It is a commonly believed myth that personality testing instruments can measure your personality and predict your future behaviors.
. The pre-employment testing mechanism has been following this creed without solid evidence. The testing industry claims all-out validity. Educational institutions and employer organizations use them for screening purpose, Its transparency and equity has even convinced the courts of law.
But it is still an unresolved riddle; what do they test?
Do they test personality? What is personality then? What is its nature? How does it come into existence? Is it the outcome of evolution? Does matter has the capability to generate a personality? Why animals don't have a personality? Does it remain the same during the whole of your life? And many more questions.
It is like peeling off an onion. Every strip leads to many more. Finally, you get a heap of onion strips. Where is the onion? But personality is not an onion.
Gordon Allport has recorded hundreds of different definitions. Psychologists equate it to your style, behaviors, and reactions. They have devised instruments to measure these main areas. The collected data about your behaviors and temperaments help them to decide your career. You may organize your behaviors in the future, but you may never be able to go for a career of your passion.
Why?
Experts like to predict. They predict the weather. They predict political situations. They predict economic conditions. They predict your future with signs, numbers, cards, or palms. And they predict your future performance with the help of personality testing instruments.
What's Your Personality?
It is a fact that every human being has a personality. It is not merely your physical body. It is not merely your consciousness. It is not merely your ego. It is not merely your behavior. It is not merely your physical expression. It is not merely your style. It is not merely your temperament.
But they all and many other characteristics are expressions of your personality.
I don't find it wise to define personality. Admittedly it is an abstract reality. You get it with your birth. You can either develop it or disintegrate it. Your style, behaviors, and reactions are expressions of your developed, undeveloped or under-developed personality.
How do you look? How do you react? How do you talk? How do you live? What do you think? They all are expressions of your personality. The psychometrics measures these expressions and not your personality.
The abstract nature of personality can neither be measured nor analyzed with any scientific or non-scientific tool. It can only be visualized. It can be developed. It can be disintegrated. Your thinking and action make all the difference. A developed personality gives better style, behaviors, and reactions than an undeveloped one.
Why is psychometrics getting popular?
The very first reason is that everyone wants to know who he is.
But the main reason for their massive use is just a desire of the employers to avoid a bad hire. They get hundreds of applications for a single situation. They are the only available tools to avoid idiosyncrasies.
They don't have alternatives for psychometrics.
Tests are going to stay. Whether you are trying to be admitted for a specific discipline or looking for your dream job, you are encountering psychometrics at one stage or the others. You require to prepare before encountering them.
How to Prepare for Personality Testing Sessions?
Keep in mind that your personality is an incredible entity. You can think, you can visualize, you can discover, you can express, you can plan, and you can create. You have unlimited hidden potential. But your selected options on paper are going to decide your future.
You should practice offline and online personality tests before encountering a real session. Your practice shall not only make them familiar to you but also generate a list of your strengths and weaknesses. You can improve them with your conscious effort.
However, it is much more important to learn how different personality and aptitude tests measure expressions of your personality. What theories are working behind them? How do they relate different jobs with different types? This knowledge shall make it a lot easier to encounter psychometrics.
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