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With the various personality types and combinations, can humans really settle on one?

People have many tendencies. Some keep a meticulous routine or specific nature, while others differ daily. Those who feel outcast compared to the more-diligent or easygoing crowd tend to crave affirmation of their characters and want to be understood, as well as understand themselves. A simple solution to this longing are personality tests, as they claim to “predict your persona” based on unrelated questions, such as your favorite color or music artist.

A popular and well-known method is the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or 16 personality test. It provides specific questions that show how people may perceive the world or those around them using four scales, introversion-extroversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving. Each of these categories are then determined through the quiz and organized into a four-letter combination, similar to the title.

Many people take this test in order to learn more about themselves and discover how their peers may perceive them, yet this is only one out of many different quizzes available online. How can one be sure that it creates a valid assessment?

“There’s a lot of questions on the MBTI test and I don’t think it affects the results because they help accurately pinpoint your type,” freshman Ana Pham said.

This test is on the lengthier side with a total of 93 questions to receive the results. Although this longevity is assumed to ensure precision, it could be a potential downside and influence the reader to not answer wholeheartedly. Based on the physical or mental situation one is going through, the results may differ. Additional stress, pressure, or sickness will influence the answers one chooses and possibly receive an inaccurate response. It is also easy to be manipulated and the person taking it can predict which characteristics are associated with their desired outcome.

Furthermore, similar to daily horoscopes or other forms of prediction, this test is subject to pseudoscience—it is seemingly scientific, but there is no true evidence to support it. Human nature is constantly changing and contradicting itself, meaning that it cannot be categorized into a single quality that remains constant throughout one’s life.

However, some people have found their results to match their personality.

“I’m an INTP and I do believe that the test relates to my personality, especially when I was reading the results I thought, ‘Wow, this is really accurate,’” freshman Selina Fan said.

Although this test may be deemed as inaccurate when it comes to personality, it provides information on other important aspects of life, such as work habits or relationships. Allowing for this validation can improve one’s overall stability in personality, as they are sure of who they are from an outside perspective.

“And that’s why people take the Myers Briggs [personality test] or read horoscopes,” AP Psychology teacher Ms. Jennifer Puente said. “We just like to be confirmed that we are who we are, and feel good about it.”