Do Personality Tests work?
I have always been skeptical of personality tests! Of course, I like them when they say nice things about me. Isn’t it funny how we find evidence of all the good stuff in those test results and always find a rationale for not so glowing things?
“You should be skeptical,” says Simine Vazire, a personality researcher at the University of California, Davis. Until we test them scientifically, we can’t tell the difference between that and pseudoscience like astrology.
So, for many years I resorted to asking my friends and colleagues, no, not those high EQ kinds who worry about how I may feel, but the ones who want me to get better in life. And, usually, there it was unvarnished, like it or not!
As I set out to shape the next phase of my career in the backdrop of the pandemic, I got an opportunity to retake one of those tests. This time though, and to a large extent influenced by the need to tell my brand story, I decided to take one that would tell me how others perceive me, and what characterized my brand — enter the Fascinate test!
Created by Sally Hogshead - NYT best-selling book, this test claims to measure “how the world sees you.” As usual, you answer a set of questions, responses to which determines your “archetype”; it also tells you your primary and secondary advantage, i.e., the most effective way for this particular archetype to communicate to become a force-multiplier.
What personality type am I?
And how did I do in the test? What’s my archetype? I am supposedly The Connoisseur — sure, why not? I always wanted to be one. I always liked nicer things in life! But this test went more profound, and that was fascinating. It determined that people around me see me as insightful, distinguished, in-the-know, admired, and well-groomed.
That sounded great, but the skeptic in me was back. This was a bit too good for my humble self, so I decided to co-relate this back to my feedback on LinkedIn and the 360-feedback portal at work.
And indeed, I started seeing some patterns. People from work have called my enthusiasm, detail orientation, my intuitiveness to understand other’s needs and influence them as my superpowers. One of my managers commented:” your preparation, focus, effort, and commitment towards completing your work are some of the best seen in my professional career……..and some of your values have inspired the team to strive for this level of consistent professionalism.”
As I started to connect the dots between feedback I received earlier and the Fascinate test results, it became evident that people’s perception of me was probably different from my perception of self — was that me being humble or just some plain old impostor syndrome? Hard to tell, but what was apparent was this test, for the first time, gave me a very different sense of my external brand that other tests had not provided.
The test further identifies my primary and secondary advantage, in my case, its Prestige and Passion. This is where it started to connect with my inner-self. I always had an eye for detail, focused on better execution, was competitive and determined, and expected high standards from self and others — and the test called these out, word for word. This, in turn, created people’s perception of me as an expert with high expectations and standards, and hence my brand. It also told me how to use this advantage to persuade others.
My secondary advantage per the test was Passion. And again, the test was getting to the core of who I am — communicates enthusiastically, inspires people, and creates emotional connections. While there is good evidence to support some of this, I do think; personally, it’s a work in progress. However, knowing I have some elements of these means, I can persuade and inspire people.
What was the takeaway from this test?
So, did my skepticism of personality tests go away? It kind of did, but still left some gaps. This one did move beyond confirmation bias that usually comes from mapping to a generic personality type because it provided granularity through Advantages. It also offers practical advice on using these advantages for maximum benefit and what to watch out for, given there is a flip side to being strong at something. I will indeed be referring back to this test and the detailed report.
One big takeaway is am now well set to use the right words to describe me. Fascinate test explicitly describes a technique called- Your Anthem: The Tagline for your Personality. The idea is to develop a persuasive phrase that describes how I will add value within 9 seconds. Since I now have the words, I will use its multitude of ways to construct “My Anthem.” I plan to use this to rebuild my brand on forums such as Linkedin and Instagram. It’s also made me a lot more conscious about how to position myself to closely align with the Connoisseur archetype such that my advantages of Prestige and Passion will reinforce my brand.
Overall, the test is super easy and quick to complete. Reading the results has triggered numerous “Ah-Ha!” moments. If you are curious to learn more about your archetype and use it to your advantage, click here. The results might fascinate you!
