9 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
Psychometry - the science of measuring psychological things - is a field over 100 years old. There are plenty of unscientific personality tests (looking at you Myers-Briggs), but plenty of scientific ones too. One example is The Big Five[1], which is widely used, well validated, and applicable across cultures.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits
Variants and this model are being developed to this day, as well as tests that look at smaller factors within personality such as psychopathy[2], sociosexuality [3]etc.
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad
3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociosexual_Orientation_Inventory
To check whether a personality test is any good, look for things like test-retest reliability, validity of various types, correlations with other tests and real-world behaviours of interest.
Comment by peanutz456 at 12/03/2025 at 18:50 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Reading Wikipedia entry, I find it strange that self reporting on questions such as these can be used to put you on a personality spectrum: I have a rich vocabulary. I have a vivid imagination. I have excellent ideas. I am quick to understand things.
I suppose it's only testing how you perceive yourself, but based on mood or circumstances answers could change from one day to another.