Psychology

Personality
It is defined as the persons qualities that make him or her unique from the rest, and it is claimed as a predicting factor of knowing how a person will act and react to a given situation (Microsoft Encarta, 2009). The question is can you really tell what kind of personality an individual has using psychometric tools, specifically personality tests

There are different forms of psychometric tools. However, in the modern age of today, a very common psychometric tool used by people are the personality tests found on the internet. Through the guidance of personality theories such as the Psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud and Skinners Behaviorism, questions are made and choices (most common are totally agree to totally disagree) are provided. Examples of personality tests available on the internet are the Jung short test that aims to identify a persons psychological type, cerebral personality tests, and word association tests. The first two are objective personality tests. In these tests, several items that describe attitudes, behaviors, and feelings are grouped and scaled according to which personality or element of personality is being represented. The last type mentioned, word association tests, is an example of using projective techniques. In this technique, an individual is presented with ambiguous words and is asked immediately as to what she or he feels or thinks about it. According to Freuds principles, these tests will reveal what the unconscious part of an individual really thinks and feels.

Personally, I do not think that each and every available personality test seen on the internet could effectively measure an individuals personality. Why exactly First is most of these tests have limited options or choices. As mentioned earlier, when taking these tests, you will usually be given a set of questions and be asked to determine whether you agree with it or not. However, in the real world, when faced with situations such as those presented on personality tests, you consider not only the question or the problem, you also consider the other factors involved. When one is faced with a certain problem, the way she or he reacts to it can vary greatly if the variables and factors concerned with the situation are changed. People are complex, so is each personality. A set of similar questions could not really predict whether each person is an extrovert or introvert, nor it can conclude that one is thinking or feeling. Saying totally agree would not ensure that you will do the same every time you are faced with the same situation (even if only a small thing has been changed), or saying disagree would tell that you will never do what was said. Try taking the tests more than once, preferably on different days, or even on times with different moods and check if you still have the same result. Second is not all these have established their reliability, accuracy and validity components. Before a test can be proven efficient, these three variables must first have good scores or ratings. Lastly, in order for a psychometric tool to be used proficiently, it is still best if a trained professional will conduct the test in a more controlled environment. Relying on the programs installed in computers and on the net does not provide the same results with those from a professional psychometrician or psychologist.

In the end, it is most precise to believe that these personality tests will only provide the vaguest introduction of the world of explanations and interpretations of how people think and behave. Although one may agree with the descriptions provided by the tests, they are imprecise compared to what personality really is. It could not be argued that each personality is multifaceted and not all questionnaires could predict what type of   character and traits one has.