Did 16Personalities.com mistype you? You are not alone. This is why they get your type wrong.
The 16 personalities test is NOT an MBTI test. Unlike traditional MBTI tests, the 16 Personalities inventory is actually built using the Big Five. The questionnaire and the style of asking questions in the 16 personalities system is the same as the style of questions used in the Big Five. The only difference is, 16Personalities.Com took the Big Five and then, changed the names to be consistent with the names used in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
Beyond that, the Big Five took the classic scale of Neuroticism, used in the Big Five, and gave it a new name: Assertive or Turbulent.
What is the difference then, and why did they choose to make the changes they did?
Beyond that, there’s a secret that you need to know about 16personalities.com.
Why 16Personalities.Com Is A Poor Indicator of Personality – and why it’s still popular
The MBTI was built to help people discover their values and needs and preferences. It was built to help people identify their ideal job. What would they like to do, more than anything else?
The Big Five was used to understand the present state of a person. What does a persons current lifestyle look like, what are you currently doing, and what are your current behavioural patterns and quirks? How are you doing?
This means that the MBTI tests by asking you what:
- Gives you energy
- What you find fun
- What your interests are
The Big Five, and 16Personalities.com on the other hand, asks:
- What are you currently doing
- How would people currently describe you?
- What are you like at your current job?
Still, the 16Personalities rose to the number one spot quickly. Why? I can say several factors.
The use of visual design is superior to any other website or system. The test is built well. There is a strong use of SEO. The website knows how to keep you hooked. There are no ads. The product is completely free. The product has financial and academic backing. And the descriptions are written to be highly relateable.
It’s not a good indicator of your true personality. It can pigeon-hole you. It can make you feel like you are your current role or situation, and it disregards your needs and your core values. CEO of a company? ENTJ. Mother of a child? ISFJ. The questions are formulated in a way that you will answer more based on your current situation, than anything else. Your results are going to change if your situation changes.
The Dirty Secret Behind the 16 Personalities
There’s more dirt though. The 16 Personalities is offered completely free, with minimal ads, and has strong financial backers. Why? Why did they pour so much money into building this portal, and what was the goal?
When a product is free, that usually means one thing: You are the product being sold. Your answers and results are used by advertisers and can be used for marketing purposes. Companies can buy the data discovered by the 16 Personalities inventory and use it to offer you personalized ads. They will literally use knowledge of you to socially engineer your behaviour, and try to manipulate you into making different decisions.
What if you took the 16 Personalities Test?
I advise you to look at my resources on the Cognitive Functions and try my personality test. I provide stereotype free content on all the 16 personalities and show how to use Carl Jung’s work correctly to reach a flow state and improve your well-being.
Why I still Use The Assertive and Turbulent letters
Having said that, why do I still talk about Neuroticism and Assertive and Turbulent subtypes? First of all, I type based on the cognitive functions, but I have seen over and over that Assertive and Turbulent subtypes present very differently. The functions act differently, the person is different, if they are more emotionally unstable, compared to if they are more secure in themselves. I have seen ENFPs with a rampant and intense creativity, and ENFPs constantly overthinking every decision, never able to know what they want, or how to do anything. This letter makes all the difference. And I want to help people become more Assertive. I want to help you discover your flow state.
If you’ve taken the 16 personalities test, don’t worry, you have only just begun your process to discovering your personality type, and there is still so much to learn!
