A blogger described herself with an enneagram number. I'd never heard of it...and down the rabbit hole I went.
In my immersive journalism pretentions, not only did I look it up, but took one of them. (I was bored). I was not concerned about any data they could use, took precautions and looked for a free test with free results.
It's a personality test, allegedly used by companies to hire people or blah blah blah. The test claims to have been put together by psychologists. Two hundred questions, very basic preferences; "when there's a deadline do you prefer perfectionism to team work" or "do you like helping others" etc.
Half way through, I realized that it was biased self reporting with some questions that offered no possibility to answer accurately.
The made up example that I'll use:
When you drink Acai berry juice, do you prefer it sweet or tart?
I've never had Acai berry juice.
No option to skip it or choose not applicable because it it was a strongly agree/disagree/sometimes response.
Poorly designed unscientific questionnaire. Then I got a number for my personality and the free result printout would be 99 dollars for a limited time.
Looked it up elsewhere. Basically the same grift as psychics. It told me what I already knew because I had told it what I already knew about myself. The rest was wrong.
Psychics do the same. Everytime I watched van Praagh, (he's been debunked), it's mostly cold readings. But he comforts his subjects, so I can understand the appeal.
Ah well.
Where I recently got confused, including this type of test, is the redefinition of introvert vs. extrovert. I think it's a label that limits and doesn't take into consideration that people change over time.
The test wasn't clear on work vs leisure. The behavior is quite different in each scenario. It also kept guiding the subject into either/or answers.
Not an insightful or useful test.
A "free" result printout for $99? Sounds shonky to me.
ReplyDeleteCodex: There used to be laws against misleading advertising. Not anymore?
DeleteIt's like the ancestry one, people want to know where they're from and who they are.
Codex: There used to be laws against misleading advertising. Not anymore?
DeleteIt's like the ancestry one, people want to know where they're from and who they are.
A long story which I will not relate precedes my only visit to a 'psychic'. My first husband and I went to see this woman that his mother recommended as a replacement for marriage counseling which I declined. We could only afford one person so the session was to be his but we both went and the psychic called me in as well since the vibes were so strong. I won't go into the details of the things she intuited about us but she assured us/him that the union was strong and we would persevere. What a crock I thought to myself when we left. I divorced him a year later.
ReplyDeleteCodex: I want to keep an open mind that some people may be gifted. But yours is a perfect example of people who cause harm. The moment I see fortune tellers with is there someone who starts with g d u or n in your life....shouldn't they know the full name?
DeleteI have no doubt that there are gifted people. My sister, for example, could see ghosts. She was not a new age flighty type and it always disturbed her. The only one she ever engaged with was her husband who appeared to her several times until she told him to stop.
ReplyDelete