There is an ongoing debate about whether personality is inherited or acquired through upbringing and life's ups and downs. It is commonly said that just under 50% of personality is inherited and the remaining 50% is acquired, but one can rightly consider how one actually quantifies personality traits? Cattel has 16 basic traits, the Big Five has 20 and so on. Are they all inherited to the same extent, and are they all equally important?
Writer Annie Murphy Paul believes that through personal experience we can realize that the trait of introversion versus extroversion is hereditary. We can also realize that the trait of aggressiveness versus anxiety is hereditary, also because it depends on the innate biological level of testosterone.
Of course, we can have our individual opinions about which personality traits we find important. But we must face the fact that in connection with hiring, companies and institutions will be very interested in self-consciousness versus anxiety - as self-consciousness must be supported by a certain level of aggressiveness.
1. Typical questions in general
There are many different personality tests. One might say that their most striking difference is between subtle deep psychological tests and more direct tests in which the final quality of the test result depends on the honesty of the test taker.
The "Rorschach" can be described as a deep psychological test. It asks the test taker to give a subjective interpretation of ambiguous inkblots, which responses are then the subject of a very detailed analysis. The TAT, "Thematic Apperception Test", can also be described as a deep psychological test, since the test taker is asked to write a short story in which he is assumed, without knowing, to imagine himself as the main character. The MMPI, Minnesota Multiphasis Personality Inventory, which asks a series of seemingly innocuous questions, represents a similarly cunning way of eliciting from the test taker such dreams and feelings that he did not even know he had, must also be described as a deep psychological test.
Cattel's 16PF test and its derivatives, including the Big Five, are distinguished by that they were not developed in psychiatric hospitals and were therefore designed from the start for use by normal people. They ask relatively straightforward questions and the results are very dependent on the honesty of the test takers.
MBTI, Myer Briggs Type Indicator, is in a class of its own in terms of transparency. It clearly assumes that the test taker is interested in getting an independent and objective view of his or her personality.
However, despite the diversity of the tests, one can still recognize typical questions in different guises and connections:
1. Would you like to be more persuasive?
A yes definitely indicates less self-consciousness, perhaps anxiety.
2. Do you find it difficult to become embarrassed?
Confident people are not ashamed. No matter what they do or say, it's just the right thing to do. A yes definitely indicates self-consciousness.
3. Are you always open and honest about your feelings?
Imagine you're visiting a customer and you basically feel that he's an overweight, bloated ass. Would you be open and honest about your feelings? No way.
Imagine you're attending a party with your wife. One of the other female attendees is wearing a low-cut dress that reveals a good portion of her rather large breasts. It awakens some of your deeper animalistic feelings. Do you want to be open and honest about your feelings? No, of course not.
We must assume that when the question is: "Are you always open and honest - " then it is a question that is intended to reveal test takers who are seeking to improve themselves, and we should answer no.
But if the question is about whether you are open and honest about your feelings in general, you can answer yes and thereby score on self-consciousness.
4. Do you think that most people are more aggressive and self-conscious than you are?
It is quite clear that a yes scores on less self-consciousness, perhaps anxiety, and a no scores on self-consciousness.
5. One type of question asks whether your friends or colleagues think you are a such and such type, followed by some options. Later, a question may come up asking whether you yourself think you are such and such a type, then the same options follow, worded slightly differently and in a different order.
Here we must remember that self-consciousness people do not feel any particular difference between what their friends think and what they themselves think. Less self-confident people, on the other hand, have secrets.
6. Are you a perfectionist?
A test taker at his full five cannot answer yes to something like that. That would tell you that you are someone, who can never finish your tasks. You can't help it, because you are a perfectionist. That will certainly score you on increased anxiety. Some psychologists believe that pronounced perfectionism is due to a form of fundamental inferiority complex.
Of course, we want to do our work properly. So if perfectionism appears in connection with a scale, for example, from 1 to 5, you can choose something in between.
7. Do you like talking to strangers?
It is easy to see that a yes scores on extraversion and self-awareness, and a no on introversion.
8. Do you like detailed work?
Yes scores on introversion and no on extroversion
9. Do you find it easy to concentrate on a task such as proofreading?
Yes scores on introversion and no on extroversion.
10. "Do you get bored easily?"
Yes scores on extroversion and a no on introversion.
2. Anxiety
Revealing tendencies towards increased anxiety is the focus of human resource consultants' efforts. Such an applicant will be considered unsuitable for a position that could eventually lead to a management position.
Anxiety caused by the necessity of making decisions under uncertainty is considered a major problem. Such anxiety is closely related to fear.
Anxiety. Photo Twitter.
But uncertainty, fear and anxiety and in general the fear of failure is in fact an important motivation for everyone to work concentratedly and purposefully, to check our work one more time, so that we are sure that it works - not only in our imaginations, but also in the real world.
One could say that the fear of failure is the key to success. "Only a fool does not fear the sea", as the saying goes. A sailor should fear the sea. "No loss should befall us that could be averted by timely care", as Maersk McKinney Møller put it.
Fearing that their children will fail in their later adult lives, most parents will strive to be good parents and do the right thing.
There is something called the Yerkes-Dodson Law, which states that a certain level of arousal is necessary to perform optimally, for example, in an exam, presentation, competitive event - or in connection with an important management decision under uncertainty. However, if anxiety and fear - and thus the level of arousal - exceed a certain threshold, the result will be a decline in intellectual performance and judgment.
This critical threshold for the level of fear and anxiety is different for different people, for some it will be lower than for others, and they can be described as anxious.
Anxiety. Photo Shkolazhizni.ru
A person with a low threshold for anxiety may have difficulty maintaining a strategy or policy - or even his own motivation - during critical periods caused by unexpected problems. He may easily come to feel that failure is just around the corner, and this is only the beginning, tomorrow it will probably be much worse. He may more easily than others come to feel that the neighbor's lawn is much greener than his own, so to understand that he may feel that his own project is ravaged by insurmountable trivial problems, and alternative technical and administrative solutions would have been much better.
In critical situations, almost everyone will feel some level of anxiety. It is the feeling that now it is serious, and it can also turn into defeat and humiliation if we are not careful.
A person who has no fear of failure at all and therefore does not feel anxiety at all will be relatively indifferent whether he performs well or poorly, and he will not give his best in connection with a test or a critical management decision under uncertainty.
Anxiety caused by the need to make decisions is very similar to exam anxiety. In an exam situation, the vast majority of students will be excited, a little nervous, but not more than it is beneficial for their performance. But for some, the fear of not do well can be so strong that it feels exhausting and demanding, creates physical and mental discomfort and significantly reduces intellectual performance.
Fear and anxiety in a test situation. Photo Institute of Education.
A person who has a very high level of anxiety may have all the symptoms that we associate with nervousness. He may forget important terms, speak too quickly and indistinctly, and swallow words and endings - especially at the end of a speech or even the end of a sentence. He feels deep down that the audience is probably not that interested in what he is saying, and it is probably better to get the embarrassing episode over with as quickly as possible. He may seem tense and have difficulty finding something to say.
3.Typical questions that score on anxiety
But questions and statements in personality tests that score on anxiety or similar are easy to recognize. They can be quite direct or more subtle.
Below is a list of typical questions that score on excessive anxiety or similar scales, such as anxiousness in Daniel Cohen and Cattel, neuroticism in Eysenck, and the A Scale Anxiety in MMPI:
Cohen - Do you feel nervous in crucial situations? (yes)
Cohen - Do you feel that you are afraid that you can not perform your best in critical situations? (yes)
Cohen - Do you feel that you have been treated unfairly in certain situations? (yes)
Cohen - When you apply for a job, do you expect them to not respond at all? (yes)
Cohen - When you apply for a job, do you then expect that you will come to an interview where you will subsequently fail? (yes)
Cohen - Do you fear that you will speak too fast when you feel insecure? (yes)
Cohen - Do you have a good feeling at work? (no)
Cohen - Do you think of successful people as being smarter and more dynamic than yourself? (yes)
Cohen - You came to a job interview but did not get the job. Do you think it was because the interviewer did not like you? (yes)
Cohen - When you come to a new company, do you then feel impressed because everyone there seems much smarter? (yes)
Cattell - I feel a bit nervous of wild animals even when they are in strong cages. (a) true.
Cattell - Some things make me so angry then I find it best not to speak. (a) true.
Cattell - I have decidedly fewer friends than most people. (a) true.
Cattell - I am always a sound sleeper, never walking or talking in my sleep. (c) false.
Cattell - There times when I don't feel in the right mood to see anyone (a) true.
Eysenck - Does your mood often change up and down without real reasons? (yes)
Eysenck - Do you often worry about things you should not have said or done? (yes)
Eysenck - Are you an irritable person? (yes)
Eysenck - Are your feelings easily hurt? (yes)
MMPI - I work under a great deal of tension? (yes)
MMPI - I wake up fresh and rested most mornings? (no)
MMPI - I find it hard to keep my mind on a task or job? (yes)
MMPI - I wish I could be as happy as others seem to be? (yes)
MMPI - I do many things which I regret afterwards? (yes)
MMPI - I frequently find myself worrying about something? (yes)
MMPI - When in a group of people I have trouble thinking of the right things to talk about? (yes)
MMPI - People often disappoint me? (yes)
4. Excessive self-consciousness
Some are born with an unwavering belief in their own excellence. I am the best, they seem to think. They feel that nothing is impossible for them, it is simply a matter of taking the initiative, concentrating and using all their willpower on the matter. Then anything is possible. One could say that they consider themselves to be a kind of superhuman.
People with excessive self-awareness lack respect for the inexorable reality with its pedantic laws of nature. Not everything is possible. Reality cannot be modeled arbitrarily.
Young businessman with self-consciousness. Photo Srazu Pro.
It is not good to score massively on excessive self-consciousness.
However, for positions that involve customer contact, many companies prefer applicants who score to a certain extent on excessive self-consciousness. Such applicants will have an easier time creating good contact with customers, it is assumed.
People who score high on excessive self-consciousness will tend not to take challenges seriously. In exams and other tests, they may not read the questions properly and thereby misunderstand them. They will read the beginning and then think, well, that's this and that trivial problem and then start answering.
Persons who score high on excessive self-consciousness may also tend not to take challenges seriously in real life. They may not analyze customers and business opportunities thoroughly enough, and as a result, they will come to hasty conclusions that can lead to losses.
People with excessive self-consciousness tend to have their own opinion about the world around them, and they are absolutely sure that it is the right one. They lack the little gnawing worm in the back of their mind that constantly reminds them that they can be wrong and that motivates them to listen to others.
5. Typical questions that score on excessive self-consciousness
Typical questions that score on excessive self-consciousness or similar scales at Cohen, Cattel and MMPI:
Cohen - Do you think that your exam result was a result of how intelligent you are? (yes).
Cohen - When you apply for a job, do you then expect them to immediately accept and hire you? (yes).
Cohen - When you feel insecure, will you then hide it from others? (yes).
Cohen - You never feel insecure? (yes).
Cohen - What do you want to do to cope best in a job interview situation - take it as it comes? (yes).
Cohen - As soon as you walk through the door of a new company you know if this is the right place for you? (yes).
Cohen - In a stressful work situation, being smartly dressed gives a good feeling? (yes).
Cohen - I never feel nervous?`(yes).
Cattel - I can generally put up with conceited people, even though they brag or show they think too well of themselves. (a) true.
Cattel - When criticized wrongly for something I did not do, I: a. Have no feeling of guilt b. in between c. Still feel a bit guilty (a) true.
Cattel - Do you find it hard to make you feel embarrassed? (a) true.
Cattel - In my personal life I reach the goals I set, almost the time. (a) true.
Cattel - I sometimes doubt whether people I am talking to are really interested in what I am saying. (c) false.
MMPI - I sometimes keep on at a thing until others lose their patience with me? (yes).
MMPI - I am easily downed in an argument? (no).
MMPI - Sometimes in elections I vote for people about whom I know very little? (yes)
MMPI - When I leave home I do not worry about whether the door is locked and the windows closed? (yes).
MMPI - I have sometimes stayed away from another person because I feared doing or saying something that I might regret afterwards?(yes).
MMPI - I have strong political opinions?(yes).
6. Literature
The Cult of Personality Testing by Annie Murphy Paul - Free Press - Simon and Schuster Inc.
Psyhometric Tests by David Cohen - Sheldon Business Books.
This article is a contribution to the debate about personality tests, and Dalum Hjallese Debate Club assumes no responsibility for the practical application of the article's content.
