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Those "scarily accurate" online personality tests have a way of making you think, "That's me exactly!" So why are we so drawn to these tools — and what can they actually tell us? A look at how person…
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Online personality tests that bill themselves as "scarily accurate" or "the most accurate ever" have been all the rage on the internet and social media lately. You only need to complete one of these tests (perhaps by entering your date of birth, or answering one or two simple questions), and when you go on to read your results, you are often left in awe at the computer's "uncanny" analysis — that sense of "Whoa! That's me, Bingo!" — to the point where you even forward the test to friends. Why are we so captivated by these psychological-analysis tools? Read on, and let us look at what personality-analysis tools can do, and where their limits lie.
Modern psychology divides methods of personality analysis into five broad categories:
Curiosity, and a fear of uncertainty, are common to us all. Our curiosity about things (particularly about "people") stems, to some extent, from our dread of the uncertainty of things, and so we tend to seek out a "magic charm" that can reliably predict the future. Humans are social animals; we depend on mutual exchange and cooperation in order to survive. And because human personality is fickle and hard to gauge, we are eager to sort the masses into different types of characteristics, so that we can "predict" the behavioural habits and patterns of each kind of person. This is precisely why we have developed all manner of personality-analysis tools — for instance, Astrological Zodiac Personality Traits, the Enneagram, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) — and why we so readily "fall for" these tools.
Why do we believe in these personality-analysis tools so completely? One well-known psychological phenomenon at work is the Barnum effect, which refers to people's tendency to believe that a vague, broadly applicable personality description is a particularly good fit for themselves. Take astrological personality analysis as an example. The following is an excerpt of one website's description of Cancers (this writer happens to be one of these star signs): "…has a very good memory, can be a little emotional, but is extremely attentive to the people they like…. What's more, if a Cancer has nothing particular going on, they would rather hide in their shell all day. …" Let us try a little thought experiment. If I were to change the word "Cancer" in the sentence above to "Virgo," and then hand it to a Virgo to read, how would they react? This writer believes that some people would surely feel the description matched them perfectly — and that is because in anyone's life experience, there are always times when one's "memory" is fairly good, one's mood is rather changeable, or one is lying in bed with nothing to do. In other words, descriptions like these can hardly be called specific or apt.
On the other hand, if we already believe in the value of astrological analysis, then when we read these descriptions, we tend to pick out from our lives the instances that fit the astrological description (even highly unusual ones), thereby reinforcing our existing belief all the more — and this is confirmation bias. As a result, round and round it goes, and this kind of "blind faith" in astrological personality analysis becomes ever more unshakeable.
Even though scientifically validated personality-assessment tools (such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI, and the Big-Five Personality Test) can produce relatively solid and trustworthy personality reports, this writer would still not encourage readers to believe entirely in the contents of an assessment report, and this is because:
For instance, thoughts such as "I'm an introvert; I don't really like socialising by nature, so I might as well keep my friendships to a minimum." Dripping water wears away stone; change begins with a single thought. My personal advice is to treat your personality-analysis results as you would a school report card. At the very least, it does not bind your development; rather, it tells you that, through continual trying and learning, your behavioural habits and abilities can all be changed.
Finally, let this writer offer everyone a chance to exercise the grey cells. One of China's Four Great Classics, Dream of the Red Chamber, contains the following account: when Jia Baoyu had just turned one year old, Jia Zheng, wanting to foretell his son's future ambitions and prospects, laid out objects such as brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, gold and treasures, and books, and let Baoyu grab at them. This is commonly known as the "first-birthday grab." But Baoyu reached only for items like rouge and hairpins, and Jia Zheng flew into a rage: "He will grow up to be nothing but a man of wine and women." May I ask: is the "first-birthday grab" a trustworthy psychological-assessment tool? If not, then why not?
Psychology
Psychology
Psychology
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