Why Take a Personality Test?

Have you ever taken a personality test before? Personality tests usually use assessments and questions to identify potential strengths and weaknesses in each person, especially in employees. Aside from that, it can also help reveal who in a team might work well together and who would do best when working alone. That’s why personality tests are important in many different industries and organizations.

There are lots of personality measures out there, and each one offer a unique insight into what makes you tick. But aside from distracting you in the middle of the workday for about 10 to 20 minutes, there are also real benefits that come with taking personality tests. Today, we will give you the best reasons why you should take a personality test. 

A Brief History of Personality Testing

Doctors and patients sit and talk. At the table near the window in the hospital
Doctors and patients sit and talk. At the table near the window in the hospital.

Before we go to the reasons to take a personality test, let’s know a bit about its history first. Around 460BC, Hippocrates proposed that humans had a persona, which is a personality that was encompassed four different temperaments. According to him, whichever fluid was more dominant in a person determined their “humor” and, consequently, their different personality. 

Wilhelm Wundt, in 1879, became the Father of Psychology, as well as the first person to draw a clear difference between the human body and human personality theory. In the late 1800s, Sigmund Freud founded the psychodynamic approach, and its popularity led to a drastic change in the way people viewed and understood personality with a group of people in social situations. According to Sigmund Freud, our personality was a lot more complex than initially suggested. And that our behavior and personality are determined by our innate needs and drives. 

In the 1900s, Carl Jung proposed that there are only four human personality preferences: sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling. According to him, all of these influence our personality. During this time, there was an increase in interest in personality testing, typing, and assessing, especially in the workplace. 

The first modern personality test to be invented was the Woolworth personal datasheet, and it was used by the United States American army to sense which recruits would be vulnerable to shell shock. Since personality testing in the 1900s, personality assessments and theories of human personality have become more popular. In the present time, people are very familiar with personality tests and quizzes.

Reasons to Take a Personality Test

Filling up personality assessment
Personality test or assessment form as part of job interview screening process. An employment or hiring concept

Here are some of the best reasons we can give why you should try taking a personality test:

1. It Can Give You an Idea about the Career that is best for you

If you’re a student and you are thinking of what career path to take, passion indeed is one of the things you can rely on. But you can also take a personality test to determine what occupation is a good fit for your character. For example, according to a researcher of the personality type, highly sensitive people might want to consider careers such as teaching because they have a service-based nature. 

Personality tests can also be part of looking for jobs because some companies use the assessments in the application process. Some companies offer personality tests during their training process after you get hired. 

2. It Can Be Helpful For College Students to Decide What to Study in School

Personality tests can also help students as they go through their college years. It can help them know what their personality aligns with, giving them better ideas of what to major in. This is great because, based on a study, students who were more personally interested in what they were studying were more likely to perform better. 

3. It Can Help You Understand Your Weaknesses and Strengths

Since personality tests give you insights into how you operate, they will also allow you to determine and understand your best and worst traits easier. This can come in handy, whether professionally or personally. 

4. It Can Be Important When It Comes to Social Interactions

Quizzes and tests about personality can also help you connect with other people who are just like you. It’s because personality tests also give you feedback on whether your behavior is the same as others, what your role is, and how similar you are to a group of people. Knowing that there are similar people to you is very rewarding, as well. 

5. It’s Great to Know Yourself

When you receive an accurate personality test result, you will exclaim happily that it is very true. However, if you don’t, you’ll try taking the test again. But why do you think it’s important to pay attention to the answers? It’s because humans like validation that comes with establishing who they are as individuals. And the more you know yourself, the more you’ll be able to emphasize what you need in life, relationships, and other aspects. 

6. Learn What Emotions Overwhelm You 

Since everyone is different, they are overwhelmed by various emotions, handle them differently, and feel them in a different way. Some feel them more intensely than others. By taking a personality test, you can learn what emotions overwhelm you. 

By realizing what overwhelms you, you can learn to exactly cope with it. This is good for your mental health. It helps people with anxiety, and mild depression learn how to deal with their feelings. People who have trouble with social interactions can also learn what to focus on and what social interactions to practice.

7. Make You Empathetic

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings that others feel. It can be a very valuable skill to have for anyone. Everyone can benefit from such a skill. Empathy is necessary for professionals like doctors, counselors, or social workers. It is a skill that can help you in your job and also personal life as no one hates a person who understands how it feels to walk in your shoes. 

By taking a personality test and understanding your personality, you can understand not only your strong side but also the things that you may be lacking or are weak in. 

The Best Personality Tests You Can Take

Personality Test Sheet And Pen With Clipboard Over Table
High Angle View Of Personality Test Sheet And Pen On Clipboard Over White Table

If you are looking for some personality tests to try and see if they are accurate, then here are some of the best ones we can recommend for you. 

1. DiSC

You can take this personality test at discprofile.com for a cost, depending on the type of tests, the size, and the type of team. This personality test was made by Walter Clark back in 1940. It was created to measure dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. It was made mainly for organizational use. It can also be used for leadership and executive development, management training, team building, conflict management, and as well as job coaching.

It is made of 28 questions where you’d pick a word that is most like you and a word that is least like you for each question. It is easy to use, administer, and to be delivered by anyone. 

2. 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire

You can try this personality test at OpenPsychometrics.org. It was first published in 1949 by Cattle, Tatsuoka, and Eber. However, there have been more additions since then. The questions in this test are based on Allport’s 4000 proposed personality traits, which are narrowed down into 171 by Cattle, and later to 16 to design the tool. It is made to measure normal behaviors, which can be used for career development, choosing employees, and even marital help and counseling.

3. HEXACO Model of Personality Structure Personality Inventory

You can take this personality test at Hexaco.org. This test was made in 2000 to assess some personality dimensions and theoretical interpretations outlined in earlier studies. This test measures six personality dimensions: Honesty-Humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. The full-length assessment comprises 200 questions and 100 questions for the half-length assessment. 

4. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

This is probably the most popular personality test if you want to know your personality type. You can take this test at Myersbriggs.org. This personality test was introduced in the 1940s by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. It is based on Carl Jung’s theory of four psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. This test will measure whether you are extroverted or introverted, as well as if you have a sensing preference or an intuitive preference when it comes to processing information. It will tell you whether you make decisions by thinking or feeling and if you have judging or perceiving preference on how you do things. 

5. The Birkman Method

You know more about this personality test at birkman.com. It was introduced by Roger Birkman to measure personality, social perception, and occupational interests. It is designed to give insight into what drives a person’s behaviors, specifically in an occupational setting and social context. It has 32 scales, where 10 describe occupational preferences, 11 describe effective behaviors, and 11 describe interpersonal behaviors and environmental expectations. It is a personality test that is often used in the workplace. 

These are some of the best personality tests you can try taking. Personality tests are indeed useful, both professionally and personally. It is something that can help you decide about your future career and something that can help you improve your behavior and character to be more sociable. Aside from that, it is also a way to get to know yourself better. 

Conclusion

Some people think personality tests are a hoax and that a series of questions cannot identify one’s personality. Although personality tests may not be accurate, they may give a rough idea of what a person’s personality is. The benefits of taking a personality test far outweigh the costs. What do you think?