Cult of Personality Testing

I have just finished reading “The Cult of Personality Testing: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves” by Annie Murphy Paul.

Personality Testing Through the Ages

It was an interesting book that tracked personality testing from phrenology (the study of bumps on the head) up to almost current day testing.

I laughed out loud at many sections, however, my favorite part was the comment about the Rorschach Ink Blot Test.  It said the only “logical” answer to the question, “What do you see here?” would be “An inkblot!” BUT that answer meant the person was mentally unstable.

Funny, because I always thought that answer meant you are a very technical person and don’t believe in personality tests.  I personally know dozens of highly educated engineers who see inkblots and only inkblots.  I don’t believe any of them are mentally unstable.  I do believe they all have a solid sense of humor.

Relying on Testing

More often I am seeing companies rely on testing to make hiring decisions.  While I can accept that there has been some success with this method, I always ask why they do this.

The answers I’ve received have been varied:

• It’s the way things are done now.  Corporate wants to see back up documentation in the form of a test for all hiring decisions.
• None of the hiring managers want to be solely responsible for the candidate they select.  They want back up for their decision.
• Some of the hiring managers have made poor choices in the past.  They are afraid they will make a mistake again.  The test is a way to reassure them they are making the correct decision this time.

There are also hiring managers who will follow the rules.  They administer the test and then disagree with the results and hire the candidate anyway.  And, many times I have heard that the best hires have been the ones who “failed” the tests and were technically “not suited” for the jobs for which they were hired.

I have long believed that you can’t pinpoint a person’s personality by giving them a test.  The answer to almost every question is “it depends.”  It’s nice to find an author who seems to agree with me.