Myers Briggs Personality Test
The Myers-Briggs personality test was created during WWII to encourage people to join the workforce after many men had left their jobs to fight in Europe. Now it, along with parallel tests such as Truity.com and 16Personalities.com, is a subject of debate between self-discovery and over generalizations. So what are the tests, and what’s the point?
The test consists of answering questions to determine where you lean in the 4 to 5 categories that make up your personality type. These categories show where your energy is focused, how you prefer to take in information, how you make decisions, and how you live your outer life: extroverted vs. introverted, observant vs. intuitive, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving, respectively. There also may be questions to rate how you interact with stress, being either turbulent or assertive. Combined, these produce 16 base personalities with two stress variations each, such as ENFJ-A or ISTP-T. These results are typically correct: 16Personalities claims better than a 90% accuracy rate. After discovering your type, you can read general information about each personality, like common traits and job careers, while emphasizing that no personality type is inherently good or bad.
Many test-takers believe that it is a helpful and useful tool. One of the most common responses was that the algorithm gives an accurate enough response that people are validated by having their true self noticed. Blake’s Social Psychology class, which is taught by Ben Cady and Dion Crushshon, shows another benefit. Cady says that the reason he has his students take the test is “to [do] some introspection” and to “have them start thinking about themselves,” something that “ultimately [culminates] in writing a paper about ‘who I am at this stage in my life.’” People can use this newfound information for benefit: the awareness received about your personality’s strengths and weaknesses can help you be more mindful of your actions.
Despite these apparent upsides, some people don’t like the tests. Cady says a reason for this is because “everybody’s got things about themselves that they don’t like…and I think sometimes when you take those tests and have those pointed out to you still can be a little hard to take.” But another reason has to do with the idea behind these tests. Crushshon explains that the main purpose of personality tests, which usually is seen as discovering your general tendencies at their core, is not as useful as it may appear. He says that “social dynamics and situations can influence our behaviors,” meaning that regardless of personality, you will act differently in different situations. He theorizes that people taking the test create context around the questions and answer them accordingly, saying that “[the test questions don’t] account for that if-then statement,” and because of this the tests show more of “an average” or “go-to type” than an all-encompassing trait.
Your opinion of the tests is up to you, but whatever way you lean, as Cady says, you have to “take them all with a grain of salt,” because “it doesn’t have to define who you are.”