corporate world apparently crazily credulous re personality tests

[v***@rcn.com]

I was stunned to hear of how most of the corporate world uses
personality tests of the MBTI Briggs-Meyer type.

People are capable of responding to personality test questions
dishonestly, spitting out the answers they think others want to hear.

The use of such personality tests by corporations, makes sense,
perhaps, if if the corporations are pretending to use them so as to for
public relations purposes hide the real processes behind decisions from
the public. Otherwise the use of such tests, does not make sense.

Problem is, that although I might be more intuitive than sensing, I
might still be more sensing than some other guy, who is more sensing
than he is intuitive.

Problem is, that although I might be more thinking than I am feeling, I
might still be more feeling than some other guy, who is more feeling
than he is thinking.

Problem is, that although I might be more judging than perceiving, I
might still be more perceiving than some other guy, who is more
perceiving than he is judging.

This credulousness re personality tests, if it does indeed exist in the
corporate world, is probably a sign of a loss of common sense produced
by the emphasis on credentials (the exec is the moron with the MBA not
the genius with the BA).

This personality test mania is like the enthusiasm for astrology, which
is still going strong after all these years, simply because the
descriptions of past current and future life for those of various
astrological signs, could describe the past present and future for most
people regardless of their astrological sign.

You can even find a list of heroes and heroines who share your
personality type, the same way you can massage your ego by doting on
stars who have the same astrological sign as you do.

Guess what? I am an INTJ, the same Briggs-Meyer personality type as Ayn
Rand, Ludwig Von Mises, Alan Greenspan, and Hannibal Lecter! That is,
an introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging type.

By way of psychic experience, similar to ESP, I know for a fact that
Christ was the Son of God. But no--I'm the atheist Ayn Rand, the jew
Alan Greenspan, the atheist Von Mises, the serial murderer Hannibal
Lecter!

I'm an INTJ like Eisenhower, Isaac Newton, and Augustus Caesar!

http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html
http://www.typetango.com/help.php#1
http://www.newswithviews.com/Cappadona/heidi.htm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/commentary.asp Jan 14 05

---



@2005 David Virgil Hobbs
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon



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[s***@yahoo.com.au]

Ah, nice post. I couldn't agree more.

I have an in-law who worked as a director for a large company. The
company that did selections used this sort of inventory, amongst other
things. To be fair, by the sounds, the company also used a process
that I consider reasonable, at least, which is to look at traits,
characteristics, approaches, etc of people identified as being
successful within an organisation as a basis for identifying future
candidates.
I like your analogy with astrology. They're not so far adrift.

Steve



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[Alan Mead]

Post by v***@rcn.com
I was stunned to hear of how most of the corporate world uses
personality tests of the MBTI Briggs-Meyer type.
People are capable of responding to personality test questions
dishonestly, spitting out the answers they think others want to hear.
The use of such personality tests by corporations, makes sense,
perhaps, if if the corporations are pretending to use them so as to for
public relations purposes hide the real processes behind decisions from
the public. Otherwise the use of such tests, does not make sense.

I'm not sure if you're being critical of the MBTI (and similar type
sorters) or personality tests in general. I think types are just a very
dumbed-down model that can be explained to a mass audience in a short
seminar. I don't think they have any place in actual selection and I
don't think that the corporate world is routinely using such instruments
for selection. One reason is that the MBTI crowd doesn't believe in this.
The CAPT website has an ethics page where it says something like "Use of
the MBTI for selection is unethical and probably illegal"

Now if you took the MBTI and just scored it as a four-factor instrument,
that wouldn't seem so unreasonable to me and isn't too far removed from
how many corporations use personality tests in selection.

I am currently conducting a validity study of sorts using a Big Five
personality measure. (The link is in my signature at the bottom.) So,
I'll soon have some data on the matter but in past work using applicants
and other samples, it's not true that there is no variance in responses so
it does not logically follow that personality cannot correlate with
important criteria.

It does bug me when I run into people who think tests are infallible.
That's just silly. But people who reason that because tests are
imperfect, they are therefore completely invalid... that's just as silly.
The reality is that most alternatives, like "what color is you?"
interviews, reviewing resumes, or "gut reactions", are shockingly poor
predictors. (Others, like getting referrals from existing employees, can
be quite good.)

-Alan
--
Come get a free personality profile:
http://www.web-data-collection.org



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[Billy]

Post by Alan Mead

Post by v***@rcn.com
I was stunned to hear of how most of the corporate world uses
personality tests of the MBTI Briggs-Meyer type.
People are capable of responding to personality test questions
dishonestly, spitting out the answers they think others want to hear.
The use of such personality tests by corporations, makes sense,
perhaps, if if the corporations are pretending to use them so as to for
public relations purposes hide the real processes behind decisions from
the public. Otherwise the use of such tests, does not make sense.

I'm not sure if you're being critical of the MBTI (and similar type
sorters) or personality tests in general. I think types are just a very
dumbed-down model that can be explained to a mass audience in a short
seminar. I don't think they have any place in actual selection and I
don't think that the corporate world is routinely using such instruments
for selection. One reason is that the MBTI crowd doesn't believe in this.
The CAPT website has an ethics page where it says something like "Use of
the MBTI for selection is unethical and probably illegal"
Now if you took the MBTI and just scored it as a four-factor instrument,
that wouldn't seem so unreasonable to me and isn't too far removed from
how many corporations use personality tests in selection.
I am currently conducting a validity study of sorts using a Big Five
personality measure. (The link is in my signature at the bottom.) So,
I'll soon have some data on the matter but in past work using applicants
and other samples, it's not true that there is no variance in responses so
it does not logically follow that personality cannot correlate with
important criteria.
It does bug me when I run into people who think tests are infallible.
That's just silly. But people who reason that because tests are
imperfect, they are therefore completely invalid... that's just as silly.
The reality is that most alternatives, like "what color is you?"
interviews, reviewing resumes, or "gut reactions", are shockingly poor
predictors. (Others, like getting referrals from existing employees, can
be quite good.)
-Alan

rubbish

***@aol.com



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sci.psychology.research is a moderated newsgroup.
Before submitting an article, please read the guidelines which are posted
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Submissions are acknowledged automatically.