An Overview of Existing Personality Tests… Serious and Not Serious

Before I dive in to today’s article, I will start with a confession, and a milestone for myself, and I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing: I’ve written a lot over the years–writing is my lifelong obsession–and today’s article is the first article I will have ever written with the help of AI / LLM / GPT. Since we are an AI-focused team, we need to eat our own dogfood or, as Edward likes to say, drink our own champagne, right? (Is it clear which one of us is the crude and blunt New Yorker and which one of us is the nice midwestern boy?)

Since one of the goals of SpotlessMind is to use the best practices out there to evaluate and understand individual humans on a unique level, so we can customize our therapy to not only provide the best therapy but the most on-target therapy for that particular individual — we’re on top of the various methodologies out there used to formally classify, organize, and understand-in-a-structured-way individuals. Said more simply, we love personality exams, and studying the results–especially for ourselves.

As a result, we’re keeping a list of the various personality exams that we find interesting in some way. And we decided to share that list with you today. As long as we’re keeping a list for ourselves, why not share it with the world, too?

So here’s a list of the various personality exams that are on our radar. We’re grouping them into three categories: the less serious, the more serious (clinically useful), and the more serious (business-y useful). Let’s go.

Here are a few noteworthy personality exams of the less-serious variety. These don’t have particular scientific nor academic validity but, we’ll continue confessing, we kinda just love. Note that “serious or not” is not a binary, but rather a sliding scale (for example, Myers-Briggs is low on the academically-rigorous or seriousness scale, while OCEAN is slightly higher):

1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Assesses personality based on preferences in four dichotomies: Introversion/Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving.
2. Big Five Personality Traits (OCEAN): Measures five broad dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
3. Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF): Measures 16 different personality traits to give a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s personality.
4. The Enneagram of Personality: Identifies nine distinct personality types, each with its own patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, to help individuals understand their core motivations and how they relate to others.
5. The 5 Love Languages: Identifies five primary ways individuals express and experience love—Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch—to enhance understanding and connection in relationships.
6. Keirsey Temperament Sorter: Categorizes individuals into four temperaments (Artisan, Guardian, Rational, and Idealist) based on their communication and action patterns.
   

These tests are widely used for entertainment purposes as well as to help individuals understand themselves in less formal and not-necessarily-accurate sorts of ways.

Now, let’s go to our second category: personality evaluation methods that are considered more professional and used for clinical evaluations. Here are the main more serious (and clinically useful) studies that we’re looking into:

1. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ): Evaluates personality based on three dimensions: Extraversion/Introversion, Neuroticism/Stability, and Psychoticism.
2. California Psychological Inventory (CPI): Designed to assess interpersonal behavior and social interaction among normal individuals.
3. Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R): An updated version of the Big Five model, providing a detailed assessment of the five major personality traits.
4. Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI): Measures various aspects of personality and psychopathology, used often in clinical settings.
5. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): A projective test where individuals create stories based on ambiguous images, revealing underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world.
6. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): A comprehensive psychological test that assesses a wide range of personality traits and psychopathologies.
7. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): A widely used psychometric test for assessing and diagnosing mental disorders and personality structure.
8. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV): Assesses personality disorders and clinical syndromes based on Dr. Theodore Millon’s theories of personality.
9. Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI): Evaluates a broad range of personality traits and psychopathology, commonly used in clinical settings.
10. Rorschach Inkblot Test: A projective test where individuals describe what they see in a series of inkblots, used to uncover underlying thoughts and emotions.
11. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): A projective test where individuals create stories based on ambiguous images, revealing underlying motives and concerns.
12. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI): Measures the severity of depression symptoms.
13. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD): Assesses the severity of depressive symptoms in patients.
14. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5): A structured interview guide for making DSM-5 diagnoses.
15. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL): A comprehensive assessment tool used to identify behavioral and emotional problems in children.
16. Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ): Evaluates personality traits and psychopathology, derived from the 16PF and other clinical scales.

These tests are crucial tools for clinical psychologists in diagnosing mental health disorders, understanding patients’ psychological profiles, and developing treatment plans.

Our third and final category as personality tests that are widely used in business contexts, to evaluate the work styles employees and potential employees. These are the the more serious (business-y useful) tests we’re interested in:

1. DiSC Personality Assessment: Measures personality and behavior based on four traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.
2. StrengthsFinder (CliftonStrengths): Identifies individuals’ top strengths and talents, helping to maximize their potential and performance.
3. Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI): Assesses personality traits that predict job performance and interpersonal relationships in a business environment.
4. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI): Measures an individual’s behavior in conflict situations, focusing on five conflict-handling styles: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating.
5. Workplace Big Five Profile: An adaptation of the Big Five model tailored for workplace environments, assessing traits like Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability.
6. Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment: Evaluates behavioral drives and motivational needs to predict workplace performance and compatibility.
7. Birkman Method: Combines personality assessment and occupational interest measurement to help individuals and teams understand their strengths and motivations.
8. Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP): Assesses an individual’s motivations and how they align with different job roles and career paths.
9. SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ): Measures personality traits that impact job performance and fit within organizational culture.
10. Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey: Evaluates employee engagement by measuring twelve key elements linked to high-performing work environments.
11. Wonderlic Personnel Test: Measures cognitive ability and problem-solving aptitude to predict job performance and suitability.
12. Kolbe Index: Assesses conative strengths and instinctive problem-solving styles to help individuals leverage their natural talents.
13. Pymetrics: Utilizes neuroscience-based games to evaluate cognitive, emotional, and social traits, matching candidates to job roles based on their inherent strengths.

These tests are often used in recruitment, team building, leadership development, and organizational development to enhance workplace dynamics and performance.