Personality test

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A personality test aims to describe aspects of a person's character that remain stable throughout a person's lifetime, the individual's character pattern of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. An early model of personality was posited by Greek philosopher/physician Hippocrates. The 20th century heralded a new interest in defining and identifying separate personality types, in close correlation with the emergence of the field of psychology. As such, several distinct tests emerged; some attempt to identify specific characteristics, while others attempt to identify personality as a whole.

The four temperaments as illustrated by Johann Kaspar Lavater.
The four temperaments as illustrated by Johann Kaspar Lavater.

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[edit] History

Hippocrates recorded the first known personality model, postulating that one's persona is based upon four separate temperaments. Another Greek physician, Galen, extended Hippocrates' theory by applying a body fluid to each temperament: blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile, respectively. The fluid which was dominant was said to be the person's "humor".

The four humors theory was to become a prevalent medical theory for over a millennium after Galen's death. The theory experienced widespread popularity throughout the Middle Ages and was eventually termed humorism (also humoralism). Humoral practitioners actively used the theory to explain many illnesses of the time. Use of various remedies became commonplace, especially when a person was considered to have too much of a particular fluid. For example, blood letting from veins was performed when certain conditions were reported.

By the 18th century, medicine was advancing rapidly. The discoveries of the functions of the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems served to discount the four humors theory as a realistic practice of medicine. However, it remained important in terms of designating personality. Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater used the four humors to advance four specific persona types as dictated by their respective facial structures, expressions and colorations. Lavater also assigned certain characteristics, such as jollity, generosity and kindness to some types, while brooding, introspection and contemplation were assigned to others. He referred to the four temperaments as the sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, preserving the etymology of these terms having their origins in antiquity.

German philosopher Immanuel Kant popularized these ideas by organizing the constructs along two axes: "feelings" and "activity". He also summed up the four types in his writings. For the sanguine type he noted:

"...the sanguine person is carefree and full of hope; attributes great importance to whatever he may be dealing with at the moment, but may have forgotten about it the next. He means to keep his promises but fails to do so because he never considered deeply enough beforehand whether he would be able to keep them. He is good natured enough to help others but is a bad debtor and constantly asks for time to pay. He is very sociable, given to pranks, contented, does not take anything very seriously and has many, many friends. He is not vicious but difficult to convert from his sins. He may repent but this contrition (which never becomes a feeling of guilt) is soon forgotten. He is easily fatigued and bored by work but is constantly engaged in mere games -- these carry with them constant change, and persistence is not his forte."

Late 19th/early 20th century physiologist Wilhelm Wundt expounded on the theory further in 1879. He was the first person to separate personality from human body functions. Further, he theorized that temperaments could not simply be limited to the bodily fluids. He believed that no individual was completely of one temperament; rather that everyone typically has varying proportions of two or more. He believed that all four temperaments were basic dimensions of the human personality and that the temperaments fell along axes of "changeability" and "emotionality".

The rapid growth of the field of psychology beginning in the early 20th century led to increased interest regarding individual personality. Notably, Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung categorized mental functioning into sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling.

In the 1920s and 1930s German-American psychiatrist Karen Horney organized persons into personality types according to a theory of neurosis. In her theory the neurotic individual expresses a more refined form of persona by way of his or her individual needs. She described ten specific needs, and in turn split these into three distinct categories: the Compliant type, the Aggressive type, and the Withdrawing type. Horney noted that these characteristics could be expressed in ordinary, non-neurotic human beings, albeit in a less extreme fashion.

[edit] Some personality tests

  • The first modern personality test was the Woodworth Personal data sheet, which was first used in 1919. It was designed to help the United States Army screen out recruits who might be susceptible to shell shock.
  • The Thematic Apperception Test was commissioned by the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the 1930s to identify personalities that might be susceptible to being turned by enemy intelligence.
  • The 16 Personality Factors (16PF) test was developed in 1946 by Raymond Cattell and has become popular in business. In 1963 W.T. Norman suggested that only five factors would be sufficient. In 1981 a group reviewing available personality tests decided that most of the tests which held any promise seemed to measure a subset of five common factors, as Norman had previously claimed. These Big Five personality traits (commonly referred to as "Big Five" or "the five-factor model") are very common in business-oriented personality tests in use today.

[edit] Criticism and controversy

One problem of a personality test is that the users of the test could only find it accurate because of the subjective validation involved. This is where the person only acknowledgse the information that applies to them. This is related to what is called in psychology as the Forer effect.

Critics have raised issues about the ethics of administering personality tests, especially for non-clinical uses. By the 1960s, tests like the MMPI were being given by companies to employees and applicants as often as to psychiatric patients. Sociologist William H. Whyte was among those who saw the tests as helping to create and perpetuate the oppressive groupthink of the "organization man" mid-20th century corporate capitalistic mentality.

Some cognitive psychologists have dismissed the whole idea of personality, considering much behaviour to be content specific. Theorists developed the concept of cognitive styles or Meta programs on this basis, leading to metaprogram tests such as iWAM.

[edit] Use of personality testing

Research published by David Dunning of Cornell University, Chip Heath of Stanford University and Jerry M. Suls of the University of Iowa reveals that observers who are not involved in any type of relationship with an individual are better judges of the individual's relationships and abilities. These workers have studied a large body of investigations into self-evaluation, indicating that individuals may have flawed views about themselves and their social relationships, sometimes leading to decisions that can impact negatively on other persons' lives and/or their own.

Psychological factors can also have an influence on the stock market. A person's perception of fundamental and technical factors can be influenced by many things including money. Some investors' perceptions are frequently adjusted by economic news, earnings reports, economic data, and political events. This perception of the details of the stock marker depends a great deal on the psychological profiles of investors, in particular their temperaments and their willingness to incur risk. Psychological testing could assist in the accumulation of a collective personal profiles of investors.

The how-to-get-rich strategies of Donald Trump include comments on the importance of personality in making business deals. He discusses how the knowledge of the personalities of people involved in his deals has contributed to his success. Despite dismissing the relevance of psychological factors in earlier life, he now regards Carl Jung's work as "important to financial success." He has stated that Jung had been a "help in my business as well as in my personal life ...reading Jung will give you insights into yourself and the ways in which you and other people operate."

A study by American Management Association reveals that 39 percent of companies surveyed use personality testing as part of their hiring process. More people are using personality testing to evaluate their business partners, their dates and their spouses. Salespeople are using personality testing to better understand the needs of their customers and to gain a competitive edge in the closing of deals. College students have started to use personality testing to evaluate their roommates. Lawyers are beginning to use personality testing for criminal behavior analysis, litigation profiling, witness examination and jury selection.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Criticism of personality tests

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