Personality

Just like intelligence tests, tests are available to assess personality. It is more difficult to assess personality than it is to assess intelligence. Intelligence is an ability. It is not possible to score higher than your ability lets you. In measuring personality 'cheating' can become a problem. It is less difficult to pretend you are different from the way you really are. There are two ways of assessing personality: by using projective tests and by using self report tests.

Projective tests

The picture on the right is an example of an item in a projective test. You can find it in the Rorschach inkblot test. The person tested will be asked what he sees when he looks at the picture. In other words, he is asked for his interpretation. The interpretation someone gives of an ambiguous picture like this is believed to provide relevant information about the personality of that person. For example, if you see two evil eyes that stare at you, that might mean that you have a somewhat paranoid personality.

Self report tests

Self reports test are completely different from projective tests. Let's take a look at a possible item of a self report test:

You have nothing to do this evening. You've been looking forward to relaxing, because you've worked very hard the last few days. At 20.00 PM the phone rings. You pick it up and you are invited by a friend to go out to the cinema. The movie begins at 20.30 PM. What would you do?

A You react very positively and leave right away
B You say you like the idea but don't feel like it right now
C You don't know what to do at first, but eventually you let your friend talk you into it

This situations may say something about just how introvert or extravert you are. You will understand that it is easy to see what this item measures. Therefore, it is also relatively easy to cheat.

English personality tests on the internet

This test assesses the five fundamental dimensions of personality. You can also fill in the test for someone you know.
www.outofservice.com/bigfive

2h. Contains a lot of links to other personality sites. Some sites require that you complete a registration process first. Usually you don't have to pay, but it does take some time.
www.2h.com

A site with lots of funny tests. You can chose for the bitch test, the sex test or the death test. Not very scientific, but who cares?
community.sparknotes.com/sparktests.epl

Dutch personality tests on the internet

Click here to go to the dutch part of this site. There you will find links to dutch personality-related websites.