Personally I am not a big fan of personality types as I believe personality to be too open, changing and complex to be accurately classified in any simple context. Neither do I feel comfortable placing people into subsections, especially based on personality test questions that are, at best, ambiguous.
We are constantly told not to judge books by their covers and never to have prejudice based on superficial details - yet these tests are forcing us to make judgements of personality based upon answers to a handful of closed questions, often ticking a box that most applies to us rather than an accurate answer.
Similarly I do not like being placed into a certain bin. If I am told I am an introvert is that not self-fulfilling prophecy? While if I want to be seen as introverted or feel I am a certain personality type (as I imagine everyone does in some way) then surely the test cannot remain truly objective? Human thoughts/behaviours can only fairly be judged in context which tick box type questions cannot reasonably achieve.
Our personalities can change at time of day, throughout our lifespans, in different company, moods etc, so how you answer the questions at one moment could be completely different to sometime next week.
Perhaps in the future there will be highly intelligent computer software that could make more accurate and valuable assessments of personality, but until then we must make do with what we have.
Regardless of the above it is certainly fascinating to study personality types, while the potential uses of analysing and matching our personalities to different careers, partners, interests is an exciting prospect.
www.nature.com documents a new study that tested hundreds of people by use of questionnaire. The data came back lumping results into four key groups, and thus concludes that there are four main personality types; reserved, role models, average and self-centred.
https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/four-new-personality-types?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5 summarises these as the following:
'Average: Average people are high in neuroticism and extraversion, while low in openness. "I would expect that the typical person would be in this cluster," says Gerlach. Females are more likely than males to fall into the Average type.
Reserved: The Reserved type is emotionally stable, but not open or neurotic. They are not particularly extraverted but are somewhat agreeable and conscientious.
Role Models: Role Models score low in neuroticism and high in all the other traits. The likelihood that someone is a role model increases dramatically with age. "These are people who are dependable and open to new ideas," Amaral says. "These are good people to be in charge of things. In fact, life is easier if you have more dealings with role models." Women are more likely than men are likely to be role models.
Self-Centered: Self-Centered people score very high in extraversion and below average in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. "These are people you don't want to hang out with," according to Revelle. There is a very dramatic decrease in the number of self-centered types as people age in both with women and men.'
More discussion on this topic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/17/scientists-identify-four-personality-types/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6ba2f87821aa
We are constantly told not to judge books by their covers and never to have prejudice based on superficial details - yet these tests are forcing us to make judgements of personality based upon answers to a handful of closed questions, often ticking a box that most applies to us rather than an accurate answer.
Similarly I do not like being placed into a certain bin. If I am told I am an introvert is that not self-fulfilling prophecy? While if I want to be seen as introverted or feel I am a certain personality type (as I imagine everyone does in some way) then surely the test cannot remain truly objective? Human thoughts/behaviours can only fairly be judged in context which tick box type questions cannot reasonably achieve.
Our personalities can change at time of day, throughout our lifespans, in different company, moods etc, so how you answer the questions at one moment could be completely different to sometime next week.
Perhaps in the future there will be highly intelligent computer software that could make more accurate and valuable assessments of personality, but until then we must make do with what we have.
Regardless of the above it is certainly fascinating to study personality types, while the potential uses of analysing and matching our personalities to different careers, partners, interests is an exciting prospect.
www.nature.com documents a new study that tested hundreds of people by use of questionnaire. The data came back lumping results into four key groups, and thus concludes that there are four main personality types; reserved, role models, average and self-centred.
https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/four-new-personality-types?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5 summarises these as the following:
'Average: Average people are high in neuroticism and extraversion, while low in openness. "I would expect that the typical person would be in this cluster," says Gerlach. Females are more likely than males to fall into the Average type.
Reserved: The Reserved type is emotionally stable, but not open or neurotic. They are not particularly extraverted but are somewhat agreeable and conscientious.
Role Models: Role Models score low in neuroticism and high in all the other traits. The likelihood that someone is a role model increases dramatically with age. "These are people who are dependable and open to new ideas," Amaral says. "These are good people to be in charge of things. In fact, life is easier if you have more dealings with role models." Women are more likely than men are likely to be role models.
Self-Centered: Self-Centered people score very high in extraversion and below average in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. "These are people you don't want to hang out with," according to Revelle. There is a very dramatic decrease in the number of self-centered types as people age in both with women and men.'
More discussion on this topic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/17/scientists-identify-four-personality-types/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6ba2f87821aa
