s/o When You Take A Personality Test...

[Spy Car]

When you take a personality test does your head want to explode?

 

When I see a question like do you prefer "Justice or Mercy"?, my mind reels.

 

Even a question as simple as "would you rather spend an evening with friends or stay home with a good book" is not question I can answer in some binary fashion. These tests make me koo-koo. Most "answers would be "both" or "neither", but that's not an option.

 

I am I alone in this?

Edited February 20, 2009 by Spy Car

[elegantlion]

I'm a moody person. I like to take them when I'm in different moods just to see the difference in the results. It's my own form of fun. :D

[clwcain]

Obligatory "other". I don't enjoy them, doubt their instructive value, and have to resist the urge to make patterns with my responses or otherwise game the test.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I answered that they are torture for me. Is there a personality type for that?:D

[Jen in PA]

I find that they aren't too bad if I answer the questions quickly and actively try not to put too much thought into the process. I do remember finding them to be pretty awful when I had to take them as part of a career planning class in college, at a point in my life when I believed that the results of tests were really important.... I guess I have a very different perspective on all of that now.

[brehon]

I am I alone in this?

 

Good Heavens, No! I took that personality test and thought that the either/or answers much too pat. I'm almost never that "black & white" in my thinking. Justice v. Mercy?? Gack.

 

 

I have to say, though, that the answer it spit back at me did define my personality quite well. And I would have said that I was skeptical about the results of these types of tests.

 

 

I liked Chris' answer, too. I remember intentionally making "pretty patterns" on one of the myriad scan-tron tests when I was in elementary school. Which I think also fits in with my personality as per the linked test. :lol:

[Parrothead]

The justice or mercy question was easy for me to answer. The stay home or go out would really depend on my mood at the time.

 

I did find a few that could be either/or but nothing I fried brain cells over.

[Mama Lynx]

I think it just gives us more insight into your personality :)

[Guest Katia]

Well, the Justice vs Mercy question threw me as well....so I just took the test twice and answered it differently each time: the results were still the same as far as my personality types goes.

 

I also found that it really helps if you read the questions correctly so that your answer is correct.....makes a difference, lol.

 

But, most of them were no problem for me to answer. I'd never leave the house if I didn't have to. Easy peasy.:001_smile:

[Sunshyne]

I was expressing this same thought to my husband during lunch.

 

I found that I rated low in every category, and I think it's because I so often had a hard time going one way or another.

 

In the end, I was able to identify with the traits assigned, but I found that I could identify with many areas.

 

Guess that makes me a well-rounded individual, right?

 

:D

[joannqn]

I agree. Most of my answers are neither, both, sometimes, depends, and other. I do my best to think of what my answer would be most of the time and that helps a little bit.

 

Like you example of the question about going out with friends or reading a good book. As an extrovert, most of the time I'd prefer going out with friends. However, I also love a good book and if I'm in the middle of one that I'm wrapped up in, nothing is going to get me to stop reading until the end. So, while my answer is both or depends, I mark going out with friends as that is more likely to be the case.

[Demal]

Here's what a Buddhist might say:

 

"The correct response is to question the question: To ask for an alternative way of picture things. This is also implicit in the notion Mu. To answer a question with Mu (to say neither yes-nor-no) is to deny the validity of the question itself. The reason the answer is neither yes-nor-no is because the question sets up misleading categories . . . . Mu is a call for the question to be unasked. A call to look beyond the limiting conceptualisation implicit in the question."

 

Now, am I referring to the personality test questions or Bill's?

 

Mu.

[TravelingChris]

Well I did the Meyers Briggs test again today and thought I was answering somewhat differently than I had in the past. I had to think about some questions more this time too. I came out the same I had each time in the past. I think they are valid tests. Whether we like to do them or not is a different issue.

[Aubrey]

I love personality tests. Dh loves them, too, but they are really torture for him. He has the personality that likes to keep his options open, so he can't make those kinds of choices.

 

I think they're fun to do aloud, though, while driving around, doing chores (like retexturing the ceiling), or whatever. Dh & I always end up laughing & sometimes learning more about ea other.

 

But I also don't take them too seriously. He's insanely intense about their results, lol. He treats it like a test where he's GOT to have the right answer or...I don't know what. I usually see through the test well enough & know myself well enough to answer the questions pretty easily.

 

Justice or mercy? Intellectually, I know that mercy is often better. I know that our human capacity for justice is often nothing more than glorified vengeance. But I also know that my personality LONGS for justice/vengeance as a natural state. It takes lots of prayer/meditation/enlightenment for me to remember that I like mercy better. Does that make sense? So while I might prefer to be the person who naturally chooses mercy & forgiveness, that's not who I am. That's who I have to work to be.

[Colleen]

Part of being a "rational" is that I tend to find either/or questions totally irrational. Yes, I realize we're not supposed to think on it too much. I know we're meant to simply answer what we tend to prefer more. But as far back as I can rememember, I found tests like this annoying.

 

When I was a teen in school, we had to take a test that was supposed to help us better define our strengths and weaknesses, identify potential careers, yada yada yada. I refused to finish the test. I just could not handle the simplicity of the inane either/or scenarios. Would I rather go to a movie or read a book? Depends. Would I rather socialize with many people or in a small group? Depends. I can handle the straight-forward questions, but even then my answers tend to cancel each other out.

[AnnetteB]

Justice vs. Mercy was a funny one for our family since we have a daughter, Mercy :) Most of us went with "justice" because we have a desire for justice to prevail in matters of law.

[RoughCollie]

Part of being a "rational" is that I tend to find either/or questions totally irrational.

 

A long time ago, I took one of those tests, as required by my employer. One of the questions was "Would you rather ride a horse or read to a blind person?".

 

Give me a break. If it is raining outside, I'd rather read to a blind person. Besides, I know how to read, but I don't know how to ride a horse. Furthermore, what kind of horse is it? An unbroken stallion? A very old gray mare?

 

I chose "read to a blind person" -- at least I can't fall off of one. I looked at it as choosing a selfless pursuit over a self-full one.

 

Nowadays I don't think too much about that type of question -- I just pick what appeals to me at the time. Today, I'd chose "ride a horse" because the blind person can listen to a book on tape, and I rode a horse once and I liked it.

Edited February 20, 2009 by RoughCollie

[KidsHappen]

I plan to ask my husband to take the test and answer how he thinks I would answer. I often wonder how close my own perception of myself is to the perception of me by someone else. Nobody knows me better than he does.

 

 

I like this idea. I think I'll do it as well.

[KidsHappen]

I'd never leave the house if I didn't have to. Easy peasy.:001_smile:

 

Me either. I plan to be a hermit when my children leave home. :)

[Rhonda in TX]

It's very difficult for me to be objective about myself. And I have difficulties with the same kinds of questions you mention. (Justice or Mercy? Good grief. I'm such a rule follower, yet I believe in God's mercy. Talk about a dilemma!)

[Tracey in TX]

I used to teach a seminar with personality tests. Thought it was a blast and remarkably accurate. I don't stress about right or wrong answers and just put the first one that jumps out at me. That is probably the right answer. :D

[RebeccaC]

In real life I like to play with the test and the tester......

 

I thought the justice and mercy question was stupid. Why because the answer is relative. Here is an example; Lets say you bought a Rival crock pot and said pot gave members of your family a severe and damaging case of lead poisoning. Say you were able to prove that Rival knew that their crock pots would do such damage but sold them any way. Do you want justice so that Rival and no other company would play with peoples lives in such a blatant way or do you want mercy for Rival that would have allowed similar companies to think no big deal keeping on selling until caught and hope for similar dose of mercy or slap on the wrist.

 

Yet another twist would be justice administered with mercy which is what I would have voted for.

 

In my mind forgiveness is a separate issue. Folks often confuse forgiveness with mercy they are separate. Say one is raped, or some other unjust act is committed, is mercy forgiving said rapist and allowing him or her to go free with out any regard to what they might do in the future to other folks?

 

Forgiving is something that should be done by the individual but justice is something that should be administered by the state to protect the people from the folks who commit unjust acts like rape or murder or selling of products that are shown to really damage folks...... The individual forgives so that the anger and bitterness does not eat the psyche of the individual, to allow healing of the wounds cause by the unjust act, and so that the wounded individual does not take justice into their own hands and meter out revenge which is usually devoid of mercy. Justice is metered out by the state to protect folks from being preyed upon.

 

The reality is there is such a thing as mercy that is really not mercy and justice that is really not justice. The vagueness of this and other questions was stupid in my opinion. Hope these ramblings made sense.

[LaxMom]

Yeah, they make my head want to explode. And I swear my "type" is largely mood dependent... is there ever a "flake" category, where they track the results from test to test? I think I need that kind.

 

I avoid them like the plague.

[AnnetteB]

 

Justice or mercy? Intellectually, I know that mercy is often better. I know that our human capacity for justice is often nothing more than glorified vengeance. But I also know that my personality LONGS for justice/vengeance as a natural state. It takes lots of prayer/meditation/enlightenment for me to remember that I like mercy better. Does that make sense? So while I might prefer to be the person who naturally chooses mercy & forgiveness, that's not who I am. That's who I have to work to be.[/quote

 

I love the way you explain the "dilemma."

That is why we chose "Mercy" for our daughter's name :) It is something to be greatly valued. We nearly named her "Mercy Justine" :lol:

Edited February 21, 2009 by AnnetteB