Such Irony
Honor Thy Inferior
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2010
- Messages
- 5,059
- MBTI Type
- INtp
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
Do you find that when taking a personality test, you know enough about the theory to know immediately what each question is testing for? Does that knowledge end up biasing your test result in some way- either consciously or unconsciously?
When I take a personality test, regardless of how many I've taken before and what my previous results were and what I believe myself to be, I approach the test as if I know nothing about MBTI. By taking this approach I hope to avoid the knowledge bias. However, I can only do this with minimal success. It's like telling someone not to think of pink elephants. What do they most likely do? Yeah, that's right, they think of pink elephants!
Even if I can't detach myself from prior MBTI knowledge and experience, I try my best to answer each question honestly, even if it means some tests will point away from the type I perceive myself to be. On a conscious level, I don't think I'm biasing my results by having knowledge of MBTI. However, I can't help but wonder if I'm biasing myself on a more subconscious level. For example, if I'm torn between two options, I wonder if I subconsciously choose the one that more closely lines up with my self-perception of my type. When I'm taking a test, and I've noticed that I have an atypical amount of answers pointing away from I, N, T, and P, I can't help but take notice. I can anticipate where the result is going as I'm taking the test and I can't seem to 'turn that off'.
When I take a personality test, regardless of how many I've taken before and what my previous results were and what I believe myself to be, I approach the test as if I know nothing about MBTI. By taking this approach I hope to avoid the knowledge bias. However, I can only do this with minimal success. It's like telling someone not to think of pink elephants. What do they most likely do? Yeah, that's right, they think of pink elephants!
Even if I can't detach myself from prior MBTI knowledge and experience, I try my best to answer each question honestly, even if it means some tests will point away from the type I perceive myself to be. On a conscious level, I don't think I'm biasing my results by having knowledge of MBTI. However, I can't help but wonder if I'm biasing myself on a more subconscious level. For example, if I'm torn between two options, I wonder if I subconsciously choose the one that more closely lines up with my self-perception of my type. When I'm taking a test, and I've noticed that I have an atypical amount of answers pointing away from I, N, T, and P, I can't help but take notice. I can anticipate where the result is going as I'm taking the test and I can't seem to 'turn that off'.