Essay Example on Personality Assessment

Personality assessments are a widely used form of tests that helps people define their personality, and their accuracy is a heavily discussed topic. When researching how valid personality assessments are, one must take into account how much content a test tends to lack, as well as how emphasized certain aspects of personality are in the test. Considering the fact that most personality assessments do not take these aspects into account, they are therefore an inaccurate measurement of personality and personality traits. 

Throughout the years, many theories and tests on personality have been developed, some of the most famous being the Myers Briggs personality assessment as well as the True Colours test. The question of how accurate and reliable personality tests are is constantly put to test. Validity of these assessments weigh heavily on two main factors, the first being how in-depth they are. Personality is a branch of psychology in which can shift and change over time, as well as being very fluid and non-fixated. Asking surface level questions about whether or not one is to be an introvert or extrovert, or whether one is more analytical or creative is an extremely inaccurate way of measuring personality traits, due to being undetailed and shallow. Everyone is a mixture of multiple traits and in order to get an accurate answer, questions would have to be much more in depth and give a varied amount of situations. An article published by the Indiana University Bloomington, states that according to their study it was found that most people who take personality tests often score in between the two opposite answers, despite the test results being polarizing. The Myers Briggs personality test is a perfect example of tests answers and results being very polarizing. For example, someone may answer questions about being introverted or extroverted and score similarly in the middle, but will still be given a distinct “introvert” or “extrovert” result. The questions not only do not go into enough depth to accurately measure someone’s personality traits, but the test results are also not fluid enough to account for a varied number of participants. 

The second main factor that contributes to determining whether or not personality tests are accurate is that of understanding how emphasized certain aspects of personality are, when compared to how unemphasized other aspects are. Tons of personality tests focus much too heavily on how good of a communicator one is, whether one is introverted or extroverted, whether one is persistent in the face of adversity or not, and whether or not one thinks through problems logically or in a disorderly manner. The issue with heavily fixating on these aspects is that the tests often miss other important aspects which make up all of those traits. Since the test does not account for more minor parts of the personality, such as quirks and traits unique to different individuals, the results will vary far from what one actually perceives themselves as. Studies have even suggested that in five weeks or less from when the first personality test was taken, 50% of participants will receive a different personality type their second time around. This questions if one can actually measure a personality accurately at all if it is constantly changing. Not only that, but everyone can be both analytical and creative at the same time, but because these tests do not take into account the situation in which the questions are being asked or small aspects in which makes someone analytical or creative, they give too much of an exact answer. Tons of these tests base introversion and extroversion on whether or not one likes to go out and party or interact within busy environments, but these still do not pertain to everyone. Personality is on a spectrum, and it is not as black and white as these tests make it seem. 

When basing personality tests on statistical research, they are considered to be unreliable and do not accurately illustrate a person’s personality. Although personality tests may be enjoyable for some to take, it is wise to not take them too seriously and instead use them as a recreational activity.  Considering the lack of content and emphasis on personality traits and aspects, it is clear to observe that personality traits are not only unreliable, but also inaccurate.