Shenrancaijing original
Author | Zou Shuai
Edit | Tang Yahua
Measuring constellations, tarot divination, measuring genes... Young people's curiosity about themselves has never diminished, and now everyone is starting to play "personality tests".
Not only do young people like to test and play, some large companies will also require employees to complete personality test questions before they are hired, according to netizens, some companies will ask employees to retest once a year and a half after they are hired to see if there is a change. Previously, there was also a foreign variety show that gathered the ordinary people of the 16-type personality to observe what typical reactions and behaviors they would have, and the audience rating and network discussion were also very high.
What exactly is a personality test?
At present, the most discussed tests on major social platforms are MBTI, Holland Career Interest Test, Enneagram Personality Test, Junior Personality Test, DISC Personality Test, etc. The common denominator of such tests is that they are all endorsed by psychology disciplines. Psychological counselor Zhu Xiaohui explained to Shen Yan that the big five personality test is a scientifically based and effective psychological test, and the Enneagram personality test and MBTI are valuable but not rigorous scientific tests based on psychological theory.
Yu Nan, who is keen on such tests, is also addicted to the analysis of constellations, and she summarizes to Shen Yan that from the experience of the testee, "The constellation is general, the personality test is more personalized, and because they are from a psychological background, it feels more convincing to say it." Wu You, a national second-level psychological counselor, gave a more direct explanation: "This kind of test is to answer 'who am I?'" ”
As Yu Nan said, whether it is metaphysics or psychology, young people wander between various tests and come up with a general self-definition from a computer system, which is actually out of curiosity about themselves, and it is also a bridge to know others and find the same kind. Even Internet companies have targeted this demand, and app has repeatedly launched tests such as "test what color personality you are" in recent years, which is quite popular among young people.
Demand, but also promote business. Casually search for personality tests on the Internet, all kinds of pages have jumped out, all under the name of authority, and anything can be measured, from personality tests to emotions, from past lives to this life, many of which are paid items, with prices ranging from a few dollars to tens of hundreds of yuan. MBTI recently the degree of discussion soared, many netizens admired the test, casually found a link, spent a long time to do dozens of questions down, the results show that you need to pay 30 yuan to unlock the test results.
Mysterious, interesting, social, and popular with young people are the basic conditions for the popularity of personality tests. There is poor information, psychology education is not popular, everyone is in the clouds, do not know which test authority, and do not need to pay, this is the personality test "gold" advanced conditions.
How much more fog in personality tests?
Dating, job hunting, self-analysis, personality tests are on fire
In recent months, Yu Nan has been exposed to the hottest MBTI in personality tests. The full name of MBTI is the Myers-Briggs type indicator, and the common name is the MBTI professional personality test, which divides the personality of people into 16 types, and is synonymous with the combination of four letters such as INFP, INFJ, ESFP, ENTJ and so on.
Many people said they were first exposed to it in a career planning class at university. In the society, many companies will also require employees to do relevant tests before they are hired. A blogger in Xiaohongshu released a video saying that he did the MBTI test in 2021, had a clear understanding of himself, and made a decision to change careers.
Yu Nan searched for keywords on Baidu, and many links clearly put out words such as "test what career you are suitable for" and "give you some career guidance". Yu Nan learned that the official website of this test is called 16personalities, and there are also talent storage networks in China that can be tested.
Yu Nan chose to test on 16personalities. The test is free, and the results can be directly produced after the test, including a personality pronoun composed of four letters, as well as a Chinese name, and basic interpretation. If you want to get a more detailed parsing report, you need to pay, and the cheapest is the 310-page Premium Profile (advanced profile), which costs 190 yuan.
She concluded that the test questions are mostly declarative statements, such as "You find it difficult to introduce yourself to others" "You usually don't take the initiative to talk to people", and the subject needs to choose to agree or oppose, "But consent and opposition are still to a certain extent, according to the size of the circle, the smallest circle on the opposition side is general opposition, and the largest should be complete opposition." ”
In the end, Yu Nan measured her personality as an ESFP performer, and said in the analysis that such personalities are "good at conversation, showing off their unique and straightforward sense of humor" when chatting, etc., which she thinks is very accurate.
Type 16 Personality Sources in the MBTI Test / Baidu Encyclopedia
In addition to playing tests yourself, a group of bloggers who create secondary creations have emerged.
On the Little Red Book, there are more than 7700 notes related to MBTI, and the content is based on popular science, interpretation, entertainment, and social, of which the most common form of notes is "meme", that is, using the characteristics of 16 types of personalities as materials to create memes, in order to show how various personalities will react when they encounter the same situation.
To put it simply, personality tests such as MBTI are to hand over the same set of question banks to different people, so as to divide into fixed types, and there are great commonalities in the characteristics of the same type of personality, "Playing is stereotyping." Yu Nan concluded after looking at the stem map more.
There are also bloggers who specially publish MBTI memes on Weibo, with more than 200,000 fans, and the interactive area of each Weibo is also very lively. Most of the netizens who play MBTI have a strong sense of identification with their own personality results, so every time they encounter a meme related to themselves, they will sit in the comment area and issue sighs such as "dismantling the monitor" and "it is me". When encountering a stem that has nothing to do with themselves, netizens will also make comments such as "If it is me, I will..." out of a sense of identity.
MBTI Meme Source / Weibo @MBTImemes
Finding resonance and playing with terriers all belong to entertainment and social orientation, and another wave of hot discussion comes from science popularization and analysis. On platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, bloggers who do such content include psychology practitioners, personality test enthusiasts, workplace analysts, etc., who use personality test results to match careers and industries and give employment guidance.
Personality tests are not new, and MBTI is not the only one. According to Deep Flame Observation, many personality tests with psychological endorsements have been flipped out by netizens and pushed to social platforms in an entertaining way. The Enneagram Personality Test, the Big Five Personality Test, the Holland Career Interest Test, and so on are also popular.
These tests are all psychologically oriented, but each has its own emphasis, such as Holland and MBTI tend to be career guidance, and the Big Five personality and Enneagram personality are only based on the definition of human personality. Therefore, for the majority of netizens, the topics of each test are different, the gameplay is different, and the measured results can also refresh their self-awareness again and again, and even provide employment guidance.
In addition to personality tests based on psychological theories, there are also some tests that are just pure social products, NetEase Cloud Music is one of the Internet companies that are familiar with such routines, and launched a personality dominant color test last May, and in previous years, there were tests such as "your instruction manual", each of which will set off a wave of discussion.
A variety of personality tests, such as horoscopes, tarot cards, gossip divination, and genetic tests that have been popular in previous years, continue to be sought after because they step on the curiosity of young people.
Handling, interpretation, the business behind personality tests
Curiosity can be monetized. In general, people who make money from personality tests are divided into two categories, one is the porting test itself, and the other is to give more interpretation and increments based on this test.
It takes a little time to find the official website of such a test, which gives many institutions and individuals the opportunity to move and change the test link.
Deep fire in Baidu search FOR MBTI, Holland career interest test and other keywords, the top few links are mostly from Internet psychological service agencies, the lower right corner has the word "advertising". Deep fire randomly clicked on a Holland test link, after completing 90 questions, the page showed that we need to scan the code to follow the public account to get the test results. This type of test has a low threshold and is advertised for in-feed ads in the name of free, which can naturally attract a part of the traffic.
Deep Fire also found on Taobao that many psychological service agencies are selling similar personality and psychological tests, with prices mostly 9.9 yuan and 19.9 yuan. Such goods are often the lowest price in the store, and other links such as "mood counseling", "marriage and family guidance" and "emotional redemption" with dozens or hundreds of other prices rank in the top few sales. From a few dollars of easy test questions, it is a cost-effective operation to divert to higher-valued goods that may produce repurchases.
There is a lot of business on idle fish. Shen Yan asked multiple sellers about the specific product content, and the other party said that it was a test question and an analysis packaged sale, directly sending links or network disks. The content is similar, but the prices are uneven. Take the most popular MBTI, there are 1 yuan for sale, there are concerns about the public account free to give, there are 18 yuan with analysis, and 20 yuan with several tests.
Idle Fish on Personality Test Related Links Screenshot / Deep Burning
For 2.8 yuan, Shen Yan purchased a network disk file called "MBTI Professional Personality Test", which contained 19 documents, including test questions and introductions to interpret the report in detail. However, there are only 48 titles in the document, with some simplifications and modifications.
The idle fish seller said that this test is for the workplace, when the deep fire asked about the source, the other party only said "psychological testing agencies out, less inquiry about the matter on the road." Deep Flame saw in its dynamics that from January 25, 2.8 yuan of product links were listed on the shelves to the time of publication, 40 pieces had been sold. Roughly calculated, a 2.3MB folder can earn 112 yuan in less than a month.
Shen Ran saw a seller selling a 300-page full English analysis report of the INFP personality type in THE MBTI for 30 yuan, and the other party said that he spent more than 200 yuan to buy it after the official website 16personalities test, and he himself was inFPs, so there were no other reports.
In general, individual sellers mostly use poor information to package their existing resource links and sell them. The source may be public, it may be paid, and in any case, it is through multiple sales, which infinitely magnifies the value and benefits of a document.
Is this business legal? Li Sheng, a lawyer at Beijing Zhipu Law Firm, explained to Shen Yan that selling his own test analysis belongs to his personal private rights, as long as he does not affect others, the law does not prohibit it. As for independently designing and selling under a set of theoretical models, the intellectual property rights belong to themselves. However, if the test questions produced by others are sold unchanged or used for profit, it infringes the intellectual property rights of the original author.
Another wave of gold diggers selling analytics and selling increments is made up of professionals and veteran enthusiasts.
Professional institutions mostly open shops on Taobao, and idle fish is the gathering place for most individual practitioners. Idle fish seller Luo Yan's main business is psychological counselors, and she has been connecting online tests and consultations since the end of January this year. Among Luo Yan's idle fish, in addition to THE MBTI, there are psychological tests such as SCL90, as well as tests such as "Fangshu People", which require manual analysis.
She explained the reasons for choosing these products on the shelves, "One is because they are seriousness tests, which are used in psychiatry, and I will use them in my own work." The second is to use for drainage, because these test searches are very large, but many people will find paid or free links on the Internet, it is difficult to find authoritative content, I did a filter for everyone. ”
Luo Yan gave THE MBTI and other tests a price of 1 yuan, the advanced Jung test price of 20 yuan, the "House Tree Man" 60 yuan, the highest price of the product is the subconscious exploration experience, the price of 200 yuan. In more than a month, Luo Yan harvested more than 150 inquiries on idle fish, and the final transaction was about 30.
Personality tests are on fire, and enthusiasts are pouring in. An idle fish seller hung up a 48 yuan character test artificial judgment link and indicated that he was "engaged in side business". Deep burning consulted the seller, the other party introduced himself as a hobbyist, contacted MBTI for more than two years, can be through the way of video phone, manually judge the buyer. According to him, manual judgments have a lower rate of misjudgment than machine testing, and he can give some career advice.
Only sell links, low cost, fast customer acquisition, fast return on the cost; selling incremental, may not be so fast to get customers to profit, but after all, there is a certain theoretical knowledge support, there is a possibility of long-term development. Around the small personality test, there are indeed quite a few business opportunities.
Is it reliable to spend money to measure personality and make money with personality testing?
Enthusiasts and practitioners have caught the wind, and there is no shortage of people who want to make a quick buck and leave.
MBTI is on fire, but many people don't know where the official website is, open the web search, and the overwhelming advertising makes it difficult to distinguish the authenticity. So often some netizens complained, they casually found a link that said it was an MBTI test, and after spending time and effort to do more than 90 questions, the page showed that it was necessary to pay 30 yuan to unlock the test results. Subsequently, the netizen learned that the official website can obviously be tested for free. "At least you don't want money to see the result." The netizen said.
Spending money to unlock results is just a basic "pit". The drainage method of the psychological service institution mentioned above also exists in the "hidden corner". Luo Yan said that in the psychological counseling industry, it is contrary to professional ethics to make promises to patients. "We can do counseling and treatment, but we can't give promises like 'save the ex.'" Therefore, from the perspective of this chain, buyers learn about some psychological service products because of a cheap zero-threshold test link, but they do not have the ability to distinguish and are easily "harvested".
In the final analysis, the reason why some people want to catch up with a wave of hot money is because the public does not know whether such tests need to be paid. Wu You explained to Shen Yan that MBTI is still used more in the field of psychology, and simple questions can be obtained through public channels, and the general payment points are mainly in the explanation and suggestion part.
Zhu Xiaohui told Deep Burn that at present, in the process of standard psychological counseling and psychological experiments, practitioners will use common scales such as SAS, SDS, and Scl90. He explains that the more recognized test in the field of psychology is often referred to as a scale.
"These psychological tests, called scales, are all tests determined by a large number of psychological clinical experiments, which are not interesting enough, but have accuracy and reliability, and are much cheaper than online interest tests, a test may only be a dozen dollars, or even one or two dollars, and the most expensive one is only one or two hundred dollars." Zhu Xiaohui said.
To put it simply, professionals ask for payment by refining the question, giving explanations and suggestions, which is relatively reliable, but if you just let you spend money to do the problem, and the final result given is also available on the official website, then you have to think twice. However, Luo Yan also said that the level of practitioners in the psychological industry is uneven, even if it is to find professionals, it is necessary to carefully identify.
So, looking ahead, can the personality test continue to be on fire?
The business around personality testing seems to be a small fight, but in fact, when calmed down, this seems to be the entrance to a new popular wind. Just like the constellation field, who comes early and who has a strong right to speak, who is more able to accumulate original fans. Taking advantage of the fact that such tests have not yet been completely disenchanted, many people have taken a position first, looking forward to future content output and monetization channels.
Lu Lu is an employee of an Internet company, and at the end of January, he began to operate the Little Red Book account @ get some MBTI to try. She positioned her account as a meme related to the porting + original AND MBTI, "because the discussion on this aspect in foreign countries has been very mature, and there are many stems, I will move over to everyone to talk." ”
Lu Lu's own creation part is mainly based on the characteristics of the 16-type personality to produce WeChat chat records and circle of friends content, she told Shen Yan that she has written a novel experience, so she has a certain experience in the grasp of character characteristics and character behavior, "Plus I will also understand what my friends' MBTI is in life, observe their daily behavior, and analyze it in combination with life." ”
Terriers created by Land Source / Courtesy of The Interviewee
She admits that doing an account is to do a content side business. At present, Lulu has not achieved profitability, but in more than half a month, she has more than 5,000 fans and 28,000 likes and collections. Lu Lu likes to study psychology, and plans to add some popular dry content to the account, seeking a balance between the entertainment fun of personality tests and the seriousness of psychology disciplines.
Luo Yan also attaches importance to traffic, as well as the conversion of online passenger flow to offline. "I'm doing idle fish at a loss, mainly to test the traffic situation." However, Luo Yan also admitted that there are difficulties in draining from online to offline studios, "The personality test hung online is only a few dollars, attracting price-sensitive people, and such people are difficult to accept psychological counseling services with higher prices offline." ”
In the field of psychology, the fun test is also recognized. Wu You explained that MBTI and other tests are based on certain psychological theories, but there is no strict requirement for reliability, and practitioners sometimes do interesting tests to attract users or activate users.
However, fun is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Zhu Xiaohui told Shen Yan that the fun test is not a scientific psychological scale in the strict sense, but it is relatively rigorous compared to tests such as "choose what animal you are and decide what kind of personality you are". "These tests do use a lot of psychological standard measurements, but they lack a clear theoretical basis, test goals and later experimental data support, which is a bit of a sense of shooting arrows first and drawing targets later."
That is to say, the test may have some accuracy, but the level of reliability and validity is not high. Zhu Xiaohui reminded that just like the constellation, these tests are loved by everyone, but do not blindly worship.
In layman's terms, the popular BTIs-like fun personality tests on the market are like "consumer goods". As long as there is an audience and fun, the popularity of consumer goods is beyond reproach. However, a test can be generalized into several categories of people, but it cannot specifically describe yourself. Some practitioners have also found that many people like to test everywhere, and then put on the label of "depression" and "social phobia" for themselves, which is an over-interpretation. Entertainment to entertainment, Zhu Xiaohui still reminded that if you really feel that you have psychological problems, you must choose a regular hospital for comprehensive examination and treatment.
*The caption is from "Master of Hypnosis". At the request of the interviewees, Yu Nan, Wu You, Luo Yan, and Lu Lu were pseudonyms.