Personality Assessments

AbstractIn this paper I will discuss the background of personality tests and the circumstances under which two specific personality assessments (the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and The Intelligent Quotient exams) are used and the reliability and validity of such tests. I will talk about the factors that users should consider when taking these two tests and my opinion on the usefulness of these tests.

What kind of personality do I as a human have? Why do I act the way I do? There are many tests and assessments that a person can use to evaluate the type of personality they possess. Such exams and assessments test one's character, traits and personality dimensions. It is important to understand these types of assessments and tests are used to calculate personality indirectly.

The Web site Wilderdom has a few facts about personalities. Thousands of years ago, the Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates (400 B.C.)

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and Galen (140/150 A.D.) classified 4 types of "humors" in people. Each type was believed to be due to an excess of one of four bodily fluids, corresponding to their character. The personalities were termed "humors". (Winderdom, 2005)CharacterHumorFluidCorresponding Trait in the Big 5IrritableCholericyellow bileAgreeablenessDepressedMelancholicblack bileNeuroticismOptimistic SanguinebloodOpenness to experienceCalmPhlegmaticphlegmNeuroticismMore recent developments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Intelligence Quotients have been introduced and become widely used, not only for personal uses, but also for uses in the workplace and in training. These provide information to better understand personality types and how individuals interact with others.

Many personality tests are intended to depict different aspects of a person's makeup. There are hundreds of these tests out there that consist of numbers of items that an individual responds to and rates applicably according to how they specify their character. There has been a considerable amount of study and thinking that...