me now. Damn it.

But yeah, that's essentially my experience with an opinion on personality tests/quizzes. They can help one be more introspective, and they are inherently very faulty, but can have some truth to them as well, or at least help one find some truth with their own perspective.

 

[Sir Fungus]

Eh, generally alright, I usually end up getting cool ones, except this one MHA quiz....ugh....I got mineta....

 

[Gundam-kun]

Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz results

Here...

 

[Kaihaku]

In general, I find them to be more useful for offering a common lexicon than for defining who someone is. It's helpful to be able to say "I just need some alone time as an introvert" or "I need to do some research as a P".

That's in general... Personally, my results have almost always been eerily spot on. Myers Briggs, Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, Chinese Zodiac, etc, etc. Not the case for others I know but certainly for me despite my initial cynicism on the subject.

 

[MasterJuann]

i tend to think of think most of them are bull, even if some of them get accurate reflections on me, because a lot of times I feel like it's stuff that's obvious based on your answers and there's always stuff they get wrong, as well. Also, in general, I just don't like the idea of being figured out through a short little test but maybe that's just me lol. sometimes I still take them or look them up for fun, but I don't really believe in it, especially horoscopes

but I do think stuff based on psychology like MBTI is legit. I mean of course I don't expect it to be perfect, but accurate ig?

all in all tho, there's only one type of personality quiz I thoroughly believe in: the character ones on quotev that tell you whether or not your favorite character would fall for you (but only when I get good results)

 

[Lone Star II]

I took a personality quiz that was really scary. It was right on point and was basically correct in every way. Kinda freaked me out.

 

[Dr Laudanum]

Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz results

Curiously, I had taken this test before, and I got a different result. This time, it was more spot on, in fact, rather accurate.

Most part of personality tests are based on outdated theories that are hard/impossible to be tested. Due to the ambiguousness of many of the parameters and the inconsistency of the results, statistics based on them are meaningless.

The most famous of them is the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which was based on Carl Jung's theories. Jung's theories were just that - theories. And, at the time, there was no controlled experiments, no available data, everything was theoric. Jung's theory was firstly presented on his book Psychological Types, and on that precise book he even wrote Every individual is an exception to the rule, meaning that his conclusions could not be generalised. MBTI was developed by two Americans who had no professional training whatsoever, simply being great enthusiasts of Carl Jung's works. Carl Jung had great influence on the psychology field, but his theories are not widely accepted by experts, and MBTI even less.

Oh, but people need to look at the cognitive functions, and not take the test results as their type. The cognitive functions are ambiguous, to say the least. And who says that one needs to have exactly the function stack of their type? We don't use only 4 cognitive functions. We can use different functions for different activities, and have a different function preference depending on said activity. And this is only one of the problems.

MBTI results are written in order for the people who is reading them to have a positive outlook on their personality type. For example, INTPs are said to be intelligent people who love to learn and who are imaginative. Does that mean that ESFJs are dumb, don't like to learn new things and are not creative? They are opposite personalities, yet, apparently, none of that is mentioned on their type description. Just like horoscopes, for example. That's why people think it is so accurate and on point.

When I first learnt about MBTI I was very enthusiastic about it and psychology in general. But as I researched more and more about psychology and neuroscience, I started spotting how incongruent these personality tests can be. Nowadays, Dr Dario Nardi is trying to correlate MBTI types with different brain activity, and he is getting some interesting results, but his research is not peer reviewed, and the study has not been reproduced by anyone else. So, maybe it is too early to draw any conclusions about his work.

Nowadays, neuroscience has been able to give us a closer answer to what "personality" is, and if we can conclude something is that people cannot be sorted into boxes and labelled, as much as I'd be happy to systemise some knowledge on personality.

Nevertheless, I don't disregard MBTI and other personality tests as useless. As I said, when I was younger I was very interested in it, and it gave me great insight on how my thought process worked, what my weakest points were, and that gave me the tools to actually improve and be a more productive person, for example. If used in a reasonable way, these personality tests can give you some insight into how your brain works sometimes, and they might give you the introspection needed in order to analyse who you are on the inside.

Something that worries me is how MBTI is used to choose people for certain jobs: they are making an important decision over unscientific conclusions. Also, more a pet peeve than anything else, is saying that two people are not compatible partners because their type is not compatible. It is the same as saying Oh, she is a Leo and he is a Taurus, it wouldn't work out. It is simply ridiculous.
Everybody likes to know a bit more about themselves, and I won't deny that these personality tests can be very fun. But that is their role: being entertaining, and, perhaps, making you think a bit about yourself.

 

[Crayons]

MBTI results are written in order for the people who is reading them to have a positive outlook on their personality type. For example, INTPs are said to be intelligent people who love to learn and who are imaginative. Does that mean that ESFJs are dumb, don't like to learn new things and are not creative? They are opposite personalities, yet, apparently, none of that is mentioned on their type description. Just like horoscopes, for example. That's why people think it is so accurate and on point.

I did the MBTI test and got ENTP which told me I was a massive jerkhole. I mean, it wasn't far off but reading that analysis was a bit eye-opening for me. XD