We’ve all taken a personality test at one time or another. I had to take one just this week at a training seminar for my internship. There’s a huge variety of personality tests out there, ranging from the Buzzfeed-esque “what type of waffle are you” to the more scientific Myers-Briggs. But how accurate are they? The personality test I just took was 18 dichotomous statements, like “I tend to be a leader” versus “I tend to be a follower.” Totaling up the answers gave each person a personality type. There were four possible types. The training after that focused on how to communicate with each type of person, giving specific directives of what to say and do based on what “type” of person they were. This really rubbed me the wrong way. First off, I felt like I belonged equally to two of the four personality types and to say I was definitively only one was excluding a big part of my personality. Secondly, I don’t think you can be told exactly how to interact and communicate with someone based on a broad category they’ve been placed into by a quiz. Communication isn’t one-size-fits-all, but I also don’t think it’s four-sizes-fit-all. Even if people fit neatly into the categories, the way they approach situations is going to differ greatly based on personal experiences. I would have preferred them to use the test as a tool to exemplify the different approaches people have to situations, but then leave it at that instead of acting like it summed up everything about them.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Test is the Holy Grail of personality tests. That’s what people refer to when they say they’re INFJ or ESTP. It’s massively popular—Psychology Today says that 2.5 million people take the test every year. I’ve had to take it for school assignments before and it’s commonly used in workplaces as a tool to understand communication styles and what areas of the job people will excel in. There are professional trainings with fancy certifications based on this test. Myers-Briggs seems to be very science-based and is generally accepted by the public to be meaningful—most people think your Myers-Briggs type says a lot about you. But does it really work?
There are 16 types made out of four trait categories: Introversion or Extroversion, Sensing or Intuition, Thinking or Feeling, Judging or Perceiving. Whichever trait in each category describes you the most goes into your personality “type.” Those traits are determined by answering 93 questions. As cool as that sounds, the scientific community regards the test as no more accurate than a fortune cookie. According to Vox, half the people who take the test twice get totally different results, although the personality types are supposed to be innate and largely static. Vox also states that the test is based on unproven psychological theories and has no ability to predict success in various jobs or situations. Live Science points out that it falls into the trap of dichotomizing people: you can be a judger or a feeler but not both. That’s not how people are though. We all experience overlapping emotions and reactions.
So can the world be split up into neat little categories? I don’t think so, and the scientific consensus agrees. That doesn’t mean that personality tests aren’t fun though, or useful as tools for introspection. You might realize some important things about yourself based on what result you get in a personality test. It also might just be some harmless fun. Either way, don’t get caught up into boxing yourself or others into those categories, because they’re largely unsupported by research or experience.