Enjoying Personality Tests — From MBTI to Blood Type
In an age when MBTI has become a staple of conversation, personality tests have become a delightful way to understand ourselves and others. Once you know what the various personality tests actually look at, you can enjoy their results far more wisely.
The Appeal of Personality Tests
Everyone wonders, 'What kind of person am I?' Personality tests answer this question with easy-to-grasp types, giving us a thread for reflecting on ourselves and for talking with others. The delight when a result fits just right, and the conversations we share comparing each other's types, are what make personality tests so popular.
MBTI — A Combination of Four Axes
The most widely used personality test today is MBTI. Along four axes — direction of energy (Extraversion/Introversion), taking in information (Sensing/Intuition), way of judging (Thinking/Feeling), and life attitude (Judging/Perceiving) — you choose your preferences and are sorted into sixteen types. Its appeal is that it looks not at superiority of ability but at 'which side is more comfortable,' so that each type has its own distinct strengths.
Blood Type and the Sasang Constitutions
Long beloved in East Asia, blood type personality theory is a cultural pastime that talks of temperament through the four types A, B, O, and AB. Korea's own Sasang constitutional typology views body and personality together through four constitutions — Taeyang, Taeeum, Soyang, and Soeum. Both share the trait of dividing people into four, but while blood type is a light conversational topic, the Sasang constitutions are rooted in traditional medicine, encompassing even health and regimen.
Color Psychology and Other Tests
Tests that read you through a sensory choice — like color psychology, which gauges disposition by your favorite color — are also popular. Beyond these, from traditional methods such as palmistry and physiognomy to a variety of psychological type assessments, the attempt to understand people has continued across cultures and eras. The material each looks at may differ, but the purpose — prompting you to reflect on yourself — is the same.
How to Enjoy Them Wisely
The best attitude for enjoying personality tests is to receive the result not as 'a correct answer that confines me' but as 'a thread for understanding myself.' Even within the same type, people differ one from another, and disposition can change with circumstance and growth. When you take a result not as an excuse but as an occasion to build on your strengths and shore up your weaknesses, a personality test becomes the most valuable tool of all.
Personality tests are a delightful window that helps us understand ourselves and others. If you're curious about your MBTI, blood type, Sasang constitution, and color psychology, meet yourself through the various tests for yourself.