From my Scribd Library - The Cult of Personality Testing by Annie Murphy Paul

The Cult of Personality Testing by Annie Murphy Paul

https://www.scribd.com/book/225119370/The-Cult-of-Personality-Testing-How-Personality-Tests-Are-Leading-Us-to-Miseducate-Our-Children-Mismanage-Our-Companies-and-Misunderstand-Ourselves

I had the highest expectations for this book after seeing the title and reading the introduction. Confession - I DESPISE personality tests, neurolinguistic programming, lie detectors or any other "tool" that so-called experts believe can quantify and qualify our innermost thoughts, feelings and proclivities. In my opinion, people who place their faith in such pseudo/para scientific instruments stand the very real risk of harming themselves and others. Over the last 30+ years, I've known people who have lost jobs, reputations and families due to the misuse and abuse of psycho-babble snake oil. So I'll admit, I did bring a certain bias to my reading of The Cult of Personality Testing.  

As I started delving into the main body of the work, I found a plethora of good, solid information regarding personality testing presented crisply and cogently. If you're looking for a primary reference work on personality tests - their origins and originators - then this is your book. But ... (you felt the "but" coming, didn't you?) I'd be remiss if I didn't address the limitations of Ms. Paul's study. To my great disappointment, the book never delves deeply into the fallacies of these tests nor the irksome, oft-times irreparable harm they can cause. Judging by the title and introduction, I anticipated a thorough analysis and explication of each test exposing its content, structure, weaknesses and, frankly "how to beat it." I guess that's another book, though, which I'll continue looking for and may eventually research and write myself.

Despite its shortcomings, The Cult of Personality Testing takes its rightful place in my Reference and Science & Para-Science libraries due to its impeccable research and scholarship.

https://www.scribd.com/collections/11873888/Reference

https://www.scribd.com/collections/11872188/Science-and-Parascience