性格测试对自我认知的影响英语论文

MBTITestCan’tHelpPeopleKnowThemselvesBetter

“AreyouINTJ?OrENTP?”Nowadays,ifyouwanttomakenewfriendsandbreaktheice,youneedtomatchthe“code”first.ThesemysteriouscodescomposedoffourEnglishlettershavebecomethesociallabelsofmanyyoungpeople.ItistheMBTItestthatispopularonsocialnetworks.MBTI,whosefullnameisMyersBriggsTypeIndicator,isoneofmanypersonalityassessmenttools.ItusesthearrangementofeightlettersE(Extroversion)orI(Introversion),N(Intuition)orS(Sensing),F(Feeling)orT(Thinking)andP(Perceiving)orJ(Judging)torepresentdifferentpersonalities.AlthoughMBTItestisbecomingmoreandmorepopular,itcan’thelppeopleknowthemselvesbetterbecauseofitslackofscientificnature,lowaccuracyandstrongpossibilityofmisleading.

Asapsychologicaltool,thescientificnatureofMBTItestisstillcontroversial.Ontheonehand,Jung'stheoryofpsychology,asthetheoreticalbasisofMBTItest,hasnotbeenscientificallytested.Ontheotherhand,itsclassificationofpersonalityhasbeenattackedasunrealisticforalongtime.Manyscholarsbelievethatitsclassificationwherepersonalityisdividedinto16categoriesisverysimpleandrough(Chen,2022).InMBTItest,personalityissimplyseparatedintotwooppositepartsinfourdimensions,however,personalityisnotaeither-orchoice.Thedistributionofpersonalityisabellcurve,whichmeansthattherearefewpeoplewithextremepersonality,whilemostpeople'spersonalityisinthemiddle.Therefore,MBTItestisnotasscientificandrigorousaspeoplethink,anditsresultsarenotofgreatreferencevalue.

ThelowaccuracyofMBTItestisalsooneofthereasonswhyitisunreliable.Theresultofthetestlargelydependsonthemoodandattitudeofthetesteratthattime,whichmakesituncontrollableandinaccurate.Thismeansthatwhenthesamepersonistestedatdifferenttimes,theresultsmaynotbethesame.Thiscanbeverifiedbyexperimentaldata,accordingtostatistics,among1200testers,morethan57%thoughttheresultsofMBTItestwereinaccurateandchosetoretest(Ji,2014).Inaddition,thetesttakestheformofsubjectivequestionnaire.Smallconcealmentorbeautificationwillleadtoinaccuratetestresults.Therefore,thetestresultsaremorelikeidealpersonalityinaparticularsituation,whichisnothelpfulforpeopletobetterunderstandthemselves.

Inaddition,itmayleadtopeople'sstereotypeoftheirowncharacter.Asmentionedearlier,thetestresultsarenotnecessarilyaccurate,sopeoplemaybemisledbythewrongresultsandhaveawrongunderstandingofthemselves.Eveniftheresultfitsthereality,itislikelytoevolveintoalabelonpeople(Wen,2022).Somepeoplemaychoosetorestrictthemselvesinordertomakethemselvesmorefitthetestresults.Itwillimperceptiblyaffectpeople'sthinkinghabitsandbehavior,leadingtothesolidificationofpersonality.Asthesayinggoes,alietoldathousandtimesbecomestrue.Undertheinfluenceofsolidifiedselfcognition,peoplemaynotbeabletofindoutwhotheyareandobtainthegrowthofpersonality.Astheresult,MBTItestcan’thelppeopleunderstandthemselvesbetter,andblindtrustinthetestresultsisharmfultotheshapingofpersonality.

SomepeoplebelievethatMBTItestisusefulbecauseit’sverypopularallovertheworld.However,itsprevalenceisn’tequivalenttousefulness.BecauseoftheBarnumeffect,peoplewillagreethatageneraldescriptionfitsthemselves,althoughitcan’thelpthembetterknowthemselves(Zhu,2015).Besides,Ithasnowbecomeasocialculture,andpeoplechoosetotestjusttocomplywiththetrend.Even,duetoexcessivepublicityandhype,thereisachainofcontemptamong16personalities.Somepeoplearecomplacentbecausetheyhappentogetapopularpersonalityresult,whilesomepeoplechoosetohidetheirtruepersonalityandfabricatefalseresultsinordertogetrecognitionfromothersoravoidbeinglookeddownupon.Thisislikelytoleadtoexcessiveprideorinferiority,whichisnotconducivetopeople'sunderstandingofthemselves.

Inconclusion,asanunscientific,inaccurateandmisleadingpsychologicaltest,MBTItestcannothelppeoplebetterknowthemselves.AsWangFang,aprofessorofpsychologyatBeijingNormalUniversity,said,“humanpersonalitycharacteristicsandpsychologicalactivitiescan’tjustbedefinedby8letters.”Whatpeopleshoulddoistoruninwiththeircharacterindailylife,ratherthanexpectasimpletesttoguidethem.

WorksCited

[1]Chen,X.(2022).TheMBTItestacrossthewholenetworkisnotpseudoscience,butifyouareserious,youwilllose.ScienceandTechnologyDaily,04-14(008).

[2]Ji,X.(2014).Whyisthepersonalitytestunrel