Anyone here ever taken a serious personality quiz?

Personality tests seem to be universally tactful, which, if you want true answers, isn't helpful. I've yet to see one that says, "You're selfish, disloyal and overbearing."

That said, I tend to avoid personality tests as it would take too long to do one for each personality I have.

I did.

I failed.

Whatever that means.

The weirdest one I ever took was called the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. I seriously could not and still cannot fathom how they could gather useful information from it.

It asked questions like:

Would you rather have sex with your mother or your father? (HUH? ICK!)

If you were going to kill (X) would you prefer to stab them or bludgeon them? (SAY WHAT?)

All I really remember about is that 99% of the questions were weird. You couldn't pick NONE of the above - that wasn't an option. I never forgot the name of it because I asked, 'What the *&^^ was that test?' And Edwards was part of the name of a local university. So it always stuck in my mind.

It was creepy. If any professionals care to debate the questions - feel free. Those were the types of questions I had and that was the name they told me. Never again. I felt nasty just reading the questions.

Wow! Unique, I'll have to look that one up.

I took psychology in undergrad, so I've taken a few of them. I was also shown how often the descriptions on said tests are so general as to be fairly useless...

The one I've run into most is the Myer's-Briggs Type Indicater, and on that I'm an INFP, or Introverted (I tend to recharge by being alone), iNtuitive (I gather information via intuition, rather than my senses), Feeling (I make decisions based on my gut reaction, rather than "the facts") and Perceiving (which is the only label that doesn't fit with the description -- it means I'm flexible and disorganized).

It's fairly accurate, although at times I (and everyone else) uses their "weak" areas (I can be logical, and make decisions based on facts, for instance).

There's lots of different tests out there, and they all tend to be losely based on Jungian archtypes, although I admit that this Edwards Personal Preference Schedule is over the top in weirdness...

The MMPI, which is more for detecting personality disorders and psychosis, Myers-Briggs, and the Ineagram (sp?), and I can't remember how many others... They are part of what I studied in college. I figured out how to fake the MMPI which isn't easy since it's a mile long. I've always considered the Myers-Briggs to be one of the weakest tests I've ever seen yet it always seems to be the most popular.

I've always considered the Myers-Briggs to be one of the weakest tests I've ever seen yet it always seems to be the most popular.

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... possibly because it's the most promoted, and easy for a layperson to understand. Advertising dollars and simplicity count, even in personality testing. (Sad, isn't it?)

I believe you can tell a lot about someone's personality from what they're like.

I took the MMPI when I was a resident in psychiatry. It told me I would make a good caregiver, that I liked to be in charge, and that I tended to suppress and minimize personal problems. Also they told me my test results were valid.

I was underwhelmed.

SusanR

The Minnesota Multiphase is a blast. Last normed mid-America mid-50s--if it said I was normal I would be worried. It had questions like 'are you attracted to tall woman' -- according to the calculations yes=wimp, no= homosexual

many big companies still use this test

I've never really understood many businesses using non-job-performance-based personality tests to pre-test for job performance (this baffles both me and my I/O psychology professors). I think it comes from a vast miscomprehension on the companies' parts of: a) what the tests are actually "measuring" and b) what qualities actually significantly contribute to job performance.

*shrug*

Oh well. As far as personality tests, the MMPI isn't really used all that much anymore, at least not by many people in psychology or psychology research. As someone else, mentioned, both it and the theories behind it are so outdated it's laughable.

The main personality test used these days is based on either the "Big Five Factors" or the "Five Factor Model" of personality (things like conscientiousness, openess, agreeableness, extraversion, etc.) The two approaches are pretty much the same (separating personality into 5 main components, each with its own continuum scale) yet do have slight differences. There are several scales available, based on either the Big Five (B5) and the Five Factor Model scale (FFM). The most commonly used these days is the NEO-PI-R.

I've yet to take it but I've read many studies on it. Seems to be pretty reliable and a lot more useful than past tests (like the MMPI) have been. Here's a link to an article which explains them, if anyone's interested.

http://www.personalityresearch.org/bigfive.html

*shrug*

Who knows. I'm interested in it, now, so I may take it next month just for the hell of it.

Actually, it might be a fun idea to let a few people here take it, and I'll score it, and send them the results.

Lemme stew on that one first, though, and see how many people are interested and if I have the sanity...er...I mean...time to score them.

scarletpeaches said:

I believe you can tell a lot about someone's personality from what they're like.

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Score!!

I've taken those tests. They're kinna fun but I don't need a test to tell me I'm messed up.

I kind of agree with scarlet, et al.

I've yet to see a test whose score says, "You're a d!ck."

But, I sure can tell that someone is by talking to them.

When my father was taking psychometry he gave my sister and I the MMPI. If he shared the results I don't remember it. I do remember him saying they normed it against the family members of people in an asylum...

At work (I was in HR) I took Meyers-Briggs and it was evaluated by a certified consultant. (ENTJ here) as well as ID (Instinctive Drives) which is a group out of Australia. That one is quite different and very interesting. Both tests were pretty accurate based on feedback I got from my peers and supervisors.

I've taken the MMPI and Myers-Briggs (I was INFP)...

An online, short version of the Myers-Briggs found me to be an INTJ. The profile explained some things pretty well. It gave me some "So that's why..." moments. It said I dress for comfort and utility, I like things to make sense, and I don't understand social rituals. Maybe those last two points are related, huh?

I haven't taken the test Puddle Jumper took, but the description of PJ from that test fits me, except the part about wanting people to like me.

I don't think a "serious personality test" is any less generalized than one of the blog for fun ones.

I don't see how a list of questions, no matter how detailed, can give you an accurate mapping of your personality.

I think only a trained professional psychoanalyst can accurately assess youre "personality" after several sessions.

A test similar to the Myers-Briggs is here:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

It doesn't look exactly like the one I took. There are variations around.

I found IQ.com and took the test. At the end they wanted 9.95 to send me the results. I guess they were hoping I was stupid. Duh-

MMPI

I took the MMPI when I was going to donate my eggs. I flunked. Not only did they think that donating my eggs would not be good for me, but they told me I needed a therapist right away, and gave me a bunch of phone numbers. They said they found evidence of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Taking personality tests is just another way for the Big Five to ensure they know where all their little minions are. It lets them know how to control you! Instead of taking the tests, wear tin foil hats instead.

I mean, I don't need a test to tell me I'm normal.

PeeDee said:

Taking personality tests is just another way for the Big Five to ensure they know where all their little minions are. It lets them know how to control you! Instead of taking the tests, wear tin foil hats instead.

I mean, I don't need a test to tell me I'm normal.

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Or to tell you you're off. *grin*


wearing my foil hat....

Nothing like learning about a technology to lose all respect for it. In one clinicl psyc course i covered personality and IQ tests and got a D class certificate in ussing the physiogrph ('lie detector'.)

Fortunately I now know how to fake any of these to give whatever result seems called for