The Business of Psychological Testing
Over the years, psychological tests have slowly become an ubiquitous part of our daily lives: every year, millions of students take the SATs, LSATs, MCATs, GMATs, etc. in the hope of furthering their academic career, IQ tests are mentioned left and right in the media, and personality traits have become a part of everyday conversation. This omnipresence of psychological testing did not happen by chance though. Indeed, while these psychological tests can be somewhat revealing of an individual’s characteristics and help in various decision-making processes, a large part of their popularity can probably be attributed to the influence of for-profit organizations, because let’s face it, psychological tests are a very lucrative business.
One company that has successfully turned psychological testing into a business model is CPP, a private company that publishes the infamous Myers-Briggs test, as well as the Strong Interest Inventory. CPP has been able to generate an incredible revenue of $20 million a year by charging not only individual test takers (about 15–45$/person), but also test administrators. Indeed, in order be eligible to administer these tests, one has to go through 4 days of training and pay CPP $1,700 to become certified. In addition to these fees, tests such as the Myers-Briggs also require a plethora of additional material, which, of course, come at a high price. CPP is not the only company that is making a profit out of psychological testing, though. Indeed, even when it comes to tests such as the SATs and the LSATs, which are administered by non-profit organizations, there is much money to be made by textbook publishers and prep course providers.
This capitalization of psychological testing is very problematic, as it deviates psychological tests from their original purpose, which is to predict behaviour and outcome, and aid decision-making. Indeed, these psychological tests should only be used in conjunction with other relevant information, and should not be taken as comprehensive assessments of an individual. Instead, because companies aim to make a greater profit, they promote these tests as if their results were more important than they actually are. The Myers-Briggs personality assessments are often seen as the be-all and end-all of an individuals’ characteristics, and students are led to think that a mediocre grade in a standardized test can only lead to a life of failure. As a result, people are driven to take personality tests and interest inventories to “know themselves better”, and students willingly shell out hundreds to thousands of dollars on test preparation books and preparatory courses. In other words, in order to drive people to spend more money, companies will exaggerate the importance of these tests, which in turn push people to actually consider these tests for more than what they actually are.
