337. Are personality tests legit?
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Myers-Briggs to the Big Five, almost all of us at some stage have done a personality test. Whether it labelled you an introvert or extrovert, a big thinker or a small details individual, it's easy to get swept up in the idea that these tests can tell us all we need to know about our personality and identity. But are they legit, and what is the science behind them? In today's episode, we break down:
- The scientific basis for personality tests
- The interesting, feminist history behind personality tests
- Reliability vs. validity vs. relatability
- Why we end up believing what we read
- How to actually use personality tests to your advantage
Listen now!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | When news broke earlier this year that baby KJ, a newborn in Philadelphia, |
| 0:08.1 | had successfully received the world's first personalized gene editing treatment, |
| 0:11.9 | it represented a milestone for both researchers and patients. |
| 0:15.3 | But there's a gripping tale of discovery behind this accomplishment and its creators. |
| 0:19.4 | I'm Evan Ratliff, and together with biographer Walter |
| 0:21.4 | Isaacson, we're delving into the story of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Dowdna, the woman who's helped |
| 0:25.8 | change the trajectory of humanity. Listen to Aunt CRISPR, the story of Jennifer Dowdna with Walter |
| 0:30.9 | Isaacson on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:39.5 | Hello, everybody everybody and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk |
| 0:46.7 | through some of the big life changes and transitions of our 20s and what they mean |
| 0:52.7 | for our psychology. |
| 0:57.7 | Hello. of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast, new listeners, |
| 1:03.3 | old listeners, wherever you are in the world. It is so great to have you here back for another |
| 1:08.8 | episode as we of course break down the psychology of our |
| 1:12.4 | 20s. Today, my friends, is our second ever bite-sized bonus episode. If you miss the first one, |
| 1:21.5 | we are doing this like new fun format where episodes are just 20 to 25 minutes, something shorter for when, you know, |
| 1:29.1 | you just want a little bit of an info dump, you just want something to accompany your shorter |
| 1:33.2 | commute, or for when we have topics that don't necessarily fill a full 50 minute to one hour |
| 1:39.9 | episode, but I still want to talk about and I still want to, you know, discuss with you guys. |
| 1:45.2 | So welcome today. We are going to talk about one such topic, which is personality tests. |
| 1:54.3 | From Myers-Briggs to the Big Five, it feels like we are often asked to kind of define ourselves with a four-letter |
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