Should I care so much about personality quizzes?

(This was originally posted on my blog Selfhood Pending on July 18, 2016. It lives here until I decide to remove it from the Internet.)

The internet has created several new sensations of popular culture. The meme has emerged, as have viral videos and all other means of time-squandering. But, another thing Buzzfeed has brought into everyday life is the personality quiz. There are sets of just 7–12 questions that can categorize you in every way imaginable. So, the question becomes not only, “Are these quizzes valid and reliable?” but,”How well can I even answer the seemingly empty questions?” and, “Should I be defining myself by their results?” Let’s tackle them all, because I think my obsession with personality quizzes definitely calls for some psychoanalysis — which you can follow along with too!

Reliability & Validity

Some of you will know there is a pesky differentiation to be made between reliability and validity, but ultimately many quizzes lack both.

I’ll tackle reliability first, as it is well-acknowledged that humans do change and this measures the consistency of a test. But, we know it is common to take a test multiple times and receive different results. I myself have gone from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor to Slytherin. Interestingly enough I prefer to call myself a Hufflepuff.

Now, you may not go back and retake quizzes like, “Which Kardashian are you?” but many people obsess over more comprehensive tests, such as the famous Myers-Briggs index of 16 personality types. This test has proven quite problematic, and cohesive criticisms exist, and it claims to test inborn tendencies. Yet, it is not uncommon to change types over time, and that is because it actually tests traits that are malleable due to neuroplasticity, or the changing of connections between neurons in our brains. (1)

Now, validity is a bit more pesky. Here, we are basically addressing the question, “Does this really test what it says it does?” And that may seem like a simple yes, because the results spew out a Disney character when you’re looking to find out which princess you most resemble. But, the real inquiry is whether the set of questions they asked give them the ability to give an accurate result.

Unfortunately, the very format of personality quizzes makes this highly unlikely. People are not inclined to be completely honest, due to a psychological desire to make oneself look good.

In psychology experiments, this is referred to as the Hawthorne Effect, which is the tendency of participants to “improve” their behavior under observation (2). Now, you may think that taking a questionnaire online isn’t exactly observation, but the same line of reasoning also makes mere surveying unreliable in psychological study. Any time we are under examination, we try to put our best foot forward. If we will fudge a bit in the name of science, who’s to stop us from acting a bit more like the proper princess in a format that won’t hold us accountable?

It would appear that personality quizzes tend to lack both reliability and validity, so why should we take them?

I think that the reason I love personality tests is more for the experience than the results. After all, I usually spend much more time contemplating each question than considering the deeper meaning once the results pop up. At that point, I’ve gotten my answer and my attention is lost.

So, perhaps it’s just good practice in decision-making. But, I think that instead of falling into categories, we might actually be testing out different potential definitions of ourselves with each question. You choose to be someone who prefers dessert first, or who likes owls more than toads. But, if we’re fabricating ourselves as we go, that means we don’t actually know what the “right” answer is, do we?

Answering “honestly”

So, if we are naturally inclined to fudge on these surveys, how on earth are we supposed to answer if we want real results? This is especially hard when we are faced with choices that we have never had to make in real life, or when we want to select more options than the questionairre will allow for.

The fact of the matter is that personality quizzes are designed to shove us into predefined boxes, but humans aren’t meant to always fit into such fabrications. Even with something as simple as color preference, it’s likely you’ll have a strong affinity for multiple colors. This is because our preferences develop through life experiences, independently of one another. That is, you could be reinforced to really like both blue and green because enjoying clear lakes has no bearing over liking fresh, crisp green lettuce. (3)

Now, most people have some sort of proclaimed color preference, as “favorite color” is one of the most common questions out there. But, what about choosing between options that we haven’t put much consideration into?

I know I have been faced with the question to “Choose your favorite dessert” and nearly frozen from the pressure. I love brownies, and ice cream, and tiramisu. How on earth am I meant to choose between them?

The typical route is to just go with whatever sounds best at the time. But here are a few different strategies to help you really get to know yourself:

• Run the “desert island” test. Ask yourself which you would most like to have, perhaps in mass quantity when speaking of food, if you were stranded, alone on a desert island? So while tiramisu sounds good now, I know that I could eat brownies all day, every day and never tire of them. They’re also the most comforting, which could signify a deeper attachment.
• Try to check for frequency, by doing a “historically I’ve” test instead of imagining the unknown future. Which have you gone for most in the last week (or month or year, if you don’t go down on the sweets as frequently as I do)? If it’s asking about a preferred vacation spot, think about how often you’ve opted for the beach, versus the forest, or a city-bound exploration. This, of course, only applies if you have at least some sort of experience with each option.
• So, if you’re less familiar with the choices, do a “perfect future me” test. Picture yourself five or ten years in the future, and assume that everything has gone as perfectly as possible. You’re living the dream, and can always opt for the best. I think future me will have a great job in a cool city, and I’ll spend the evenings dancing around in big sweaters in my studio apartment. So, what better way to help pass the time than baking up some brownies? If you’re going to be rich, sailing the sea in a huge yacht, maybe you’ve got a private chef to whip you up some classy tiramisu.
• Now, this last one is a bit like the previous, but you can always run a “stereotyping test” as a last resort. Look at the options and picture what type of person would be the embodiment of that choice. Maybe ice-cream-girl wears short-shorts and rollerblades on the beach, brownie-girl has flannels and loose pants and loves Netflix (sadly sans chill), and tiramisu-chick likes heels and skirts and always has a date. Which one is closest to you? Or, which one is closest to someone you would like to be? (This one is a bit problematic because you could end up considering it in terms of what the quiz is supposed to be about — maybe Hufflepuffs definitely prefer brownies.)

Personally, I tend to go with tried-and-true favorites, so the “historically I’ve” test, or what I think most embodies who I want to be, or the “perfect future me” test.

The most important thing here is to avoid just going on a fleeting impulse. Our brains will be attracted to novel ideas, even if we have no idea whether or not we’d actually like them. You probably shouldn’t be building your selfhood through a series of split-second decisions.

Results or Labels?

So you think you’ve answered everything honestly, and you wait in anticipation at brief loading screen until it pops up an answer and —

It’s not what you wanted. Or expected. Or think would even fit you.

Or maybe it’s perfect. You’ve always thought you were a Gryffindor.

Either way, how much value should we actually be placing in these so fervently sought after results? There are two problems that can occur here:

1. You get a result you didn’t want. It causes you to question who you are, and you become insecure about the identity you have been portraying because it supposedly doesn’t “fit” you. You change yourself to fit a result you don’t really want to belong to.
2. You get exactly what you wanted. You allow yourself to be shoved into a narrowly defined label and limit yourself in order to uphold the “image” you think you belong to.

Of course, if it’s a quiz about which fruit you are, then it’s probably not going to be a result that has enough meaning to cut into your psyche. But others seem to hold a lot of power, especially over teens who are in the process of searching for an identity.

It’s possible that one could look to these quizzes for affirmation that they are becoming the person they are supposed to be, and the inability to create a concrete sense of self can lead to a state of “Role Confusion”, an idea pioneered by psychologist Erik Erikson. And if this stage isn’t successfully overcome, the teen in question would not be able to progress into other essential struggles, such as intimacy vs. isolation and generativity vs. stagnation (click here to read more about Erikson’s theory on psychosocial stages).

In this case, it’s important to consciously put more value in actual experiences than these supposed “results”.

Alternatively, accepting labels and not allowing oneself to try things outside what they believe is “expected” of them has equal potential to be damaging. This is the path that typically leads to a midlife crisis, when one finally realizes that everything they have done up to that point was driven by the expectations of others.

This follows the theory of James Marcia, and would be described as identity foreclosure. While this is an easy way to gain an “identity”, it does not involve a crisis in order to develop. The lack of a struggle often means that no meaningful effort was put into defining oneself, which would obviously correspond to a lower likelihood that ones stumbled into the “perfect” identity for them. (More on Marcia’s Identity Status Theory here).

So, while personality quizzes could be a new way for teens to “try on” different identities in their search, it’s important to think of it as a probe rather than an official designation. I always try to be in the mindset of laughing it off, and thinking about the various problems with these tests outlined above definitely makes that easier.

So, should you care so much?

Probably not. But, if they’re fun, and you focus more on the exercise of considering options as a way to define yourself than the results themselves, you could be gaining some valuable self awareness in the process.

So, I’ll keep taking Sorting Hat quizzes until I finally feel content with a single house. And you can keep trying to find out which celebrity you have the best shot of marrying.

But, remember it’s all in good fun. And, if you’re really frustrated, we could always talk about how the whole establishment is a mere bid for your attention to facilitate the delivery of advertisements. (I’ll save that chat for another day.)