Psychometric Tests Explained
I have taken 3 personality tests in a recent psychology class. One of these was subjective, and two were objective. The subjective test, comprised of seventy binary choice questions gave me the result that my personality type is INTJ. An INTJ is Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking and Judging. It is a rare type, occurring in no more than one percent of the population. In a two page paper thick with personality descriptors it is not surprising that several of them match my own personality, but on the whole there were far more matches than differences.
The most striking similarity concerns my career choices. Before attending DeVry University I worked for 8 years as a Computer Systems Engineer in an educational charity in the United Kingdom. In that role I built new systems, maintained existing systems, and enjoyed the challenges in managing a world-wide computer network with limited resources. The INTJ profile explains: "the essence of the INTJ is builder a builder of systems [..]" "Difficulties are highly stimulating to INTJs, who love responding to a challenge which requires creativity." "They build human and data systems[..]" "[INTJs] frequently select occupations in engineering." I also recognize aspects from my personal life, such as "As mates, the INTJs want harmony in their home and in relationships." "[INTJs] will trust their intuitions about others when making choices of friends and mates, even in the face of contradictory evidence and pressures applied by others." As I chose to immigrate to the United States to continue a relationship with my mate, against the advice of many friends, I believe this last to be particularly true.
I asked some friends to look over the INTJ description and discuss any traits that I disagreed with, but they agreed with. They concurred that, although I didn't realize it, I fit the profile that "[an INTJ seems] unresponsive, while in fact an INTJ is almost hypersensitive to signals of rejections from those for who the INTJ cares." My partner assures me that I can, at times, be very sensitive to changes in her moods. Also, that "in social situations, INTJs may be unresponsive and may neglect to observe small rituals which are designed to put others at their ease." On reflection, I can see that I am often awkward in social situations, and will often eschew conventions in order to feel comfortable or extricate myself.
The INTJ is sometimes described as cold, calculating, and detached. Descriptions such as "colleagues find the INTJ apparently unemotional, and, at times, cold and dispassionate", do not portray me accurately. I find it easy to make lasting friendships with coworkers and colleagues, who value my open emotions. An INTJ is also described as a "natural brainstormer" with a strong "drive to completion". While these are admirable qualities, they do not describe me, a natural procrastinator.
The two subjective tests were a sentence completion, and a doodling test. The sentence completion test, which measures positivity vs. negativity in a personality, gave me a result of 40. This indicates that I "have a generally positive outlook on life and [I] view life optimistically." I find this to be a true assessment, as I am generally upbeat and see little value on dwelling on the negatives in life. I have less trust in the assessment of the doodling test, as the results are so very open to interpretation. For example, I filled in a blank triangle with the face of a cartoon character that has a similarly triangular face. An observer interpreting this could assume I was angry, obsessive and compulsively controlled, whereas the fact is simply that I like cartoons (a trait perhaps noteworthy in itself).
As I have lived an interesting, and at times troubling life, I began these assessments with a clear idea of who I am, how my personality functions and what my faults and strengths are. It is a little unnerving to discover that I am not entirely unique, although it is comforting to know that as an INTJ I join such luminaries as Julius Caesar, Isaac Newton and Friedrich Nietzsche. The assessment reminds me that although there are elements of my personality I can justifiably be proud of, there is always room for improvement, and with a modicum of effort I can improve not just my life, but the lives of everyone I interact with.
