Cult of Personality Tests
Have you ever felt bored to tears and decided to surf Buzzfeed’s Quizzes page, seeking answers to your soul’s true nature? Maybe someone keeps asking about your Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), or you have taken a quiz to find what your ‘true zodiac sign’ is? These days, it seems a universal experience to have taken some kind of personality questionnaire at least once.
According to the Harvard Business Review, personality quizzes have been in practice since World War I, during which they were used to predict which soldiers would be more prone to mental shock. Today, the “cult” of personality quizzes has evolved beyond its original military usage and into an industry worth roughly $500 million dollars, with an estimated annual growth rate of 10% to 15%. Its robust profitability begs the questions of what makes them so appealing and if people are assigning too much value to them.
To many young people, personality quizzes are likely just a fun way to relieve boredom. However, their real world usage is far more expansive, spanning across educational, counseling, corporate, and interpersonal settings. Many working professionals are familiar with their labor force applications, which assess personnel for selection, improve collaboration and teamwork, or identify satisfying career paths. The Big Five, Enneagram, and Myers-Briggs personality are systems developed with different psychological approaches; each is known for indicating areas people could improve in to deliver better results in their work and personal life.
Take this, for instance. If you’re stuck in a job that requires a lot of administrative work and number-crunching, but a personality quiz reveals that you’re a creative type with leadership potential, you might realize you’re better suited to another career. Understanding your strengths allows you to invest more energy into them, and it might even guide you towards particular vocations or hobbies that align well with your strengths.
The withstanding appeal of taking such personality classifiers is understandable. It’s a simple process of answering questions about ourselves and then finding out an equally simple label that encapsulates some piece of who we are. People searching for self-understanding often turn to personality assessments like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram and are satisfied with how it's apparently able to instantly offer insight into their mind's inner workings, reactions to situations, and needs. Reading the breakdown of one’s “type” almost feels like reading a personally crafted letter, which can be extraordinarily validating.
However, to what extent should we take personality quizzes seriously? Is there not a limit to how much even the most empirically validated typology quizzes can infer about a person? These questions embody some concerns about the overwhelming influence of personality quizzes. Studies have found that often when people fill out a multiple choice personality test, more than half the people who retake the test get a different result the second time, questioning the quiz’s factual credibility. The process involves an irrevocable degree of personal bias. Complete objectivity is impossible, especially if people go into the questionnaire with a preexisting expectation or preference for a specific result. Many personality experts actually say that it is more effective to read through descriptions of different types, and find which one resonates with you most rather than to take the quiz itself. Sometimes, people will choose to judge others based on stereotypes of their personality type rather than their understanding of the whole person. Consequently, personality labels can cause unfair assumptions, as well as be used to justify problematic behavior.
Taking personality quizzes can be a fun and self-reflective experience; however, at the end of the day, personality quizzes are just quizzes. Personality assessments aren’t all bad — they can offer incredible insight and help us feel understood. But we can’t rely on them to answer every question or unveil our every motivation, and we should remember to see ourselves as far more than just a personality type.