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Do personality tests work? - Merve Emre

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In 1942, a mother-daughter duo named Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers developed a questionnaire that classified people’s personalities into 16 types. Called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, it would go on to become one of the world’s most widely-used personality tests. But do these tests actually reveal truths about personality? Merve Emre examines their design flaws.

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Merve Emre
  • Director Seoro Oh
  • Narrator Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Sound Designer Seoro Oh
  • Music Jellysound
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
  • Script Editor Emma Bryce
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma
  • See more creators
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Personality tests can be fun and entertaining, but they also have real consequences. As this Wall Street Journal article explains, personality tests used by companies to evaluate their employees can be unfair and lead to discrimination. SciShow Psych shows why results of the Myers-Briggs test and the Enneagram test are not accurate descriptions personalities. So why are personality tests still so popular? Watch this video by Vox to understand why people are drawn to personality tests and why the Myers-Briggs test in particular is so popular.
Avatar for Sazia Afrin
Lesson Creator
New York, New York, United States
Personality types and descriptions, such as introvert and extrovert, can be a limited way to describes one’s character and changing personality. By believing these descriptions to be accurate, do we fail to recognize an individual’s full potential?

10/15/2020
Avatar for Ayşe Eda ERSÖZ
Ayşe Eda ERSÖZ • COMPLETED LESSON

I definitely think so. There is research about character development in the early stages of our lives. If a child always hears negative sentences about him like he is lazy, he will grove up to be a lazy person, he will adopt the behavior that other people put on him. Likewise, if one believes in a personality test saying that he is an introvert, then he will adopt being an introvert as a whole. Even if he is not shy for example, he will start to think that he is shy and therefore, will act like a shy person.

12/23/2020
Avatar for Viki Georgieva
Viki Georgieva • COMPLETED LESSON

I can just agree. Our whole peronality and vew changes over time. Family, friends and enviroment have a big impact on how our personality and opinions develope. This means we could change for the better. This way I find it unfair from companys to classify their employee as skilled for a job or not, based on their personalities. It would be much more better to provide your employee to further education courses in orther for them to develope the needed skills, becase we all can improve in any specific field. We just have to want it.

12/23/2020
Avatar for cevdet uslu
cevdet uslu • LESSON IN PROGRESS

First things first, human being is programmed to choose an easier option for themselves over hard things. So, if a person cannot control himself or herself to be what he/she wants then this doesn't mean that he/she has to choose what is said to them to be. However, she/he can improve themselves to be what he/she wants to. I agree with your thought a bit, because like most of thought, this opinion includes negatives. My suggestion to all people is being a fighter and not obeying people. Go on harder ways and don't hesitate to take a step on rocks:))

12/24/2020 • 
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Avatar for Clara Cronenvhet
Clara Cronenvhet • COMPLETED LESSON

yes cuz we don't know the person or their personality

12/27/2020
Avatar for Beyza Güçlü
Beyza Güçlü • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Believing these descriptions isn't accurate. We can fail to recognize an individual's full potential because personality features are not always what they appear to be.

12/27/2020
Avatar for Aleisha Santos
Aleisha Santos • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I agree

01/11/2021 • 
IN RESPONSE TO cevdet uslu Show the comment
Avatar for Jooha Kim
Jooha Kim • COMPLETED LESSON

Yes. Because if people around us say we are extrovert, we try to act like extrovert because they say so. And that can not be real us.

01/18/2021
Avatar for minseo kim
minseo kim • LESSON IN PROGRESS

Our whole personality and view change over time. Family, friends and environment have a big impact on how our personality and opinions develop. This means we could change for the better. This way I find it unfair for companies to classify their employee as skilled for a job or not, based on their personalities. It would be much better to provide your employee to further education courses in order for them to develop the needed skills because we all can improve in any specific field. We just have to want it.

01/20/2021
Avatar for Zeynep Ozer
Zeynep Ozer • COMPLETED LESSON

I agree with the statement. We are trying to fit into a certain mold. Those personality tests tell us what we can do and what job we should choose, but they don't make any sense. You can try something new or you can even try to change yourself. We are beyond the box.

06/11/2021
Avatar for Ksenia Kholodkova
Ksenia Kholodkova • LESSON IN PROGRESS

It's a great task from you. I think yes, it might me. When a person wants to reveal truths about himself, a person can believe in it and do like that type of personality. But in fact this is not the case. Objective self-evaluation is tricky.

07/14/2021
Avatar for Shoumik Kundu
Shoumik Kundu • LESSON IN PROGRESS

I could not agree more with the view that categorizing people only within two classes can not truly define the personality of any person. Basically, whether we are introverts or extroverts is only judging people only based on how they interact with others in society. However, personality is not only based on our way of interaction but also our inner quality, knowledge, sense of humor have a remarkable influence on our personality. Another fact I want to add from my personal experience is that personality tests often don't ask queries about the negative traits. For example, there are even some mentally disturbed people that we notice in society who are criminals and some of them also find pleasure out of nefarious acts like killing, raping, child abusing or doing other sorts of crime. It is really difficult to assess their mind by these personality tests.

08/24/2021

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Merve Emre
  • Director Seoro Oh
  • Narrator Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Sound Designer Seoro Oh
  • Music Jellysound
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
  • Script Editor Emma Bryce
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma
  • See more creators

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