what are you guyses thoughts on personality tests

[blankisomeone]

Are they just complete bullshit or is there some value in them by trying to categorize your personality somehow? I wanna say they're bullshit. If they aren't, how so? Could they be valuable somehow?

[Commodent]

They're useful for confirming your biases about yourself, lol.

But yes, there is some value to it. Look up Objective Personality on YouTube.

[ThomasT]

Got a lot of value from the MBTI personality test. 

Reading about infj, i felt really understood for the first time ever! 

Made me feel less lonely.

[Robert Leavitt]

Yes, there is absolutely some value to these personality tests.  The one that I believe has the most accuracy or beneficial information is the Big 5 Personality test.  It is simple, and easy to understand.  But once you have taken the test once you can't retake the test immediately or you will be biased and get different results. 

I took a course that Dr. Jordan Peterson had released online called "Discovering Personality", and before that I took the test "Understand Myself" where they take each of the 5 traits into 2 aspects each.  He has done decades of research on this topic.  There are amazing correlations that allow us to predict with some certainty certain things about individuals in term of their financial success, and what types of employees they can become. (And a lot of other things too).

They can also tell you a lot about your emotional state, and what makes you behave the way you do.  You can learn a tremendous wealth of information from these kinds of tests, if you are willing to look deep into yourself.  The results, can be alarming, but..you would have some idea of who you are and a good starting point for changing (if you wanted to change)...

Robert

 

 

 

 

[kindayellow]

I haven't found MBTI to be helpful, moreso intruiging. What I felt really helped was the ennegram test. 

 

[Forestluv]

On 2/4/2020 at 0:43 PM, blankisomeone said:

Are they just complete bullshit or is there some value in them by trying to categorize your personality somehow?

BS vs Non-BS is a relative question. I see them as both.

Non-BS: In terms of a personality, I have been conditioned to have certain traits. For example, I tend to be more introverted and get lost in thought. There are also certain patterns of people, food, movies, weather etc. that I like. There are patterns that commonly appear in my life as well as very unlikely appearances. For example, it is very unlikely that I will wake up tomorrow as a Bollywood dancer. That is very very different than my personality pattern.

For me, these personality tests can provide some helpful information, yet I don't take it 100% literally. For example, I score as an "I" on the mb test. This can be useful - for example, it can help me consider what type of job might be best for me. Something like a stand-up comedian is much too extroverted for me. . . Also, it can help explain patterns in my life. For example, at parties I've never been a "social butterfly". I tend to have deeper conversations with only 1 or 2 people. Other people have suggested their is something wrong with me. "You only had one conversation the whole party? That's weird". . . For a long time, I thought I "should" be more social. Yet reading about personality dynamics dissolved this. I then saw how its ok to have 1-2 deeper conversations at a party and that this is common for an introvert.

BS: There is no static personality of "me". Creating a personality construct can lead to attachment/identification and all sorts of problems for the mind and body. For example, one personality trait that I had was being a "kind person". This was ingrained into me as a child and re-inforced throughout my life. I felt a lot of distress always trying to be a "kind" person. I analyzed wether my behavior was "kind", I was hyper self-critical and very sensitive to any suggestion that I was unkind. I would try to people please others to maintain my identity as a "kind person". I repressed emotions like frustration and hurt. I wasn't allowed to be grouchy or upset because I have to be a "kind person". . . In this context, attachment/identification to a static personality trait is BS.