There has been a lot of talk in my circle of friends lately about personality tests. In the Blue Jackets group, the four humors test is all the rage. This is the one where you can test sanguine, choleric, melancholy, phlegmatic, or a combination of these. Then, my husband has gotten some people into the Myers-Briggs test, which gives a person one of 16 personality types based on a set of four characteristics. Personality tests are fun because they involve great amounts of human interest, and as I human, must admit that I am mildly interested. However, mild interest is where I draw the line. No single person can ever really be summed up by choosing from 4-16 personality types. And yes, I know that all of my friends and loved ones are well aware of this. So please don't assume that this is about you. Yet, I have heard some people saying things like "well, I do this because I am melancholy." And this is where personality tests start to bother me. Some confuse the identifying type as the cause for their traits instead of the other way around. For example, a person does not like to be the center of attention because they are sanguine. They are sanguine because they like to be the center of attention. No one should ever identify with a personality type so much that they start using said type to explain their actions or situation in life. I also believe that personality test don't reveal anything new even though some act like they do. For instance, I know that I am a moody, overly sensitive, pessimistic person who sometimes experiences brief moments of extreme sadness. I don't really need a test to tell me I am melancholy for that. Just because I happen to be melancholy doesn't mean that it governs my entire life or prevents me from ever experiencing any other emotions.
What I find more interesting than the results of personality tests is the reactions to results of personality tests. I think it reveals a lot about human nature. Most humans, myself included, are eager and sometimes anxious to categorize and identify themselves in order to explain who they are and why they act the way they act. Everyone does it at one time or another. Yet, this can go a little too far if personality tests are taken too seriously. For instance, when I go to a party, I would never say, "Hi. I'm Monica, and I'm over here in the corner clutching my drink and sweating because I am a melancholy INFJ." Perhaps I should though, right? I mean, in an instant that person would know everything they would ever need to know about me and we would never have to experience a friendship because the person already knows me deeply and intimately. Right? Right? Of course not. Maybe I should throw a party like that . Everyone would show up and we would all stand in a line. One by one, people would step up, announce their personality type, and then leave. What fun! Anyway, my point is that personality tests can be fun, but they don't explain anything or tell us anything that we don't already know about ourselves. Alternately, they don't explain enough about us to anyone else to be useful. But maybe I'm just saying all of this because I am a melancholy INFJ.
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Horoscopes can work much the same way, with people leaning on their category and forecast as a way to avoid responsibility for their own lives. I sure do love personality tests, though. They serve a two-fold need that we have. On one hand, we want to identify with other people, to know that there are people out there like us. But on the other, we want to know that we are special, that we have something unique to offer that's different from others. Personality tests have the advantage of fitting us into a category that provides us with group identity--and group identity gives us a set to identify with, as well as separates us from everyone else. Perfect! (I'm thinking now about how all types of groups do this, and how we should watch out for it, but that's for my own blog.)
Of course, personality tests are also a nice tool for understanding oneself, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the test. And they make for good blog topics as well.
Anyway, you wrote a good post, Monica. Now if you could only be a little more INTP...
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