I took my first personality test in junior high as part of an assessment to determine which elective “career path” I should take in high school. The assessment may have been baloney, but the personality test was a fun glance into the inner workings of my psyche, and I’ve enjoyed taking them ever since. In college, I only had time for elementary courses in psychology and sociology, but I love examining the human mind and social, cultural, and behavioral patterns as much as the next former psych guinea pig who actually enjoyed being experimented on by upper level students.
My favorite personality test is the Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typology test. In this questionnaire measuring psychological preference, there are 16 personality types and test-takers are rated on scales of introversion vs extroversion, intuition vs sensing, thinking vs feeling, and judgment vs perception. I am an INFJ – an Introverted (44%) Intuitive (50%) Feeler (75%) Judger (78%).
As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.
INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.
As part of Child of Our Time, a BBC project following 25 children over 20 years, there is a new Big Personality Test which questions participants not only on their psychological preferences but also on their childhood experiences, their physical health, and their relationship and job satisfaction. Researchers are hoping to determine if our personalities shape our lives or if our lives shape our personalities.
My results for this new test are below:
Openness: 94% (willingness to try new things)
Conscientiousness: 98% (dependability, organization, hard-working)
Extroversion: 60% (tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating activities)
Agreeableness: 80% (sympathetic and consideration)
Neuroticism: 78% (response to stressful situations)
I found it interesting that I scored so highly in all traits, but the neuroticism sure didn’t come as a surprise!
After completion, participants are provided with a full break-down of their results and an explanation of how the researchers believe certain personality traits tie in with general life satisfaction and overall self-esteem. It’s a really interesting study, and I was happy to provide the researchers with a new profile to add to their pool of results. You should do the same!
