Buzzfeed May Actually Be Useful
Which Harry Potter character is you drunk alter ego?
Wait, what?
Buzzfeed quizzes do not seem prima facie to make a whole lot of sense. Previous Medium posts have addressed the validity and reliability of these sorts of tests, which are crafted to be tongue-in-cheek and for entertainment purposes only. However, these tests do have an effect beyond clogging our Facebook feeds with clickbait: they condition the public to be accustom to psychological testing.
Among the general public, it is likely that healthy adults have only had practice with psychological tests during their school years (SAT, GRE, LSAT, etc) and potentially while seeking employment (aptitude tests, e.g. the GCT for the public sector). As a result, for individuals not conditioned to psychological testing, the idea of being psychologically tested may invoke anxiety, may not invoke the necessary amount of motivation, and consequently, may lead to reduced test performance. My argument is not that participating in Buzzfeed quizzes will inherently prepare individuals to further, more rigorous psychological testing; rather, I would argue that the ubiquity of Buzzfeed and similar quizzes acquaints the general public with the process of filling out seemingly never-ending test forms, being confused by the minutia and relevance of the questions, and crystallizes the notion that no psychological test is infallible. To the end, while I believe Buzzfeed may disenfranchise the public from the notion of validity in psychological tests in general, routine practice of filling out these quizzes does demystify a “psychological test” — a name which sounds more intimidating than “How Erotic Are You?”.
Moreover, these online tests help de-stigmatize clinical psychological tests. Consider the stigma and embarrassment one might feel after being asking to take a test to check for personality disorders; this is dramatically reduced in an age where you have friends who send each other online personality quizzes all of the time. As using tests to measure our personality becomes more mainstream and socially acceptable, I believe it is fair to presume that the barriers preventing potential clients from seeking psychological assessment will recede (regardless of whether we consider Buzzfeed tests to have any validity).
Ultimately, the net effect of these online tests is to raise awareness of the prevalence of mental disorders and the variety of acceptable behaviors, reduce stigma towards both these tests and these disorders, and make some of the symptoms to be vigilant for more salient to the general public.
(My drunk alter ego is Ron Weasley btw).
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