Are you the type of person who loves to take personality tests? There are so many different ones out there, and each one promises to tell you something about yourself that you didn’t know before. But with so many options, how do you know which personality test is right for you? Here are five of the most popular personality tests, along with a brief overview of each one. So read on, and find out which test is right for you!
Isn’t personality a fluid concept? How do they measure it?
Personality is not a fluid concept. It is relatively stable over time and consistent in different situations. Personality is measured through psychological assessments that look at various characteristics of personality, such as extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
What Is a Personality Test?
A personality test is a set of psychometric tests given to help understand an individual’s typical thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
A multiple-choice questionnaire with instructions such as “most people agree on this” or about opinions they have when in certain situations. It aims to analyze the respondent’s likes and dislikes, everyday emotions, and connections with other people which may lead them to like some things and dislike others.
Personality tests can be used for various reasons such as: identifying certain traits; exploring career interests; informing decisions; managing personal development; personnel selection; evaluating strengths and weaknesses in relationships within families, organizations team memberships, etc.; setting out key attributes during therapy which will affect the therapist’s approach.
MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a standardized personality test for adult personality and mental illness. Various versions of the MMPI are used by psychologists and other mental health experts to help design treatment plans, assist with differential diagnosis, answer legal questions (forensic psychology), screen job applicants during the personnel selection process, or as part of a therapeutic assessment procedure.
The MMPI was created by Starke R. Hathaway and J. C. McKinley, researchers at the University of Minnesota, and first published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1943. In 1989, the MMPI-2 was developed to replace it. In 1992, the MMPI-A was developed for adolescents. An alternative form of the test, called the MMPI-2 Restructured Form, was created in 2008 and retains some elements of the classic MMPI method while adopting a distinct theoretical approach to personality test development.
Rorschach Test
The Rorschach test is a psychological examination in which people’s interpretations of inkblots are recorded and then evaluated using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. This test is used by some psychologists to assess a person’s personality qualities and emotional capability. It’s been used to diagnose underlying thought disorders, especially when patients are hesitant to talk about their cognitive processes openly. The Rorschach test is named for its developer, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach. The Rorschach was the most widely used projective test in the 1960s.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test created by Henry Alexander Murray and his colleagues in which participants are challenged to express their sentiments, emotions, conflicts, and personality characteristics while creating stories about an ambiguous black-and-white picture sequence. The examiner explains the test procedure and informs the participant that there are no right or wrong answers before administering the examination.
The narratives are deconstructed and discussed at the conclusion to illuminate themes and patterns. Systematic coding techniques have been developed to assess various personality functions derived from TAT stories, including motivation for success, power, friendship, and intimacy; gender identity; defense mechanisms; and mental processes that impact interpersonal relationships.
The TAT is a widely used and researched test in psychology, especially in clinical settings to diagnose mental illness, characterize personality, and assess personalities’ strengths and shortcomings.
Hacettepe Personality Inventory
The HPI is a 168-item personality test created by Özgüven (1992) to assess personality features as well as social and individual adaptation levels, identify clinical and typical cases, and measure psychological health in people. The latest version of the HPI (ninth edition) consists of two main sections, Personal Adaptation (PA) and Social Adaptation (SA), each with four subscales.
Personal Adaptation subscales: Self-Realization (SR), Emotional Decisiveness (ED), Neurotic Tendencies (NT), Psychotic Symptoms (PS).
Social Adaptation subscales: Family Affairs (FAf), Social Affairs (SAf), Social Norms (SN), Anti-Social Tendencies (AST).
Children’s Apperception Test
The Children’s Apperception Test (C.A.T.) is a projective assessment for determining children’s personality and psychological processes. The test consists of a series of 10 quasi-ambiguous pictures to which the child is challenged to tell a story. The technique of projecting was used to gather information about psychological functioning via the specific mechanism of projection for this assessment method. Children’s Apperception Test (CAT) is a test based on the Thematic Apperception Technique adapted by Leopold Bellak and Sonya Sorel Bellak. It was first published in 1949.
The Duess Test
The Duess Test is a projective test for young children. It has ten short incomplete stories to which children must supply the endings. Louisa Düss, a Swiss psychologist, created the test. The test, also known as Duess fables, was first translated to English by Louise Despert in 1946. It was subsequently edited by experts such as Reuben Fine, who expanded the tales to 20.
The Duess Test’s validity has been challenged due to its artificial nature and some experts recommend that it should only be used on children under the age of eleven.
