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The flaws with personality testing
by David L. Mount
One should be careful when interpreting the results of a personality test. Just because someone tests one way does not necessarily mean that they are that way. People are made up by a combination of several personality traits. There also is the chance of incorrectly labelling a person. Employers should be aware ... that there is no hard evidence that personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® test, are accurate measures of one's personality. Inaccurate test results could prevent someone from getting a job. Using personality tests to match a person with an occupation also is a flawed practice. The validity and consequences of personality tests should be taken into account when they are given to someone.
I recently took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test on the internet. I tested out as an INTJ. This means that I am introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. Our textbook describes INTJ's as visionaries with great minds and a strong drive for their own ideas. They are said to be skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and stubborn. Our textbook also says that NT's are intuitive thinkers that make up only 5% of the population. In a recent study thirteen prosperous businesspeople who created successful companies were NT's. This includes companies like Federal Express, Honda Motors, Microsoft, and Sony. I must admit that I have a hard time disagreeing with the bulk of these characterizations. However, the textbook said that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is not necessarily a valid measure of personality. There is the possibility that I am not an INTJ. I could be an ESTJ. These people are characterized as being organizers. I do have a strong need and desire for organization. I also could be an ENTP. These people are characterized as being conceptualizers. I am resourceful and good at many things. It is wrong to label a person as just one thing and nothing more.
Most people are a combination of several personality traits. Even though I tested out to be introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging, I know I can be extroverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving in certain situations. A person most likely will fall somewhere in between the bipolar personality traits. Just because a person may favor one trait does not mean that they do not possess some characteristics of another trait. An outgoing person can be reserved in some situations. A serious person can be happy-go-lucky at times. A relaxed person can be tense under certain circumstances. Labelling a person as possessing only one trait is a faulty practice.
Incorrectly labelling a person also can lead to adverse circumstances. Again, the textbook said that certain personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, are not necessarily a valid measure of personality. If a person is incorrectly labelled as having low intelligence then they may never reach their full potential. If a person is incorrectly labelled as group dependent they may always depend on other people instead of themselves. There is the potential for mislabelling people as having a personality trait that they do not actually possess.
The use of personality tests in the hiring of employees is a practice that has no merit. Our textbook did say that there is no evidence that certain personality tests are valid measures of personality. However, this still does not stop over 2 million companies in the U.S. from using these tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, in the hiring of new employees. What surprises me is the number of well-known companies that use these tests. This includes companies like GE, AT&T, and Citicorp. One of my friends, who recently took a personality test, is a prime example of what can go wrong when companies rely on these tests. My friend took the test in his quest to get a job at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kentucky. When his test results came back the company concluded that he should not be hired because he was not trustworthy or loyal. I have known this person for some time and do not agree with the results of the test. My friend basically said that the company was afraid that he would embezzle money. I personally have never have found him to be untrustworthy, unloyal, or even capable of embezzling money. He now has a different job at another healthcare organization and to my knowledge has yet to embezzle any money from that company. This example shows that personality tests do not always yield accurate results. Even worse, inaccurate results can harm a person's chances of getting a job. Employers should not use these tests in the hiring of new employees.
Personality tests also should not be used in an attempt to match a person with a specific job. Under Holland's Typology of Personality and Sampling, I would describe myself as being an enterprising person. This means that I am self-confident, ambitious, energetic, and domineering. I would be best paired with a job such as a lawyer, real estate agent, or public relations specialist. However, this label is in direct conflict with the label generated by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. Not only that, but I know I possess other characteristics that are considered to be parts of the other types of personality. I am shy, independent, practical, and imaginative. This means that I am realistic, investigative, conventional, and artistic. According to Holland I could be a farmer, news reporter, bank teller, or interior decorator. A person should not be constricted by the pairing of a test with an occupation. Each person is different and may be a combination of several personality types. It is possible that a person could be happy at a job that is not listed under their personality type's occupation list. It is wrong to tell someone that they can only do certain jobs because of one test. Like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Holland's Typology of Personality and Sample Occupations also may not be a valid measure of someone's personality.
Personality tests can be flawed and lead to inaccurate findings. Most people can not be characterized by just one trait. Most people fall somewhere in the middle of the bipolar trait spectrum. By using tests that may not be able to accurately determine someone's personality, employers may not be hiring the best person for the job. Also, by using personality tests to match people with an appropriate occupation, those people may be led into the wrong profession. In short, the results of these personality tests should not be taken so seriously.
Source: http://cbpa.louisville.edu/bruce/rflct600/mount1.htm
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C1 I agree that tests can be quite misleading. I am an ESFP, but in my first test, I scored as an ENTP, and as the statistic was recorded and published, I probably raised the percentage of ENTPs in Czech Republic considerably  And yes, people should not be labelled just "ambassadors", "visionaries" and so on. It is too simplistic. According to this simple characteristic, I as an ESFP should now probably be telling some funny stories to my friends in a pub, so why am I telling them at a psychology website instead? Yeah, and the ESFPs usually are not so much fond and capable of university studies. So I should seriously consider becoming a singer and leave my job of an assistant lecturer I think it is the functions what really matters. I do not agree that a person can be somewhere between two types. It is just that if you are an ISTP, for example, your primary function is introverted thinking. But this introverted thinking can take on many forms and act differently on different occasions. Sometimes, it will help you decide quickly, sometimes it will make you be quiet and study a book. Often, you will use your secondary extroverted sensing to be nice, playful and gregarious and on such occasion, you will definitely not appear like an ISTP. Genetics, bringing up and stuff like this play a big part, too. For example, an ISTJ with an ESFP parent will definitely be a different ISTJ than an ISTJ whose both parents are ISTJ. So I think those simple labels are worthless and the companies should use the types just to know their employees better, not to employ the "right" ones. -- Ezis |
| C2 I'd like to request that this article be linked (and vice-versa) to this article here">http://www.socionics.com/articles/whoagrees.html">here -- Hes |
| C3 I thought i was INTP two years back, now i'm showing INFP, is it because i started reading about emotional intelligence when i was 29 years old? that is when i start to develop my third function. the base of the theory seems sound but it is still opened for refinement since human beings are more complicated than 4x4 -- Anonymous |
| C4 I frankly think that the reason why test results might come back horrendously off the mark is because people have little knowledge or misleading perceptions of themselves. In short, that means they are not self-aware. Also, someone with a more balance I/E, N/S, T/F, J/P preference might have difficulty defining themselves as one type or the other, as opposed to having a clear/ marked preference for one function over the other. People might develop different aspect of their original personality or functions to cope with changing situations, but I believe that an underlying personality exists. Just because you are able to adapt, reduce and emphasize certain aspects of yourself, that does not means that selfhood do not exist. -- elan |
| C5 no one is really 100 percent anything, so of course someone may show another trait over their dominate one sometimes...thats not what your personality type is though...personality types do a good job of explaining people and their tendancies. just becuase someone can be extroverted, when they are an introvert does not mean the test is flawed. personality tests are a very good resource to business -- Anonymous |
C6 just to let you know the myers briggs never claims that there are only 16 types of people and that the type you are is you by definition. it simply states that those are your dominant functions. this is true, everyone has dominant functions. you said you scored INTJ but you can see yourself as a ESTJ, that is very possible that you are like a ESTJ, but your dominant functions are INTJ. the test has percentages on the 8 differnt letters you can score, therefore making every person there own unique version of a personality. the descriptions are just describing your dominant functions and you naturally do things. i my self am a ENTJ, but easily can be considered a INTJ and a ENTP at times. you are not always the exact same all the time, and not just rellevant to time but in certain situations and certain places with differnt people. your claim of innaccuracy is false because there is no claim of there are only 16 types of people you are this one. there are 16 types of people witch one are you dominantly. -- Anonymous
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