Personality "Tests" (Myers-Briggs, Insights, DISC etc.)

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I just got the results back from a DISC “assessment” which I’d been asked to do as part of an upcoming ‘team building’ (done 100% remotely across 3 timezones, lol) exercise. Now, working in HR I’m well versed with how disproportionately-seriously these patently silly “tests” are taken. I also see their value - I’ve used them myself to help teams understand each other better in a very superficial manner (e.g. to help highly extroverted people manage introverts and vice versa).

But this one seems to cross a line for me. The ‘questions’ were, at times, impossible. You had to choose an answer that was “most like you” and one that was “least like you” and often both lists would be synonyms for the same word. My colleague did the test in both english and her native tongue and told me that the questions were not directly translated, so there’s a massive scope for error there.

The report, which I understand my boss and her manager might see, has come back with incredibly robust wording like this:

Owensmaterob is currently showing signs of frustration, problems or pressure which appear to be work related. This would suggest he may be experiencing some discomfort in the role and it is important to investigate these issues…

Frustration and discomfort? During a global pandemic? No shit!

Absolutely baffled that they’ve got this from “choose a word you think applies to you, and one that doesn’t”. The worst part is it’s not even necessarily untrue.

It seems like the more this kind of thing is debunked, the more popular it becomes with supposedly-progressive corporate overlords. Anyway, this is a thread for people to rant/explain/complain/proselytise about what I’ve seen described on Twitter as “Astrology for Men”.

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They’re all a crock of utter shit and having to do them and pretend the results are interesting is the absolute worst thing about being employed imo

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You’re such an ENTP!

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Classic slytherin!

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ENFP, actually. You know me so well!

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Yeah I’ve never had to do it particularly seriously before but they’re (I think) mandatory at the place where I work now. They profess not to take the results into account for anything other than team exercises but like… come on, now.

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Holy shit, really??

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If not mandatory, highly-encouraged and very much valued by senior leadership. This is the second one I’ve done in 18 months.

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Er…what the fuck?

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I think I’m Chandler with elements of Ross

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I completely understand the urge to try and classify ourselves like this, it’s why Buzzfeed was so successful with all those endless “what month of the year should you have been born in?” quizzes, but I also agree with the above that they’re generally a bunch of pseudo-scientific hokum. When the answer to most of the questions is “well, it depends”, then it’s a good indicator that it’s bilge, because our material conditions matter. That’s why the only good science is Marxism-Leninism.

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Could I be any more sandwich?

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I mean, getting people to do it 6 months into enforced working from home, and telling us we HAVE to do it are both factors which render any validity it might have had completely moot.

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more like lack of personality test ammirite

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We use Insights which I find really useful because it tells me who I need to avoid working with where possible - it’s the people who bang on about their color energy all the fucking time.

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Pisces sun, Scorpio moon, Psyduck rising

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  1. You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.
  2. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.
  3. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
  4. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
  5. Your sexual adjustment has presented problems for you.
  6. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
  7. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.
  8. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
  9. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
  10. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
  11. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.
  12. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.
  13. Security is one of your major goals in life.
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Quite.

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  1. Fitter
  2. Happier
  3. More productive
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indeed