Do psychological tests work? What can they actually reveal about someone's personality or abilities? Judging by the boom in their use in the workplace, the answer for many employers is quite a lot - certainly enough to decide whether an applicant even qualifies for an interview and sometimes if a person deserves a promotion. They are also used increasingly in training, and even, more recently, in expatriate pre-departure preparation programmes. Some are done by phone to save costs. So obviously it is an advantage for employees to know something about how the tests work. Some of the most basic are the ones used to screen prospective workers for things like reliability, dishonesty and aggressiveness. Respondents are faced with questions such as: Is it wrong for an employee to take home even a small company item? Hesitancy counts for as much as the answer. The tests are fallible but, on the whole, tend to be more predictive of a person's behaviour than the impressions an employer can get from a short interview - widely regarded by psychologists as not very trustworthy. One of the giants of psychological testing is the Myers-Briggs type indicator, used to measure personality. It aims to discover a person's preferred way of operating using four pairs of alternatives, the most famous being the extrovert-introvert dimension. This is not just about whether a person is outgoing or shy. Rather, it investigates if a person feels most at home, energised and alive among other people, say, generating ideas in meetings or working in a team, or if they are happier working alone and feel drained or numbed by boisterous interaction. For most jobs, extroverts are preferred. The sensing-versus-intuitive dimension looks at whether a person leans towards a systematic, literal and sequenced approach to information-gathering or prefers a more speculative, general or random approach. In business the intuitive 'head in the clouds' type tends to be less favoured than the sensing type. The thinkers-versus-feelers dimension refers to a preference for rationality and objectivity against harmony and subjectivity. Thinkers dominate supervisory and management positions. It is not surprising, then, that men tend to be thinkers, while most women are feelers. Finally, the judgers-versus-perceivers dimension measures how people orient themselves and is considered by some psychologists as the pairing that causes most tension in the workplace. Judgers prefer to be decisive, controlling, punctual and tidy. Perceivers like to be flexible, unstructured, routine-free and spontaneous. Judgers thrive in hierarchies and large companies. Perceivers do better working for themselves or in a setting where they can set their own agenda and schedule. We all have a bit of all these dimensions. The test simply claims to take note of what we are most comfortable with. So, if you are an extroverted-sensing-thinking-judging type, this helps psychologists predict some of the challenges you are likely to face when working with someone who is the opposite. It can predict job preference, especially the sensing-versus-intuitive dimension. It can help build effective teams and it can even predict absenteeism: certain profiles are far more likely to develop coronary heart disease, for instance. However, the Myers-Briggs test, like most psychological tests was developed in the west and, as such, is no doubt culturally biased. Pan-cultural tests do exist, though. One is the occupational personality questionnaire. The Chinese version differs somewhat from the American model. It has 100 items, each with four statements about how a person would think or act in a given situation at work. Respondents select the one they think would be the truest, the least true and the most typical of them in a given situation. Tests for potential expatriates are used by some companies for preparation. They are intended to help predict a person's likely adjustment pattern and can be used as a basis for intervention if problems arise. The global awareness profile, for example, tests for cognitive awareness of foreign cultures, environment, geography, politics, religion and socioeconomics. Another, the cross-cultural adaptability inventory, aims to reveal a person's assets and liabilities, some of which, if lacking, can be taught before departure. The test looks at four dimensions. The emotional-resilience scale examines the ability to cope with stress and ambiguity and rebound from imperfections in oneself and others. The flexibility and openness scale looks at the extent to which a person enjoys encountering different ways of thinking and behaving. The perceptual-acuity scale measures communication skills and the ability to pick up on and accurately interpret verbal and non-verbal cues across cultures. The personal-autonomy scale focuses on personal identity in contexts that are unfamiliar. Psychological tests have their drawbacks. People can and do act out of character and many depend on the psychologists' mantra that the best predictor for future behaviour is past behaviour, which is not invariably the case. However, psychological testing is now a very common tool in the workplace. So, being test-savvy is definitely an asset. Jean Nicol is a Hong Kong-based psychologist and writer everydaypsychologist@yahoo.com
