Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo

Taking Personality Tests: It’s a Personality Trait

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Providence chapter.

If you’re like my friends and me, then you love taking personality tests. Oftentimes, we take them side by side and analyze our results in comparison to one another. There are so many different tests out there to take. I’ll add some links to some of my favorite ones at the end of the article. When I say “personality test,” I’m not talking about a BuzzFeed quiz telling me what kind of pizza I am. Finding out I’m a thin crust Margherita pizza doesn’t tell me much about myself. Well, maybe it does, but personality tests are still far superior.

You may be thinking, “what could a stupid test tell me that I don’t already know?” It’s a valid question, but an untrue one. As a Psychology major currently enrolled in a Personality Psychology course, we learn more about ourselves in every class. If you take a legitimate personality test, you can analyze unconscious parts of your personality that you weren’t even aware of. These tests are tools that you can use to find out more about yourself and your friends.

Rather than reading your horoscope, which remains vague and somewhat applicable to everyone, read your MBTI insight of the day. The insight is based on your personality type, and since that depends on your personality rather than your birth date, they are often more accurate in my opinion. Also on the MBTI website, you can look at people—real and fictional—that share the same personality type as you. If you’ve ever looked at a celebrity or TV character and said, “that’s literally me,” well, maybe it is.

My favorite part of taking these personality tests isn’t even finding out new things about myself, don’t get me wrong that’s great, but my favorite part is comparing results with my friends. My roommates and I have a list of each other’s MBTI types. Before we find out each person’s type, we try to guess what we think it will be, then check if we got it right. Despite INFJ supposedly being the rarest type, 4/7 of us in my apartment are INFJs. We constantly debate over whether it is actually rare or if INFJs are just really good at finding each other. No matter the test we take, it always makes us laugh while it brings us together as we find out more about ourselves and others. If you’re looking for a fun roommate bonding night, throw on a movie, pop some popcorn, and cue the personality tests. Here are some of my favorites (all are free, but you may need to make an account for some): 

Samantha Dietel

Providence '23

Samantha Dietel is a senior Psychology and Elementary/Special Ed double major and is co-president of the Providence chapter of HC. She loves to stay involved on campus and is a choreographer for Dance Club, participates in Active Minds, PAWS, and is a member of the Psi Chi honor society. As a local near Providence, she enjoys guiding her friends around the city and showing them what it has to offer. Samantha also enjoys reading, spending time with friends, and a good binge-watch.