More Than a Personality Test
July 30, 2019
Whether it’s the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Enneagram, we have all heard of personality tests. Personality tests have become a popular facet of culture, and Annie Paul, a writer for NPR, says that personality tests’ popularity is at an all-time high. It’s not surprising that these tests have become so popular. After all, they can help an individual understand more about who they are and how they function, and they make for great talking points in conversation- especially when we get to just talk about ourselves. But with countless social media profiles, articles, podcasts, videos, and other media forms, we may want to step back and rethink how we are using these tests. It’s fun to talk about our findings with friends, but we have to make sure that our identity is not found in our declared personality types.
As I said, personality tests can be great tools for self-growth and can help us understand how to better relate and interact with others, but there are also some cautions we should take to help us truly grow. As many of you know, the Enneagram has been all the buzz recently when it comes to personality tests, and the Enneagram is a great tool. It has helped me have a better understanding of myself, and I think it can be very helpful for everyone using it. However, it seems to me that the Enneagram has become somewhat misused by people. People have begun to become so attached with their number, and they have begun to identify themselves as that number. Instead of using their number to help grow, they used their number as an excuse for the way they act. People can also begin to act more and more like the number they identify with, doing things that purposely align with their number. We shouldn’t be too surprised that people gravitate towards this behavior. Inverse says, “People tend to believe they have a “true” and revealing self, hidden somewhere deep within, so it’s natural that assessments claiming to unveil it will be appealing.” We want to identify with something because we believe that it gives us a more complete understanding of ourselves, but I think this behavior is actually detrimental towards our growth. Trying to find our identity in personality tests will not lead us to personal growth; it will lead us to more questions instead of less.
As a Christian, I believe that our identity is ultimately found in Christ. Galatians 2:20 talks about how it is no longer us who live, but Christ who lives in us. The best place to seek more about your identity and purpose is the Bible. If you’re a Christian, God has given you identity in Him! I’m not saying that you should stop using personality tests intended for personal growth, but I do think there is a limitation to these tests. If we start finding our identity in these tests, we lose focus of our true identity. We’re focusing more on ourselves and who WE think we are. We begin to distance ourselves from our identity in Christ.
I truly think personality tests like the Enneagram are amazing tools, and I have used it to help me understand more about myself, but I have also caught myself using this test as my identity and blaming the way I acted on my type. As you take these self-evaluating tests and study them, don’t lose sight of your identity in Christ. You must keep Christ at the core of your identity and view these self-evaluations as an accessory to self-growth – not a necessity. When we prioritize our identity in Christ, we will find more growth and progress.
Here are some of the articles I referenced when researching. I also attached some studies about how personal bias can affect the way we test. The next time you think of yourself in terms of a number or a grouping of letters, ask yourself – where does my identity truly lie?
Sources
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/10/what-personality-tests-really-deliver
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/0615-personality-tests.aspx
https://www.inverse.com/article/49267-what-personality-tests-really-tell-you-about-yourself
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118133880.hop210004
Written by: Andrew Reynolds
Andrew is a Junior Project Management Major, and enjoys writing for the blog because of the opportunity it gives him to grow as a writer and to challenge himself to see current topics and discussions from a view point he may not have otherwise thought about.