Personality tests

I'm starting a new job soon, and I've been invited to participate in a meeting with a business coach.  As part of the meeting, we will all be filling out a personality analysis form that is similar in intent to the (in)famous Briggs-Meyer test.  Karen's a big fan of the Briggs-Meyer test; she says she's done them for both of us and that they're dead-on.  They may well be for all I know.

I don't disagree with taking the test, per se, although I think they typically make a lot of assumptions from the answers givne.  And they may be right more often than they're not.  The problem I have is that in answering the questions, there is too much room for interpretation and not enough leeway for the respondent to answer.

Take this example.  The instructions read thus:

Read carefully each group of 4 phrases.  Circle "M" by the phrase that MOST describes you.  Then circle "L" by the phrase that LEAST describes you.  Remember only ONE MOST and ONE LEAST for each group.

Well, that sounds easy enough.  The only other data the form requests is the gender of the respondent and the respondent's name.

Then there are the groups.  I'm going to randomly choose a couple of groups to illustrate my point.

M  L  Confident, courageous, fearless
M  L  Inspiring, influential, enthusiastic
M  L  Does not resist, submits easily
M  L  Avoids attention, modest

Let the parsing begin.  I could easily circle M or L for any of them, given the situation.  How on God's green earth I'm supposed to zoom through all the potential situations and tabulate which one of the four has the most responses and has the least is beyond me.  I'm confident, courageous, fearless, influential and modest.  I avoid attention, but I submit easily when Karen wants something...at the same time, I'm not courageous when it comes to standing near the window on the observation deck of the Sears Tower.  In fact, I'm positively wussy, and with the advance of age it gets worse.  I don't think I inspire anyone, and I'm not particularly enthusiastic in a general sense.  At the same time, I'm enthusiastic about Spain and Spanish, Ireland, sports, reading, chess, eating and the three generals.

Let's take another group:

M  L  Confronting, challenging
M  L  Adjustable, able to change
M  L  Unruffled, indifferent, casual
M  L  Cheerful, unworried, playful

Well.  If there's one thing I'm good at, it's confronting and challenging things and people.  I wrote a letter so forceful one time about the wretched service Karen and I received at a restaurant and within a few months, it closed down (I don't think my letter had anything to do with it, but it's nice to think it did).  I lived in Spain for a year; I can adjust and change when necessary.  But when I'm told to change and I disagree with the change, I'm positively stubborn.  I'm unruffled, indifferent and casual to a fault; at times I'm so casual it comes off as rude.  I'm not particularly cheerful, I'm only worried when there's cause to worry -- I'm not unnaturally fretful -- and I like to think I'm playful.  At times, Karen has to tell me to grow up I'm so playful.

So how do I answer?  I have no earthly idea.  It's not just that I'm preternaturally argumentative and trained in the art, but I'm not engaging in that here; I truly don't know how I'm supposed to give a true answer and how anyone is supposed to make the correct choice and then someone else is supposed to derive a personality description based on these inherently flawed tests.

Long before I'd even heard of Briggs-Meyers, I'd often thought about signing on to serve as a test subject for a psychology class in college. I wanted to do it for two reasons:  Beer money and to see if anyone could figure me out.  I doubted and still do doubt that anyone would be able to accurately describe me and all my neuroses. 

I'm sure those in the mental health or sociology communities have put a lot of thought and study into this.  I just think that the ultimate conclusions involve smoke and mirrors and much as art and science because there are too many assumptions that are built into these tests.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles