Why Personality tests do Not work by Arthur Carmazzi
With so many profiling tools, personality tests, psychometric assessments, and assessments focusing on “personality”, it is easy to get confused… especially since most of these are based on the “Non-empirical” work of Carl Jung’s architypes.
The fact is that Personality is just too complicated to be put into a test or assessment. There are too many factors…
- “How” you process information and act on it – these are genetic factors, not environmental. While behavior can change, it is filtered through a specific brain process.
- “Why” you do what you do – other than Risk adversity and optimism which have genetic relationships, why you do things is almost entirely affected by your environment. You culture, your parents, your friends, media… are all part of why you do what you do and this can also change as life and influences change.
- “What” You assume, or encoded assumptions – perceptions of What is right, what is fair, what you deserve… these are also environmental factors affected largely you your WHY
- Values and the level of value flexibility – most values are usually formed by adolescence, but we have different levels of value flexibility, and some experiences can change our values.
- Primary postures – the intensity or softness of our physical presence
- Core identity – what you would like to think of yourself becoming, the connection to the ideal you which you continue to aspire to be. We often make decisions around this identity and it shapes us either through feeling successful or feel remorse that we are not living up to our potential
It is the combinations of these affects motivation, decisions, attitude and even competency, and one VERY IMPORTANT fact most “personally” tests ignore… your behaviors are affected by what environment you are in at a given time. Different groups bring out different facets of who you are… and the attitudes and decisions you make are affected by the people around you.
So, some parts of you are flexible… even behavior can change over time due to neuro-plasticity. So the ability to take all this and put it in a “personality” test is, well, unrealistic. And, even if you get the primary factors, it would be TOO COMPLICATED for the average person to actually use when dealing with others across teams. Only the HR managers would know what is going on… and they cannot be everywhere at the same time.
Which brings us to what does work. Each of these is important and knowing how 2 simple ingredients mix is not much different than cooking. We know that pizza requires dough and sometimes cheese (Italians know what I mean) topped with a few other ingredients perhaps like peperoni… many of us like ice cream too, but we will not likely have a pepperoni / ice cream pizza. So knowing the simple components/ingredients is the key to knowing how they could mix… and not only for the individual but for the group… each set of ingredients affects other people just like too much salt in the minestrone soup can turn a great meal into an unbearable one.
So let’s start with Only ONE foundational ingredient. A factor that is genetic and what everything else is filtered through, your HOW. How you interpret the world around you and How that interlinks with action and decision. (See the Genetic Ambiguity Relief Brain Process Research by Arthur Carmazzi)
Knowing your “How” may not show you what motivates a team member, but it will show you how to bring out the best in team performance… one of our biggest issues in a team is that different processes of approaching the same objectives yield frustration and nurture mistrust. This affects individual performance and affects team dynamics. A clear understanding of our HOW can create more synergy, help us manage our exceptions to deal with team members more intelligently, and help us to set people up for success instead of failure.
Applying the Colored Brain Model which measures the Brains Ambiguity Relief on How the brain gets clarity, we can determine our HOW. The highly Uncomplicated model takes the 5 most common genetic processes and combines them into 4 processors.
1. Green – chaotic process: need to take action to get clarity
2. Red – linear process: needs to structure and cross-reference the clear facts and to get clarity before they take action
3. Purple – relational process: needs to get as much information and detail to identify options before they have clarity, when options are obvious they take action
4. Blue – intuitive processing: is feeling, probing and referencing past experience simultaneously while moving and acting into the situation
When we understand Colored Brain, we also can predict what happens when we combine these with our WHY or even with other’s HOW. We have a very simple, yet expansive model that the average dish washer can apply to improve their effectiveness within a team and the relationships that support easier communication and faster achievement with superiors, subordinates, and peers.
Currently, the Colored Brain system is set up to show how people in your life and work connect with you and your color. It provides a platform for you to see who you may have difficulty dealing with and who may have difficulty dealing with you. And what to do for each one. A single click will give you information on how to communicate, lead or improve relationships with the people you connect with on the system.
See here for the published research paper on the Colore Brain Model and the brain’s Ambiguity Relief Processes by Arthur Carmazzi
If you would like to try this for free, please email us at: support@directivecommunication.com for a free access code for you and one friend.
By Arthur Carmazzi, Founder of the Directive Communication International
Earl C. Wallace
I have taken the well-known personality profile surveys and tests, several times each, and have found Arthur Carmazzi’s “Colored Brain Assessment” to be the most effective for helping people discern what I call is their “Personal Decision-Making Behavioral Profile.” Arthur’s Colored Brain Assessment simplifies and makes intuitive the complexities how we respond to information to make decisions. It is as accurate as it is easy for people to understand, and self-validate its findings.
To assist team members to operate by fulfilling the 3-D Leader concepts of “Getting the Most Out of Working Relationships” by “Communicating, Cooperating and Coordinating” effectively to “Achieve Synergy from Their Diversity,” they need to know how they each process information. Once people understand this part of their own psychology and that of their team members, they become better at presenting information to each other in ways that gives everyone the best opportunity to process it appropriately. They also grow more patient with each other and avoid the potential stormy relationships that can occur due to miscommunications and misinterpretations that can result when we don’t understand where others are in the information-intake, assessment and decision-making process.
I highly recommend that everyone take a Colored Brain Assessment!