How I am myself

July 25, 2012 12:38 PM

Are there any really good self-assessments online?

I'm looking for what could be prompts that would help me better figure out how to describe my personality or, better yet, how I might appear to or come across to people, and how I communicate my likes and dislikes to people I meet.

I'd love to see links to prompts, books, quizzes, self-assessments, etc.

Thanks much!

posted by discopolo to Human Relations (9 answers total)

This is sort of a meta-answer, but, if you haven't already, you ought to read up on the Forer effect before you take any such assessment that isn't administered by a professional.
posted by griphus at 12:45 PM on July 25, 2012

Thanks, griphus, but I'm not looking for a mental health assessment or anything that needs professional administration.

I'm specifically looking for prompts, quizzes, etc. The stuff I listed above.
posted by discopolo at 12:49 PM on July 25, 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

I found a version of the test here, but I seem to recall using a much more detailed version. Since the five factor model is actually used in research, once you score yourself, you can find all sorts of interesting information about correlations between a high score on any one dimension and various outcomes.

Another version of the test - I don't really want to fill out the survey to find out how many questions are on it or if they provide the most comprehensive results but since it's an academic site it may be better than the other.
posted by decathexis at 1:06 PM on July 25, 2012

Go set up a dupe account on OKCupid and start answering the questions there.
posted by carsonb at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2012

decathexis beat me to the 5 factor model, which is probably your best bet. Since it's pretty widespread though, you might like to try a Myers Briggs test, but do take it with a pretty big pinch of salt.
posted by crocomancer at 1:13 PM on July 25, 2012

I'm not entirely sure if this is what you might be looking for - but I found the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator revelation. It was like a lightbulb moment, when all the things that I used to feel about others or myself that I could never quite place the finger on just suddenly clarified itself. There's the usual caveats about not taking it to be everything, the Forer effect, not trying to stereotype people etc etc, but if you take a sensible 'all things considered' view of it it's really insightful. There's a lot of related stuff about suitable careers, different learning styles, how to communicate better etc depending on your MBTI type which you can delve into if you like.

There's a million MBTI tests online but here's one, and I find the best way is to read the descriptions and see one that resonates with you the most.
posted by pikeandshield at 1:14 PM on July 25, 2012

Maybe look into an Enneagram test? There are tons online and usually the result pages are pretty detailed and accurate.
posted by MinusCelsius at 1:19 PM on July 25, 2012

This is the closest to a free NEO-PIR available online. Big five personality, which is almost all we use in psychology personality research these days, if you care about zeitgeist.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/
posted by namesarehard at 2:33 PM on July 25, 2012

If the goal is to communicate with people about your personality, then yeah, the Myers-Briggs test is what you want.

It's not that great for psychometric validity or whatever. But it's sort of the standard "language" to use for discussing this stuff. If you say "I'm an INTP" or whatever, then everyone will know exactly what you mean.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:09 PM on July 25, 2012