Interested In Self-Discovery? Take An Online Personality Assessment
Have you run across various online personality tests and wondered if they are reliable? If so, you’re not alone. There has been a proliferation of online personality quizzes in recent years, and it can be challenging to discern which assessments are worth taking.
No quiz can fully define the “type” of person you are, as every person has layers and complexities. While a series of questions can offer insights into your character, it can’t fully capture how you show up in the world. With this caveat in mind, we’ll explore some of the most popular quizzes that can help you understand your personality.
What is self-discovery?
Self-discovery is often used in conversations about self-care and mental health. You may have used this term in passing with friends, family, or your therapist, but what exactly does it mean to embark on a journey of self-discovery?
Depending on one’s needs and goals, self-discovery may look different for everyone. In general, self-discovery is the process of getting to know yourself, which includes various dimensions including your character, personality, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and fears.
For many, self-discovery is a lifelong pursuit. As you age, form relationships, and acquire new experiences, you may discover aspects of yourself about which you have been unaware, even a few years or months prior.
Begin your self-discovery journey with these seven personality quizzes
As individuals, we’re constantly evolving, learning, and exploring new experiences and perspectives. As you grow and change, it can be helpful to take a look at yourself using one of these seven quizzes, which can offer insight into your personality, career, and potential areas of growth.
The Myers-Briggs assessment
The MBTI measures four core areas:
- How you get your energy (extraversion vs. introversion)
- How you absorb information and learn (sensing vs. intuition)
- How you make decisions (thinking vs. feeling)
- How you organize your time and environment (judging vs. perceiving)
After taking the MBTI, you’ll receive a set of four letters—for example, ENFP or INFJ—that reflect your personality preferences in these four areas.
The goal of the MBTI is to help you understand your behavior, your communication habits, and your personality. While the MBTI can be fun and encourage you to reflect on your tendencies and relationships, it has little scientific backing. As an “indicator” rather than a test, the MBTI might be used to explore your personality, relationships, career, and other areas of life that may demand more thought and reflection.
Free DiSC personality test
Using the free 12-question DiSC test, you may gain insights to build better relationships and connect with others more effectively. DiSC stands for four main dimensions of personality:
- Dominance: a trait associated with confidence, bluntness, and outspokenness
- Influence: a trait associated with enthusiasm, openness, trust, and energy
- Steadiness: a trait associated with calmness, deliberation, and a slow, thoughtful approach to life
- Conscientiousness: a trait associated with independence, attention to detail, and a strong desire to be “right”
The official DiSC test is not free, but it can provide a more comprehensive review of these traits. Compared to other personality quizzes, the DiSC test places greater emphasis on your interactions with other people, giving you an opportunity to reflect on the quality of your relationships in addition to your individual tendencies.
NERIS Type Explorer®
The NERIS Type Explorer® evolved from the MBTI, and its basic framework and goals are similar to those of the MBTI. Based on your answers to questions about levels of introversion and extraversion, coupled with the way you learn, make decisions, and organize your time, the test will classify your personality as one of 16 common “types.”
In addition to the MBTI, this personality test draws from the work of Carl Jung, who developed a theory of psychological types. Jung’s theory emphasized the role of introversion vs. extraversion in personality, resulting in eight main personality types that have since been expanded by the creators of the 16-type quiz.
This quiz provides a detailed explanation of each personality and a list of celebrities, activists, and other famous people with the same personality type.
GoodJob’s PATH Assessment®
This free personality test is designed to assess how your traits and behaviors impact your career. The PATH Assessment® takes less than ten minutes to complete and provides a detailed overview of your “path” to success, based on your thinking patterns, purpose, habits, and approach to work and life.
According to the PATH website, this quiz is based on 40 years of research from psychology and behavioral science. Some workplaces use the PATH Assessment® to help job applicants and current employees determine whether their personalities suit a certain role or opportunity. However, you can also take the PATH Assessment® as an individual looking for career advice and personality insights.
Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test
Emotional intelligence, sometimes referred to as EQ (emotional quotient), describes your ability to understand your own feelings and read the emotions of others. In theory, the higher your EQ, the more effectively you may be able to manage your emotions and navigate social situations with good reasoning and empathy.
The Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test assesses your EQ by measuring your ability to detect and identify emotions, based on pictures of distinct facial expressions.
CareerExplorer
The CareerExplorer career test may be useful if you’re contemplating the next steps in your line of work. This thorough assessment may help you identify which career paths are the most fulfilling for you.
After answering a series of questions at your own pace, you’ll receive personalized recommendations to help you find your purpose in the world of work. The test takes about 30 minutes to complete, and the results are based on findings from other test-takers and the Big 5 model of personality traits.
The Enneagram assessment
The Enneagram assessment is another popular quiz for self-discovery. You can take an official assessment through the Enneagram Institute or a free version.
The Enneagram test will match your traits to one of nine personality types based on how you relate to the world, yourself, and others. The nine types are as follows:
- The perfectionist
- The helper
- The achiever
- The individualist
- The investigator
- The loyalist
- The enthusiast
- The challenger
- The peacemaker
Similar to the MBTI, the Enneagram assessment is not firmly based on current science. However, you might still use it as a tool for self-exploration and reflect on your results in the context of your relationships, your performance at work and school, and your overall understanding of yourself.
Why should you take a personality quiz?
While some personality quizzes are not scientifically vetted or proven, they may offer helpful insights to fuel your journey of self-discovery. Some of the main benefits of personality quizzes include:
- Gaining information about your strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies, which can inform your work life and future career moves
- Learning how you connect to other people and using that information to strengthen your relationships
- Understanding your social needs and natural energy levels, which can influence your self-care routine
- Rediscovering natural interests and skills that you may want to pursue through your career or education
These are just a few valuable applications of personality quizzes. Depending on where you find yourself along the path to self-discovery, you may find certain quizzes to be more or less useful.
You might consider completing multiple personality tests and taking time to consider the results. Also, you can accept the information that seems most relevant to you. The results of any test do not define your personality, nor can they fully convey the complexity of your character.
A therapist can help you understand the results of personality quizzes
If you’re staring at the results of a personality quiz and unsure where to go next, a therapist might be able to help you unpack the results and apply them to real-life situations.
Some people prefer in-person therapy to have these conversations, but more people are using online therapy as a convenient, affordable alternative to traditional in-office therapy. Using a digital platform like BetterHelp, you can take a brief questionnaire and match it with a licensed therapist—usually within 48 hours. BetterHelp has a network of more than 30,000 licensed therapists, so you can be matched with someone knowledgeable in questions of personality, career, and relationships. You can communicate with your therapist via phone or video chat, in addition to contacting them via in-app messaging as needed.
Numerous studies published in peer-reviewed journals have confirmed the efficacy of online therapy. Researchers have found that online therapy can reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
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