Personality tests, are they BS?

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. I'm confident, that, like any other tool, the Myers Briggs can be misused…

…especially by people who don’t understand it.

“Amongst psychologists, M-B has a very poor reputation.” This is an interesting statement, as I was first introduced to a similar instrument was in a psychology class. On the other hand, years later, I sat in a group where someone from HR used yet another, less specific instrument, and used it rather poorly.


I think this list gets things about right.

http://www.capt.org/mbti-assessment/reliability-validity.htm

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Some conclusions about the reliability of the MBTI® instrument that would be helpful to know . . .

1. Reliabilities (when scores are treated as continuous scores, as in most other psychological instruments) are as good or better than other personality instruments.


2. On retest, people come out with three to four type preferences the same 75-90% of the time.


3. When people change their type on retest, it is usually on one scale, and in scales where the preference clarity was low.


4. The reliabilities are quite good across age and ethnic groups, although reliabilities on some scales with some groups may be somewhat lower. The T-F scale tends to have the lowest reliability of the four scales.


5. There are some groups for whom reliabilities are especially low, and caution needs to be exercised in thinking about using the MBTI® instrument with these groups. (For example, children)

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