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Does anybody else have this problem?

Do you have difficulty answering personality tests?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • No

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • Sometimes

    Votes: 4 25.0%
  • Only if the test was poorly made

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • Total voters
    16

Vorthos

New member
Joined
May 5, 2015
Messages
71
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
When doing an online personality test (doesn't matter what kind; could be MBTI, Enneagram, Big Five, what character from X are you, etc.), does any body else here have great difficulty answering the questions? I find that for the vast majority of the questions, my answer is so sensitive to context that (unless the question actually does provide a context) I can't provide a proper answer. My mood and how tired I am are part of the context, so that just makes the questions more difficult to answer. Even if I try and go by what I am most of the time, the tests usually yeild different results each time I take them.

So out of curiosity, does anybody else have trouble answering online personality tests?
 

aanule

New member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
190
MBTI Type
ENFP
I just let my intuition guide me. If it's a scale, one number will just feel right and I go with it... Yes or no and I place myself on a scale and pick the one I lean towards.

I really just don't think about it too much, the first instinct is usually right.
 

sprinkles

Mojibake
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
2,959
MBTI Type
INFJ
Only really happens to me when the test needs better questions.

Otherwise I pretty much know exactly how I am. Even when it's variable and context sensitive, I still know what I lean towards statistically and can pretty often nail down answers definitively on these tests.
 

Galena

Silver and Lead
Joined
Mar 12, 2013
Messages
3,786
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Often. The present mood doesn't have an influence, though, because I statistically consider how I've done things over my entire life.

I answer questions by imagining how I'd behave in a situation where the question is relevant - not how I think I should behave, but realistically/how I actually have. Maybe we're not supposed to do that, but how would I know otherwise? When questions don't lend themselves to picturing a situation, it's harder. That one cognitive function test on the Nardi site is one of the hardest for me to know what it's even talking about.
 

Chrysanthea

New member
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
361
Almost all the time actually xD I need specific scenarios or I can't decide accurately. I especially hate those test that ask straight out: "Are you x or y?" followed by two one word answers. I can far more easily determine my type by just reading the descriptions of each type. But even with my terrible test taking skills, with MBTI, I still ended up being tested as INTP on nearly every quiz (the exception being that stupid app on the Android Market which claimed I was an ESTJ of all things). I also, out of doubt, just looked into each individual function and typed myself as an INTP that way as well.
 

sunsetorange

New member
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
7
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5
Sometimes I have trouble. What's more accurate for me to say is that I often have to do some digging to see what they're actually asking. Referring specifically to MBTI, for years I mistyped as an extrovert because a lot of tests had questions framed like if you enjoy attention you're an extrovert, and if you run when someone makes eye contact with you, you're an introvert. So as someone who isn't shy, but who is literally by dictionary definition an introvert, I just feel like the questions were written poorly. If questions were not phrased so secretly, and test makers were more open about what they were getting at, I think it would be easier. But they kind of hide this from you and try to tease it out with 50-question tests when they could just say, "Hey here are some concepts or examples, which describe you best?" Not questions as black and white and overall dumb like: "Do you like apples or strawberries. Pick only one."
 

Vorthos

New member
Joined
May 5, 2015
Messages
71
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Sometimes I have trouble. What's more accurate for me to say is that I often have to do some digging to see what they're actually asking. Referring specifically to MBTI, for years I mistyped as an extrovert because a lot of tests had questions framed like if you enjoy attention you're an extrovert, and if you run when someone makes eye contact with you, you're an introvert. So as someone who isn't shy, but who is literally by dictionary definition an introvert, I just feel like the questions were written poorly. If questions were not phrased so secretly, and test makers were more open about what they were getting at, I think it would be easier. But they kind of hide this from you and try to tease it out with 50-question tests when they could just say, "Hey here are some concepts or examples, which describe you best?" Not questions as black and white and overall dumb like: "Do you like apples or strawberries. Pick only one."


I think that part of the problem is that the answers often aren't mutually exclusive. Why can't I like both equally?

Also, the introvert vs extrovert is an excellent example. Questions like, are you fun at parties don't consider if the party is a rager or just a nice family gathering. Are you with only friends, or complete strangers? So they really don't capture who you are because it's so up for interpretation what a "party" is, though the same issue applies to other questions.
 

Bush

cute lil war dog
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
5,182
Enneagram
3w4
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
On binary tests, I do.

On e.g. 5-point scales, I don't. I know pretty dang well that I'm "in between" or "lean slightly" toward one option or another ;)

Binary tests are bunk, so I know -- with absolute certainty -- that I should vote "Only if the test was poorly made"
 
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