Ever fallen down the rabbit hole of personality quizzes late at night instead of doing homework or sleeping? Rather than finding out which city you should live in based off of your favorite foods or having an algorithm try to guess your hair color based off of your favorite 2000’s songs, there are some personality tests that go a bit deeper and might spark a bit of self reflection. If you’re looking for some fun ways to potentially learn more about yourself, look up some of the tests mentioned below.
MBTI (Myers-Briggs Test)
The Myers-Briggs personality test ranks your answers on four different factors: extroversion (E) or introversion (I), sensing (S) or intuition (N), thinking (T) or feeling (F) and judging (J) or perceiving (P). This results in 16 different personality combinations, such as INFP, ISTP or ESTJ. According to their website, since the test first launched in 1962, millions of people around the world have taken it. The goal of the test is to “understand and appreciate differences between people” and may be useful in workplaces and classrooms to understand others’ points of view or approaches to a subject. A lot of speculative studies have also placed historical figures in MBTI types, letting curious test-takers see who may have potentially had their personality type.
The Enneagram
Enneagram has been gaining a lot of attention on social media lately with Instagram accounts popping up depicting the nine personality types through references to pop culture and the like. Even if you don’t care what Starbucks order is most like your Enneagram type, the quiz can offer some intriguing insights. The Enneagram types are nine strategies relating to the self, others and the world, and reveals patterns of thinking, feeling and acting, according to their website. Each type is broken down into another word, such as “The Giver,” “The Mediator” or “The Observer,” and categorized into the head, the heart or the body. Supposedly, approaching situations with the Enneagram in mind can help foster healthy relationships and solve conflicts.
Multiple Intelligences Test
While many multiple intelligences-type tests exist online, many of them have the same or similar results. Multiple intelligences may refer to one’s strengths or styles of learning and understanding the world. Depending on the test, your results may be something along the lines of visual intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, and more or some blend of them. Tests like these might be able to give you insight as to how you (or others) learn or potentially how you should be studying. It might be fun to learn about and try to implement, but it shouldn’t necessarily be used in place of visiting an academic or career advisor.
Online personality tests should be thought of as entertainment or potential ways to spark reflection and should not be used in place of visiting doctors or other mental health professionals, if necessary. They should also not be used as a way to prove someone is “better” than another.
Photo: A. Yahya
