Personality tests are usually a series of different choices. Ex. I prefer order, power, love, fun. As you go through certain personalities follow certain characteristics. This helps to understand how and why people act and react the way they do. If you have someone that is power driven giving them choices makes them feel in control of the situation and they are going to be more committed to move in a certain direction instead of pressuring them into one specific idea. It is a great tool for self-understanding as well.
The most important thing about personality tests is that people are truthful. Someone might say that they don’t procrastinate, when in fact they do. If people aren’t truthful, they aren’t going to get an accurate result.
There’s no better way to figure out what will help people the most than to just straight up ask them. Surveys, interviews, emails, whatever tool works best – as long as people are getting helped! I asked a few of my visitors, test takers, and researchers to share their thoughts to help me better understand how people work.
I’m sharing it with you in hopes you’d get something out of it, too. I’m also trying to bring their words to you with as little filtering as possible, so please bear with the awesome level of personal-tough this article has.
Now’s the time to focus on your professional development, your career growth, and the overall future of all things job related.
Today’s Focus: Personality Tests
‘R’ = Richard N. Stephenson (me!) ‘I’ = Interviewee (anonymous by request unless otherwise noted)
[This interview is part of research and market studies done for the DOPE Bird Personality Test: Click Here to Learn More.]
R: How would the average person out there benefit from this topic?
I: The most useful benefit of utilizing personality tests is that, first and foremost, it allows us to have a sense of our personality preferences. Personality tests measure various dimensions of our personality such as conscientiousness, sociability, and so on. It can very useful to not only know what these dimensions are, but how strong we may prefer them over others.
When we learn our personality preferences, we can then explore how our personality differs from those we know and better understand where some of our conflicts come from. Since everyone has a different orientation to the world, one of the biggest benefits of personality tests is that they help us see where we may be differing from others and where our misunderstandings stem from.
Knowing oneself is some of the best knowledge one can possess and is the basis for understanding how we approach the world and others in it. Personality tests offer us one way to do just that.
R: How could this subject help you or someone you know change your life for the better?
I: A personality test can help a person recognize a trait or characteristic that they may have not realized they have. Once a person realizes that they, for instance, have a passive aggressive personality, they can learn to understand what it is, and how to control it.
I think that people have the tendency to overlook personality flaws that they have because they are used to them, so they don’t always realize the affect it has on others, but by taking a personality test, they can learn more about their self and hopefully better their life.
R: I think everyone wants to be a better person; can you tell us how this topic relates?
I: I feel that personality tests are extremely helpful in understanding oneself. I personally use them so that I don’t feel so alone in the world. They help explain why certain people at in specific ways. Personality tests give a sort of universal common ground while at the same time allowing everyone to remain a individual.
R: Can you think of anyone that exemplifies what this topic means to you?
I: Psychologists would be good at using and understanding personality tests. They could use the test to help them understand a patient better. They would understand the different personality types as well.
R: If you had to pick who’s the worst at this subject, who would it be?
I: Personality tests are done to people whose duty is to work along with a group. Because positive personality traits are important in dealing with fellow humans. Jobs that does not require someone to work together with another person may not understand the significance of the topic. Or the purpose of taking a Personality Tests. Example of persons who may not understand the topic on Personality Tests are the likes of an office cleaner, window cleaner, truck driver etc.
R: If you had to pick right now, how could you use this subject in your life more?
I: To become familiar with personality tests I would suggest first doing an internet search. There are many different personality tests that can help identify characteristics a person has, their strengths and/or weaknesses. You usually begin a personality test or rather, an analysis of your nature, by answering a few questions. These questions are then analyzed by some sort of algorithm that the test designer has developed to give you an outline of your personality.
R: How would you describe the best time to make this topic part of your life?
I: I believe that people should take personality tests when they are making a big step in their life. If a person is about to get married, they should take personality tests to see if they are compatible with their significant other. Or when you are preparing to enter a field of work, you should take a personality test to see if you can handle the pressures of said field.
R: When do you think folks should absolutely NOT work on this topic?
I: When somebody it going through a tough time in their life, they are depressed. When people are going through a tough time their personality seems to change and they are not their usual self. Also when it is time for a review or a promotion those situations can cause a lot of stress on somebody and are likely to skew results.
R: Where can regular people like you and me plan to bring this into our daily routine?
I: Making sure it’s a private environment where people can answer honestly would get you the best results. You will need to make people comfortable in their setting to answer all questions truthfully. If they feel uncomfortable, they may not answer all questions to the best of their ability.
R: What place is this subject just totally inappropriate for?
I: A personality test can be bad in a few different ways. For one thing, studies have shown that the tests are not always accurate. There might be false information given to the test taker.
R: What kind of person would benefit from looking into this subject further?
I: One type of person would be someone who is trying to figure out what career he/she should consider. For example, A personality test will point out if the person is more comfortable working alone or with a group of people. The test could even point out to the person a personality strength he really hadn’t considered. The test if probably best suited for someone who is searching for how to achieve the best results for his talents.
R: What would you tell the readers to do if they wanted to get help with this topic soon?
I: The best advice I could give to someone interested in exploring personality tests is to spend some time getting to know themselves first. Personality tests are only as good as the test taker, and they are all too easy to misunderstand if the subject has not spent time thinking of how they truly act and think.
I would warn that biases easily misrepresent the test scores and to be careful that one is answering truthfully and honestly on the tests rather than how they wish to perceive themselves. The questions are generally easy but if a person has not spent considerable time thinking of themselves on a deeper level, they may answer in ways that are not entirely truthful and thus get ineffective results.
Personality tests are only one way to come to understand the self and I would see them as part of a whole rather than the end of the journey. To that end, it benefits the person who is interested in understanding this topic to really pay attention to how they think, feel, and behave for a while before and after taking these tests.
R: What’s something people should avoid if they’re looking into this subject?
I: They should avoid being prejudice. They need to present the questions in a personality test in a non-biased opinion. This way they can be sure they are not offending anyone.
R: Give us an example of something we can do today to get more up to speed on this topic.
I: Personality tests are a fun way to understand your actions and thought processes. On the color personality test you can learn about red, yellow, white or blue personalities. This knowledge of personality traits helps you communicate more effectively with people with different personalities.
What motivates a red personality will be different than things that motivate a white personality. If someone is driven by fun and excitement pulling out a long explanation with lots of details will just be a waste of your time because they will tune out and lose focus.
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Did you find at least one or two golden nuggets of useful information in there? I hope so – I know I love reading these and seeing how I can apply this wisdom to my life. Make it your goal today to take at least 1 thing away from this post and try to live your life more focused from now on.
Ready to get more out of your teams or personal career development? Figure out how you, your team, and all those around you work best so you can get more direction and guidance out of your days. Read more about the DOPE Bird team and individual personality test by clicking here.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, or personal life-changing wisdom below.