Stuff You Should Know Selects: How Personality Tests Work
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Nov 15, 2025 Dive into the fascinating world of personality tests, exploring their ancient origins and the flaws of categorizing human behavior. Discover how the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator rose to fame, despite its criticisms for oversimplifying personalities. Uncover the differences between projective and objective tests, and why psychologists lean towards the Big Five model. Learn about the practical implications of these tests, the common misconceptions they create, and how they can sometimes reinforce narrow social norms. Finally, hear stories of listeners reflecting on their own experiences with anxiety and self-discovery.
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Jung’s Foundational But Nonempirical Typing
- Carl Jung created foundational personality categories like sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling that shaped modern tests.
- Jung's ideas were theoretical observations, not data-driven science, yet they influenced later inventories.
MBTI Originated From Practical Needs, Not Science
- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) grew from Jungian ideas and corporate needs in WWII and after.
- Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother built MBTI to match workers to jobs, not from randomized scientific sampling.
Big Five Gives Spectra, Not Final Answers
- The Big Five model (OCEAN) maps personality across five continuous traits rather than discrete types.
- Psychologists treat Big Five scores as sketches needing deeper study of motives, roles, and life stories.
