The Enneagram and MBTI could be damaging your relationships
“A lot of businesses are using it to not hire a certain type because they know they’re going to have conflict. That’s ridiculous because, again, you are looking at something…that has no reliability behind it,” Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Bryan Poole said.
Photo by Ariel Hensley, Life Senior Reporter
We are taught not to judge a book by its cover. Do personality tests encourage us to do just that?
Some might say so, as very few of these tests are backed by scientific research. Personality tests such as the Big Five, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), StrengthsFinder and Enneagram have been around for ages, but as their prevalence grows, some argue that they can bear negative effects on relationships.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Bryan Poole explains that the intended purpose of these tests, specifically the MBTI and Enneagram, is to provide a broad idea of a person’s personality or behavior.
“They’re supposed to give us not just descriptions, but also they should be able to help us understand and predict how people will behave in a given situation,” said Poole. “So, if I am an INTJ, that might mean I should respond this way to an argument, or determine how I approach people if I am a One-wing-Two on the Enneagram.”
However, Poole explains that due to the lack of scientific evidence behind these tests, they cannot create a flawless profile of a person.
“The MBTI has been used, cited and talked about for decades but still lacks predictive validity. Predictive validity is the test’s ability to predict outcomes and behaviors,” Poole said. “A really good personality test like the Big Five can predict all sorts of behaviors, marital outcomes, how well you do in school and so on. The MBTI has no ability to predict anything like that whatsoever.”
Reporters for Vox Joseph Stromberg and Estelle Caswell collaborated on an article claiming and listing the reasons why the Myers-Briggs test is virtually meaningless.
“The Myers-Briggs is useful for one thing: entertainment,” Stromberg reported. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking the test as a fun, interesting activity, like a BuzzFeed quiz.”
According to Poole, this same absence of scientific backing is seen within the Enneagram despite its current popularity, and it could potentially be harmful if taken too seriously.
“A lot of businesses are using it to not hire a certain type because they know they’re going to have conflict. That’s ridiculous because, again, you are looking at something…that has no reliability behind it,” Poole said. “A horoscope can be right some of the time, but there is no validity behind it.”
In an interview with Relevant Magazine, Chris Heuertz, author of “The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth,” says the Enneagram was created with the intention of helping Christians grow closer to God through a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
“What the Enneagram does is it exposes our personality as a mask and invites us to take this mask off and really excavate our essence to figure out who we really are, what our true self is, how our essential nature really needs to come forward, so we can be the gift we were born…to be,” Heuertz told Relevant.
Some believe they have experienced relational benefits from personality tests. Senior cinema major Lily Scott likes the Enneagram because she says it has helped her understand people better, which has, in turn, strengthened her relationships.
“I think that sometimes it does help me interact with people better,” Scott said. “I have a better understanding of where they are coming from if I know about their Enneagram type.”
However, Scott does not rely solely on the Enneagram to understand people because she recognizes its purpose and uses it as a tool rather than a definition of one’s personality.
“I don’t think that [the Enneagram] nails everything, but [it gets] closer to what my personality is compared to Myers-Briggs or anything else. But I also don’t think that I am typecast by it,” Scott said. “I also think that some people take it too seriously and can’t do anything unless it is a part of their Enneagram, which could be where the issues come from because they live by it.”
Despite the flaws and disconnects of the Enneagram and MBTI, when taken with a grain of salt, these personality tests may bring friends closer together.
“We like to study ourselves, and it’s interesting to say ‘Oh! That describes me perfectly!’” Poole said. “We can compare our letters and numbers with other people, which creates a bond even though it’s founded on nothing.”
Beyond friendships, these personality tests can encourage a level of introspection that may not have been as accessible before.
“These kinds of tests could help you explore aspects of your own self or your personality that you might not have ever thought of before,” Poole said. “So even though they might not be true about you in every situation or scientifically valid in every way, they still might cause you to stop and think.”
Despite the benefits and detriments of personality tests, Poole reminds us of our innate complexity as humans.
“Both [the Enneagram and the MBTI] have the same problem: [they] put people in a box that’s too small. People are a lot more complicated than four letters and a number with a wing,” Poole said. “People are more dynamic than that. They grow. They cannot be explained just by a typology. These tests do not do justice in helping us understand the [complex people] that God has created us to be.
