How Can Personality Tests Be A Predictor Of Success?

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Several personality tests were conducted to see if personality traits could be a predictor of success. The participant was a 53 year old primary school teacher. Two of the more recognised personality tests were used, the big-five factor, and the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). A projective test, the House-Tree-Person (HTP) test was also used. A brief history, and components of each test are explained in this paper. Keywords: Personality, Traits, Projective tests, Openness, Introversion Personal Traits as a Predictor of Success Personality can be viewed as a set of traits and characteristics of behaviour patterns that are unique to each individual (Callahan, 1966). Some psychologists state that personality is just a matter of social …show more content…

The theory is that each individual personality is structured around how an individual perceives and judges (Myers & Myers, 1980). The theory is that individuals have two different types of attitudes, extraversion (E) and introversion (I), and these attitudes are how they relate to themselves and towards the world, with introverts focusing energy inwardly, and extraverts focusing their energy outwards (Jung, 1923). They also have two different ways of perception, sensing (S) and intuition (N), and judgement, thinking (T) and feeling (F) (Gardner & Martinko, 1996). Perception being how information is gathered, and judgement being how decisions are made after perceiving (Jung, 1923). The final part of the MBTI is judging (J) and perceiving (P), which although Jung did not discuss much about in his theory, Myer and Briggs inferred that from his theory (Myers & Myers, 1980). Judging being individuals who rather be settled down and make decisions, and perceiving being individuals who prefer taking in as all the information possible before making a decision (Jung, 1923). A combination of these attitudes, perceptions, judgements and direction towards the world define personality types. Individuals are classified under one of the 16 possible four-letter code (ENTP, ISFJ). The test required the participant to just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each questions, and question such as “You easily see the general principle behind specific occurrences” were asked. The results were ISFJ, meaning the participant is introverted sensing with

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