A personality test for thinking people, December 15, 1999

Granted, personality tests can never quite be taken seriously; most function like horoscopes--one-size-fits-all: as long as the test-taker wishes to coincide with the results, they are imaginatively verified. But coming to the Keirsey as a skeptic, I've found it unexpectedly accurate, on each of two very different occasions. When I tried the original version of the Keirsey several years ago, its insights had been interesting and useful; but when it occurred to me recently to take the test again, this time with _Please Understand Me II_, I was really struck by the ways in which the results differed, and how certain differences in my personality had been pinpointed, again, with much accuracy. So, even as I'd never trust an assessment of this format to divine anything like a true self, the test did give me occasion for recognizing some of the fundamental changes I had undergone over the years. (For those who might be trying to pick between the two, this second edition I...