Keirsey Temperament Sorter-II Personality Test… My Last Resort
You are probably not going to believe me but on the day before the first PSYC 406 class I actually took a personality test that was on the CAPs site called the Keirsey Temperament Sorter-II, totally unaware that I would be writing about it 3 weeks later! After an exhausting Christmas break being in and out of the hospital (family illness) it finally hit me that I was running out of time. My last 3 years in University has not helped me figure out what I wanted to pursue, and worse who I was as a 21 year old about to graduate and no longer allowed to be a confused teen. I had done my fair share of research however, and had met with my advisor and CAPs advisor last year multiple times already, but it had felt impersonal and distant. Maybe they were having a long day or I felt uncomfortable opening up to them in their tiny, claustrophobic offices, but their advices/feedback were unhelpful and didn’t feel geared enough towards me, and fair enough, they’ve only met me few times. Once agin, this decision was pushed back further until now. This personality test on the website really was my last resort.
Online personality tests don’t exactly have the best reputations. I can already see from the titles of other students’ blogs that their experiences with these tests were not that helpful and inconclusive. And I’m sure their opinions are rightfully so, but for me the Keirsey Sorter turned out to be more helpful than I initially expected so I would like to focus on the positive aspects of this particular test and also some of its shortcomings as well.
The test provides an instruction in the beginning that states the purpose of this test: to learn more about one’s self and one’s preferred style of expression and behaviour. It instructs the test takers to answer the questions from the perspective of what feels real to one’s self and not how one should behave in particular situations. The test itself is made up of 71 questions that range from asking about what one would do in certain situations to qualities about one’s self to one’s opinions/preferences/wishes etc., while two choices of answers are given.
In terms of having only two answers available to choose from is definitely going to affect the preciseness of the result, but it also makes the test easier to do and narrows down one’s numerous thoughts that gets activated when asked a simple question: for example, “In sizing up others, do you tend to be..”, the possible answers to this question are various but the test narrows them down to two choices either “friendly and personal” or “objective and impersonal”. Other shortcomings to the test include lack of consideration of individual differences such as my race, background, disabilities, age etc., or its narrow categorization of people into just 4 categories (Guardian, Idealist, Artisan, Rational) which can be questionable. However, there are also types within these categories that broadens the spectrum of different types of people.
The result I got at the end was Guardian. You can see the explanation above. For those of you who don’t know me, it was pretty scary and almost comforting how accurate and how well communicated, thoughtfully constructed the computer generated result/feedback was. The first chapter of the textbook had discussed how important the feedback of the assessment was, and to me this report of the result was far more personal and comfortable than any feedback I have gotten from my advisors or my parents who are supposed to know me the best. For me, the Keirsey test result was therapeutic in some sense (probably not its original function). It validated and reconfirmed certain qualities about myself that I have or have grown into through certain phases of my life that I previously never considered as qualities belonging to myself, but rather as situational qualities. I think the result was an insightful look back into the 3 years of my life in university, where I realize now as a period I had matured the most during. Interestingly, I don’t think I would have gotten the same result 4 years ago. The report deciphered for me in what ways I had developed. It’s not like I know immediately now what I want to pursue but I certainly know myself enough now that I have the potentials to do whatever I want to do.
I think a test like this without a supervisor who goes through every aspects of the test with the test taker, and without having numerous questions and answers that will assess every quality the test taker has, it really becomes to depend on the test taker to gear this test towards one’s self and assume the “responsibilities of test users” (17) like from the text book. Such that, the test can serve the “best interest of the client”(18), the client being the test taker. This can be done by answering honestly and understanding the results and using it in a wise fashion that don’t overreach its function. I know not to over-rely on these results; it really is just an opportunity to better understand myself and how I interact with those around me as written in the instructions on the very first page of the test. It would be foolish to fully navigate one’s life by over-relying on these tests, but they certainly provided the guidance and reassurance that was much needed for myself.
