Anybody else?

[jimkopelli]

Does anyone else have the problem I have... the ability to see through test questions and skew the results? People say "Just answer what you think is the right answer"... but if I know what the outcome will be for any given choice, to see how the result will affect my score or outcome, then it just weirds me out and it's useless. It can be useful in the right situation... but that sort of situation almost never comes up. The rest of the time it's kinda annoying.

[Jezebel]

Sure, I can often see where answers are going, but I don't care. It doesn't take a genius to figure most of them out. And I'd hope that after a basic knowledge of the mbti, one would be able to understand where most of the questions are leading on following mbti tests. I just don't take tests too seriously and rely more on reading the various descriptions of the different possible results and deciding where I stand for myself.

[Crazy]

Yes, most of these tests are easy to read. I do my best to answer as truthfully as possible, but I could easily skew the results if I wanted to.

[Vagabond]

I don't mind seeing through test questions. I mind test questions that want a 'yes' or 'no' for an answer, but are so vague, that I need a 'depends' option. :rant:

[Claverhouse]

What annoys me are direct questions ( as in the old yes/no chestnut 'Have you stopped beating your wife ?' ) in which the answer lies rather in context.
As in 'Are you the life & soul at a party ?'

What sort of party ?

Big gathering, screaming fun and games: I'm not there. Group of plotters, steadily quaffing whilst earnestly attempting to take over Ruritania: perhaps. Few events can be categorised simply, since not only is each different, but the qualities one brings to each, and they depending on how one feels at that period, will be different.

Not to mention the chameleon effect... I can do the mysterious stranger with the 1000-yard stare by the wall, or the faux bon'homme gently laughing, as well as anyone; let alone 'uninteresting scruff', which is my triumph.



Claverhouse :ph34r:

[Johnny]

...let alone 'uninteresting scruff', which is my triumph.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Star Cannon]

I don't like questions that do not elaborate on where, when, and what is that they mean. THen... require a yes or no answer.

[Miss Padfoot]

I have the ability to do that too. Once you've taken a lot of personality tests, you learn to do that, especially if you're an N. It's quite irritating, really.

And yeah, I also need a depends option. That's different than a "sometimes" option. A sometimes option tells you nothing, but if I told any actual human what my answer depended on, they could learn much more than they could from "yes" or "no."

[booyalab]

I've noticed on some personality tests, especially the older ones, the questions measure more ethical or preferable traits than others...like helpfulness vs. selfishness. When I'm taking a test I usually stop after the first one like this that I come across. It's especially annoying because the format is hidden under the guise that it is objectively measuring human tendencies as opposed to human virtues, and it might actually be called 'personality test' or it might alternate subjective questions with objective ones.

[Ckyzxr]

I, too, struggle with the ability to steer the results of some tests which is why I took a bunch of different test to test if I really was an INTP.

An interesting test I once took was an "Honesty" test for a job. If I had honestly answered the questions I would have definitely not passed it and it appeared by the results of those hired that the REAL honest applicants did not pass the test. One had to have nevered sinned in any way to pass. For this low-life corporation, it was the best kind if poetic justice. The irony was maddening.

[ohnoaninfp]

Some tests I can already see the answer before finishing it, like the bread test. There was only one answer to that one.

[INTrPosr]

Half way through the test, I already have an idea what the results will be, especially those resulting in the MBTI dichotomies. I think that all NFs and NTs do this which bothers me about true results.

[cjs55]

An interesting test I once took was an "Honesty" test for a job. If I had honestly answered the questions I would have definitely not passed it and it appeared by the results of those hired that the REAL honest applicants did not pass the test. One had to have nevered sinned in any way to pass. For this low-life corporation, it was the best kind if poetic justice. The irony was maddening.


I failed one of these a few years back just applying for a high school student-type job. I couldn't decide whether the test was being literal or trying to weed through applicants who would lie on the test to make themselves look better. Some of the questions were so ridiculous that practically no one would answer true to them. I decided that due to this fact, the test had probably been written by a clever individual to isolate those who would lie on the test. So I answered the test fairly truthfully, which certainly wasn't bad by any means, just not perfect.

I apparently have far too much faith in others being clever.


Back to the topic...I do this all of the time. I sometimes think to myself, do I want to show up as an INFP on this test or an INTP? Also, most tests aren't perfect, and there are questions that will have different results than they should, or imply different things. On these questions I will look through the basic question into the implied meaning and answer the question based on what I believe the implied results to be.

[Chall T. Dow]

A friend of mine once had to take something similar to one of those Honesty tests. He was telling me that one question was about if you had ever thought about stealing from a department store, and as his last job he had worked security at one. He would have to think of different ways that peple cold steal from them and then find ways to stop them. Anyway, he answered yes to that question and the company refused to hire him because of it.

[Niflheimian]

Does anyone else have the problem I have... the ability to see through test questions and skew the results? People say "Just answer what you think is the right answer"... but if I know what the outcome will be for any given choice, to see how the result will affect my score or outcome, then it just weirds me out and it's useless. It can be useful in the right situation... but that sort of situation almost never comes up. The rest of the time it's kinda annoying.

Yeah, I have that ability. And it does get irritating, because then the test is based on how I view myself- my self-concept.

"No test is perfect" indeed.