I have taken a few personality tests.
I know — many discount their validity and usefulness. People say things like, “If I took a test three days in a row, I would come out with three different results.” At my office, we recently were required to take them from a particular (kind of random) source. The results were interesting. And as an organization, the administrators of the tests heard the gamut of complaints. In the end however, I feel like they are instructive, to a point.
It’s interesting to learn that people have different motivations, and that they can be generalized to a point, and that some things are predictable based on their motivations. For example, I learned that if I want to deal effectively with a particular co-worker who is a “gold” (and Golds like lists, and don’t like to break rules) that it is best if I come prepared with a list to every meeting, or at least that every meeting end with someone making a list of what is to be done.
In my case, every time I’ve taken a personality test, it shows that I’m slightly dominant in one “color” (category) and almost equally distributed over the other categories. This is typical of my personality. Some people are very dominant in one color and almost completely lacking in one or more (usually of 4 or 5 total) categories. So based on this, the tendency to simply rank your motivations without accounting for “weighting” of the lesser motivations is a valid criticism. For some, the lesser motivations are valid, while for others, the lesser rankings are truly a matter of how you may have felt the day you took the test.
And as a final note on the test results, I’ve noticed that everything the test tells you about yourself is couched in very positive terms. “You are great at this, and great at that…” …so people tend to go along with the results and accept the findings. They never say “watch out for Orange folks because they make terrible managers.”
Still though, I think the whole exercise is interesting and instructive. It teaches us and reminds us that people are different — ya we know — but in ways that it’s useful to perceive. And we can use our knowledge of personality types, as taught by these social psychology tests, to improve our communications and effectiveness as we work with others.
It teaches me that no matter how rational I am, I will never break through the armor of the traditions and beliefs of some people. They’re not motivated like I am. They may be terrified of change. Some folks crave order and peace, and are put off by anything that challenges their peaceful world view.
It motivates me to find a way to IMAGINE a way to approach these types in a way that will reach them. And in the end, based on what i’ve learned, I have to accept that generations will have to pass, to live and die away, before some things will change, socially. And religion is probably one of those things.