BYUH psychology professor and students say human personalities are too complex to be reduced to a type
From BuzzFeed quizzes to the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), BYU–Hawaii psychology professor and students explained that the nonspecific nature of personality tests causes them to be misleading. Dr. Boyd Timothy, associate professor in the Faculty of Sciences, said, “There’s not a universal approach to testing personality because there’s not a universal consensus on the definition of personality.”
Ed Salazar, a junior from the Philippines majoring in business management, said he was first exposed to personality tests at his first job as a call center agent. “My trainer asked me, ‘Ed, what is your bird type?’ I didn’t know how to answer him, but I love the color black, so I answered, ‘A crow,’” explained Ed. “Everyone was laughing at me because I answered, I guess, a silly answer. But he said, ‘No, I mean, the personality bird test, have you taken it?’” After taking the test, Ed shared he found out he was half eagle and half peacock. “For the eagle, [it means] independence or reliant leadership. For the peacock, it’s showy. I realized, in personality tests there are traits that will reflect your personality. Some of them are accurate and some are not,” he explained.
To access the full infographic and test visit 16personalities.com
The limits of labeling
People are complex, shared Kale Simpson, a junior from Washington majoring in psychology, which makes it difficult to capture all the nuances of an individual based on one test. There are a lot of factors that go into our behavior, he said, “For example, if you haven’t been getting a lot of sleep, that’s going to change the way you interact with other people [and] the way your personality looks. So, you just have to make sure you don’t look at the [results of the] test at face value,” he shared.
One of the biggest pitfalls of personality tests, Dr. Timothy shared, is their claim to be able to explain an individual’s entire personality. “When you take something that’s reductionistic by design—something that’s meant to measure a small aspect of your psychological pattern—and then apply it to your entire identity, you’re probably going to get a distorted self-view,” he explained.
Additionally, Simpson said people’s thought processes change over time, causing them to answer questions differently. “I remember taking one test when I was 16 and then taking the same test when I was 20, and I got completely different results. To me, that showed I grew over time [or] at least answered the questions differently over time,” he explained.
So, if you take a personality test and then in your mind that’s all you are, then that can be pretty limiting.
Overreliance on the results of a personality test, Salazar shared, can lead to disappointment because they are not true reflections of a person’s identity. “You need to separate the things that really reflect who you are…and filter down the things that are not beneficial to you,” he explained.
The comfort of categories
Despite their lack of scientific backing, Dr. Timothy explained, personality tests are extremely popular because of the sense of identity they provide. “It’s like astrology for some people—it gives you a narrative about who you are. That’s very attractive even if it’s not scientifically rigorous,” he said.
In Salazar’ experience, he said, mediums like personality tests have been a way for him to connect with others. “It’s fun to learn more about people and who they are because the more you understand people, the easier it is for you to deal with other people,” he shared.
One of the benefits of taking personality tests, Simpson said, is also their influence on guiding introspection—getting people to think more about themselves. People really want to know more about themselves, he shared, “They want to understand who they are, and I think the message of a personality test is appealing to that.”
While personality tests can be a fun recreational activity, Dr. Timothy emphasized the importance of not taking them too seriously. “Self-understanding requires context, nuance and reflection over time—not just the results of a single test. So, while it could spark curiosity, it could also give people an oversimplified or even inaccurate sense of who they are,” he explained.