Category Archives: Student Posts

Personality Tests

--Original published at Olivia's College Blog

In the HumanMetrics test, I was happy to see that my score reflected my career aspirations and how I view myself. My answers placed me into the “INFJ” category, with a preference for introversion over extraversion, and a preference for feeling over judging. INFJs are characterized as having a deep concern for their relationships with others and the state of humanity at large. People with this personality type are described as dreamers and doers having a “rare combination of vision and practicality”. I feel like these descriptions are spot on. While I am slightly introverted and value time to myself, I do have a lot of empathy for others and like to express my feelings to people I am close to. The first category for career suggestions is social, like counseling and social work. I thought it was very interesting that my questionnaire produced these results that matched me with counseling, which is the career I aspire to have.

The personality test center questionnaire placed me into the ENFJ category. In these results, I was matched into teaching for my best fit profession. Teachers, and people with this personality type are more extroverted. They are known for their authenticity and for being ‘natural visionaries’. I can see how this difference would cause the career shift from counseling/social work to teaching, since teaching is more centered around extroversion and having a presence that is easily felt. I realize I am biased toward the HumanMetrics test because it confirms what I want to hear about my career interests, but I do not believe I would be as good of a fit in a career that requires more extroversion. Afterall, since the answers I selected matched me with ENFJ, I would be open to potentially exploring careers in that field.

The psychometrics questionnaire evaluated 5 main personality traits. My extrovertedness scored 37%. It seems fitting that I am close to the middle because I do not feel as though I am one of the two extremes, but more toward the introversion end of the spectrum. Emotional stability was in the second percentile. This is interpreted as negative emotionality. My highest score is in agreeableness, at 87%. This is described as friendly and optimistic. To me, a combination of introversion and agreeableness is a healthy blend of the two characteristics. My contentious score is 67, indicating that I am careful and diligent. My intellect and imagination scored a 38%, meaning I am closer to the end of being traditional and not being as open if I were over 50%. If this score is a true representation of me, I would like to improve in my openness.

I completely disagree with the color test’s evaluation. The results listed me as having trouble forming emotional attachment, being picky in my relationships, and feeling as though relationship are a limiting circumstance. This is not how I view emotional attachment whatsoever; I prefer to have deep emotional connection with people and view that connection as very important. The color test also suggested that my desired objective is to be seen as a unique individual, wanting to gain recognition and observing how others are reacting to me. I can admit that I can be self-conscious at times, but nothing about the way I think or carry myself leads me to believe that my primary desire is to gain acceptance from others. I think the color test is a bizarre way of evaluating one’s character and is the least accurate/reliable of the tests I took today.

Chapter 10 First Impression Prompt

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

The speaker during the Ted Talk made me think about my idea of happiness. The talk made me realize that what made me happy was completely dependent on myself. This synthetic happiness is real. At first, when I watched the video I did not believe that something such as synthetic happiness could be achieved. Synthetic happiness is when your mind makes you believe that something that you have is greater than what you do not have. Even though the item or thing in your possession is not as good as the other options. However, once the speaker explained the idea with his experiments, I understood where he was coming from because I was able to connect it to my own life. For instance, I look as at my car as being better than the options that I do not have however everyone tells me that my car is not as nice as I perceive it to be.

Secondly, I believe that the speaker is credible because he has written a book on happiness and he also is a Harvard Psychologist. The school will back any research he has done. This makes him credible because Harvard would not endorse something if they thought the information was faulty.

Thirdly, I do think this message is reasonable because I found myself placing people and items from my life into his examples. If I could not do that easily, I would not believe that the message was reasonable but since the reason is as transparent to my life and the speakers examples. I do believe firmly that his idea is truthful and realistic.

Finally, I can incorporate synthetic happiness into my life by appreciating what I have rather then what I do not. I also could use this in my relationship with my friends. I should see the value of someone even though they might not always be there. Even though they are there about 90 percent of the time. I should just focus on what they are not but what they are giving to me.

Emotion : Option 2

--Original published at Bogo's Blog

At first sight, I thought the facial recognition test was going to be a walk in the park. After getting the first two pictures wrong I had an idea what I had gotten myself into. For the six I got wrong, it was mostly due to me second guessing myself and changing my original answer because I thought it was too obvious. I scored around what I assumed I would because I knew petty mistakes would drag my scores down in a test like this, despite my ability to read emotions very well.

I thought some options being put together made it harder than it should have been. For example, on one of the photos, the options included embarrassment and shame which are very similar in definition. This made it harder since I struggled to decide which of the two it was. If they avoided trickery like this the test would have been a lot easier. The test definitely opened my eyes to minor expressions made for certain emotions that I had never noticed in the past.

Ch. 10 First Impression- Personality

--Original published at Ben's PSY105 Blog

Taking the first three personality tests mainly just confirmed what I already knew about myself. I am a very introverted person, I like to keep to myself more often than not. In the first two tests I had the results show this. The third test gave me a very low score in extroversion, also supporting this statement. None of that was news to me, I have always known that I was an introvert, I keep to small friend groups with closer bonds. I have never enjoyed going out of my way to talk to new people or make new friends.

The first two tests classified me as ISTJ, and the third test supported those results. I believe those are accurate because I tend to trust logic first and foremost when trying to make decisions. I agree with the results because I rarely let my emotions impact my decision making. I stick to the things I know and things which can be proven. According to the description on the Personality Test Center, I seem to be on the right career path based on my personality type. I look forward to being an industrial engineer, which fits with the results showing that I would do well as a supervisor, a scientist, and an inventor. My future will most likely involve being a supervisor, using science to invent ideas to make the workplace more efficient.

The Color Quiz was the most surprising for me. In the few minutes I spent taking the test, which only involved clicking on different colors in order of preference, they were able to describe my personality almost perfectly. It said that I want people to see my unique qualities, but don’t want to come off as needy, so instead I have an “I don’t care” attitude. This was painfully accurate. It described my main objective as wanting to find a close relationship in order to relieve stress. It also says that my two biggest issues are wanting a close, mutually respectful relationship, and having a feeling of depression and anxiety from not achieving my desired goals. Both of these were pretty much spot on. Overall, the color test was the most eye opening of these tests based on the simplicity and accuracy.

Emotion

--Original published at Zach Nawrocki's Blog

One thing that everyone strives for in their life is to be happy. One way that many people try to achieve happiness is by setting goals (either long term or short-term goals) and by achieving these goals people feel happy with themselves. Nevertheless, if you don’t achieve those goals many people tell themselves that it wasn’t meant to be, or they will try it later and produce happiness that way. On the other hand, even if people reach their goals they will be happy for a short period of time until they set new goals. People are always chasing happiness which is a never-ending cycle.

In the Ted talk Dan Gilbert talks about how we sabotage ourselves by saying “it wasn’t meant to happy” or “I don’t care” which produces synthetic happiness unlike if we get what we want it produces natural happiness. This way of thinking can make many people second guess themselves which then makes them less happy. He explained an experiment in his talk were a group of students had to give up one of two pictures they took, however half the group was given time to think about switching the picture they give up while the other half did not have an option to switch. He found that the group of students that had a chance to switch which picture was given up got unhappier over time with the picture they kept while it was the opposite for the other group of students. I find this amazing but at the same time if I think back on experiences in my life it is very true. I believe that Dan Gilbert is a very credible source considering he is a Psychologist at Harvard and the experiments he explained seem very well planned out and conducted well.

I can incorporate more synthetic happiness into my life if I reduce the amount that I overthink on a daily bases or comparing myself to others. I always find myself overthinking or second guessing myself about assignments that I did for class or general activities that I do throughout the day. When I look back on experiences I have had throughout life I always feel happier when I make a decision and don’t have a chance to switch it or overthink it and accept it and appreciate it.

Chapter 10 First Impression

--Original published at Ally'sCollegeBlog

I was surprised at my results for the reading facial expressions test because of how high my score was. I received a 13/20 and I seriously believed I would get not more than a 10/20. Secondly, I have never been a social person, which I had concluded being the reason I would have gotten a low score. Which is confusing now because I got a slightly over average score, so where does the social aspect of my life work into that? I think I need to just trust my gut. Try not to overthink and analyze as I usually do. I can apply this information to my life with trusting myself to not just understand people, but in other aspects of my life. For example, if I get B for more than two answers in a row, I go back because I do not trust my answers.

Although this quiz gives you some insight into your ability to recognize emotions, but I do not find it very credible. It uses actors to recreate the emotions, which is not realistic. I also believe that a lot of those emotions pictured could have been multiple emotions. Say embarrassment could also be sadness. This quiz is very informative and helpful, but not the most credible, or academic way to measure someone’s ability to interpret facial expressions.

Ch 10 First Impression: Option 3

--Original published at MaddieHinson

I chose to analyze the song Wannabe by the Spice Girls. When I was a kid, my sister and I used to listen to this all the time, but I never really thought about the lyrics until recent year. The song starts off by saying “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want”. This seems to be a good thing, because all anyone ever wants to know is what someone else wants when it comes to a relationship. Going into the first verse, the line is, “If you want my future, forget my past.” This makes sense, because you can’t really fault somebody for what they did before you met them. Then the song to gets slightly concerning, when they get to the chorus, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends”. I can one hundred percent guarantee that no, if you like someone, do not try to “get with their friends”, it’s not what they want.

Also, in the bridge section, it talks about “Easy V” which after doing some research was they Spice Girls reference to ecstasy. Obviously, ecstasy probably isn’t the best thing to be doing, especially when trying to figure out a relationship with someone. Even though the song may have some sketchy meanings behind it, I still think it’s fun to listen to.

Ch 10- Emotion

--Original published at Maddy Vingom's PSY105 Blog

In Dan Gilbert’s TED Talk he discusses the idea of happiness. We are able to create happiness within our minds, as opposed to finding happiness as we tend to believe. He called this synthetic happiness, it allows us to feel happy with the outcome of an event even when things don’t go as planned. Psychological studies have shown that three months after a positive or negative experience all people have the same level of happiness. I found this to be very interesting, because once I think about this I do it all the time. For example, at the time doing poorly on an exam seems like the worst thing in the world, but even just a month later it is not a huge deal. In addition, Gilbert stated often times we build up these expectations for something in our minds and the actual event does not live up to what we hoped. Knowing about synthetic happiness will allow me to reduce my stress levels, because I now understand that these seemingly important events won’t matter in a few weeks. It will also reduce the amount of time I spend building things up in my mind only to be disappointed by the actual event. 

Gilbert spoke with confidence and appeared to know what he was talking about by using data from past experiments that he conducted. To ensure that he is a credible source I read about him on the TED website. I learned that he is a Harvard psychologist who studies happiness, making him an even more credible as the source for this information. 

Personality First Impression Prompt

--Original published at Kaity Takes on Psychology

I have always had an excellent gauge on who I am as a person. I seek fun, adventure, fulfillment in my personal life and helping others reach their fullest potential. Personality tests are fun, but I take them with a grain of salt – we are ever changing as humans and we grow from our experiences every day. Generalizing results will not achieve anything besides giving people arbitrary titles like ENTJ or INFP – yet cannot accurately gauge who someone is.

Interestingly enough, I got ENFP as the result for the first and second personality test. The third test indicates I am very extroverted and imaginative, pretty agreeable, moderately conscientious, and somewhat emotionally stable. I feel as though the third test reflected the results of the first two tests. I was not a fan of the color test – though it did yield results that I felt applied to me pretty well. The results felt very horoscope-esque, because it assumes a lot about a person based on the colors we choose. Color preference is pretty arbitrary, much like your zodiac sign.

I struggle to believe in personality tests because they sometimes stem from pseudoscience. During my first year at Elizabethtown College I took a plethora of extensive personality tests in one of my business classes during the spring semester. At the time I believed I could figure out who I am from these tests because data has been collected extensively over the years to make tests such as Clifton Strengths and the Myers-Briggs personality test more accurate. I studied Carl Jung’s work on character archetypes in my first year seminar and was super stoked to know my personality type. I have been told I am an ENFP by multiple tests I have taken over the years, yet I think personality is a bit more complex than the Myers-Briggs test might indicate. In my opinion, none of these tests are credible because the quizzes are too generalized. Determining personality is a lot more complicated than taking a 5 minute quiz.

Chapter 13 Impression Post

--Original published at AlexisPattersonBlog

I personally feel some of the tests depicted my personality, while other ones did not. For the Metrics quiz, the big 5 personality test, and the second test (Personality test center), I feel it depicted correct results to my personality. The color quiz I feel did not. I didn’t find it as reliable as they were picking my lifestyle out from a group of color.

In the Color quiz, I didn’t quite see how picking colors will allow me to be judged on my personality. The results said I tend to blame others for my shortcomings, which I don’t find to believe true. If anything, I tend to be more hard on myself when I don’t do something correctly, rather than put the blame on someone. It also stated that one of my problems was I feel “held back” which I find also not true, as I have always been one up for a challenge and always push to be on top.

The Metrics quiz showed I was 47% extravert, 25% sensing, 16% feeling, and 38% judging. The personality test center classified me as a supervisor. It stated points that sounded like me such as favoring structure and schedules, making sure there are established plans and procedures, and that time frames are kept. The big 5 personality test also showed good aspects as well such as being open to experience, friendly and optimistic, and outgoing and social. I find all of these characteristics to be most like me, and I found the tests creditable for the most part. The personality test center asked if I would fill out more surveys when I wanted the results, so that made me question a little bit, but for the most part, they produced correct results.