I recently read How To Know a Person, a book about relationships by author David Brooks. I noted so many lines, I’ll be bringing up this book for weeks to come, most likely. According to Brooks’ research, the Myers-Briggs personality test has no scientific validity. Oh, well. However, there is another test that has been validated in numerous studies, and that is the Big Five. It measures the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness. And all of these traits can be modified with intervention. This test is available online in various forms, and I thought my results were interesting. Research in personality psychology is showing more and more that people can change with intervention (and also age). I think that’s heartening to know about ourselves, and also important to keep in mind about others – that they be different than they were when we first formed an impression of them.
