WEeds Ruined My Personality Test!
May 12th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
So I was taking this personality test thing, see. [For earlier political and theological personality tests of me, see here and here.]
It’s of the “Five Factor Model of Personality” school.
Didn’t know there were different schools of personality theory, did you?
Well neither did I. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as personality theory.
Anyhoo, I’m always trying to follow the Delphic Maxim, and thought maybe this newfangled theory of personality might help me do so better.
The problem with any psychological test that I’ve encountered, however, is when you know exactly what “they” are trying to do.
For instance, in this test, every statement is phrased in four or five different ways. This is smart. They want to make sure they’re getting your reaction to the real meaning of the statement, not to some accident of word-choice.
But once I realized this, I couldn’t let myself react naturally to each new version of a question. I had to try to keep my answers consistent.
But then with each new phrasing of the question, it becomes ever more clear exactly how you’re supposed to respond to each question, given the usual personality types.
First phrasing: “I think crime should be taken seriously.”
Second phrasing: “It’s bad to ignore crime.”
Third phrasing: “Crime should be punished.”
Fourth phrasing: “Leniency in sentencing is a moral outrage.”
Fifth phrasing: “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Me: (Quoting Peter Griffin): “Oh. Now I see what you’re drivin’ at.”
When the test-taker gets to analyzing the test, it can’t help the reliability of the final score. There was manipulation going on (by me).
But worse than this, two of the questions were put in the first-person plural!
(NOOOOOOoooo o o o !!! !! ! ! !)
One said something like, “We are too soft on criminals.”
But only people in The Criminal Justice System can speak of how “we” treat criminals!
So I had to answer “Strongly Disagree.” Even though I don’t “strongly disagree” with the claim that people in The Criminal Justice System are, in general, too soft on criminals. I don’t have much of an informed opinion at all on the subject.
But, of course, I know what answer the test-makers “wanted” me to give, so I could fit neatly into their little boxes. Bah! I say. Humbug!
Stupid WEeds, ruining my attempt to follow the Delphic Maxim.
