The results of psychometric tests should not be taken as objective truths

Taking a psychometric test is tedious, but the fun begins when we go to read the results. We read “facts” about ourselves which we might recognise – and therefore we’ll willingly accept them.

“That’s so me!” we’ll think.

Those pesky little “facts” that we don’t recognise about ourselves so well – we just ignore those. And at the end, we get that warm fuzzy feeling of being known. Just like a horoscope.

And just like in horoscopes, what’s in action here is a psychological mindset called the Barnum Effect.

The thing is, nothing is set in stone when it comes to human beings. There is a reason why this is known as a subjective milieu – because any account of who an individual is, is subject to opinion. It makes no difference who writes about individuals, and with what level of expertise, those individuals are allowed to disagree. They should be encouraged to view the insights critically. To challenge and question them.

It is easy, though it would be a mistake, to believe that the value added by Entelechy’s insight reports is knowledge that you can store and use to feel better informed. In fact, the value we offer is more complex: it is a potential insight, that will help you know yourself better; and it is the positive coaching encouragement to challenge and question. The real learning comes from critically reflecting on what advances your understanding and what doesn’t. This is something we openly ask that the learner do throughout. This is the true value we add.

Too often in life people are encouraged to be passive recipients of information. We don’t want this to happen. That might feel counter-intuitive: surely, we are confident enough in our methodology that we are happy to say what is right and wrong?

We are confident in our approach.

We do believe we offer valuable insights.

And we are not psychic.

It is honest and authentic to say that what we write about an individual and a company could be critiqued – and it’s good that it is critiqued – because reality is messy. This might feel like common-sense, yet in demanding a “right” answer from a psychometric test we are demanding a reality that is simple and straightforward – which is no longer reality.

You might feel challenged by our equating psychometric tests with horoscopes. Indeed, it is a great way to hook an audience to a marketing campaign. But the comparison between the two is weak – it just makes a point. Psychometric tests have been rigorously tested, and the trends and patterns are well-evidenced. Still, their credibility would rise if they noted that these trends and patterns are better viewed through a lens of scepticism, and not held to be an individual psychic reading.

Choose Entelechy’s Discover Solution if you want to see your individuals and your company authentically, and gain access to all the tools to shape perceptions and conclusions. You can begin your journey with our free Company of Character Assessment, where you get a taster of our insights and our invitation to action those ideas. You will begin to see that what you believe is truth is entirely up to you, and what you do about it is also – refreshingly – entirely up to you.

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