Personality Assessments - How Do They Work?

[highlander]

I've taken a lot of these tests over the years but have never stopped to pay attention to how they actually work. That is, what are the mechanics behind these things?

I found this link:

http://www.psychometric-success.com/personality-tests/personality-tests-how-they-work.htm

Any ideas or thoughts on this?

 

[highlander]

Wow. Not a single response? Nobody knows?

 

[prplchknz]

I read the article, but I still don't really know. Nor have I ever really thought about it either.

 

[Coriolis]

It's been awhile since I read it, but Gifts Differing says a bit about how Briggs and Myers came up with the original system and questionnaire. If I recall correctly, they determined the type of people through direct interaction, and then used them as test subjects for questions, to develop a set of questions that would report the subjects' preferences on each dichotomy with reasonable accuracy and repeatability. So, it was a largely empirical process. I cannot comment on any other tests, though.