Can You Fake A Personality Test?

YES, YOU CAN FAKE IT . However, the questions that come to the mind next are: How and why?

To be honest, I have been a fan of doing personality tests since I first heard of them during my middle school. It always intrigues me how seemingly irrelevant questions could lead to a surprising insights to how I behave. In search of the answer, I have taken an elective course in Psychology (Psych 31a Personality), despite majoring in Economics and Business. And it made me a cynic of personality tests then.

Here are the reasons that I learnt from the class.

Firstly, personality tests are almost always bias when questions are not constructed effectively. Especially when the participants know that they are doing a personality test, they tend to provide answers to "improve" their personality. For instance, overstating in questions with positive descriptor like "care", "kind", and "work with others", etc.

Secondly, the system is vulnerable. In order to improve the accuracy of test results, the same question is asked multiple times (phrased differently), throughout the test. If the test taker can spot those similarity, he or she can in fact replicate those result by providing the same "fake" answer to these questions.

Lastly, the descriptions of the result are vague. More often than not, you would see descriptions in the result using very generalized words of phrases. In order to convince ourselves, our brain tends to look for specific event to associate with those general terms. That is, many people are likely to find a situation that fits the description; thus making personality tests seem accurate.

But why do you want to fake these answers?

In today's corporate environment, "cultural fit" has been excessively emphasized when making a hire. As such, some firms have asked their potential employees to take a personality test to ensure such fit. In such circumstance, the benefits of pretending to be someone that the HR manager would like are needless to say. So employers, use personality tests with caution.

On the other hand, many of us have taken these tests for personal reasons. I, for example, have taken so many of them to understand who I truly am. I want to know how I might have behave under certain circumstances. In this case, why would you lie to yourself?

Indeed, as Sally Hogshead  mentions in her TED Talk, all of us possess the potential to fascinate. Her "how to fascinate" test helps us to discover what are the primary and secondary triggers that others find fascinating.

According to her, I am "The Architect".

In other words, I am a combination of "Prestige" and "Mystique". These are the two primary modes of communication that are most effectively for me. The world sees me as "sterling", "skillful", "polished", and "restrained".

I would not bore you with too much details from the 16-page results that I have received. However, I would have to admit, she is coming from a very interesting perspective. Being an "experienced" personality test takers, it is not hard to observe that most tests are intended to explain how you see yourself. On the contrary, Sally's "how to fascinate" is trying to explain how the world sees you. The perception of yourself in the eyes of others could be totally different from your own.

In essence, it is not the question about if you can fake a personality test but why would you want to fake one. To me, use these tools to uncover the potential in you to fascinate others. More importantly, for fellow marketers, discover the strengths and weaknesses in your personal brand so that you can position yourself effectively.

Thanks for taking another bite!

James