Should Personality Testing Be Required To Get A Job?

Exercise 1. Personality Testing

Several businesses and organizations require personality testing as a part of the hiring process. Based on the course readings and power point for this, week, answer the following questions:

1. Do you think personality testing should be required to get a job? Why or why not?

According to our textbook on page 349, personality is defined as the pattern of enduring characteristics that produce consistency and individuality in a given person. Personality encompasses the behaviors that make each of us unique and that differentiate us from others. It is also personality that leads us to act consistently in different situations and over extended periods of time. On page 351, the personality is further divided into

I think the best examples of jobs that would benefit would include teachers, medical jobs, fireman and police officers. When I was a student at Masonic Hospital, there was a trauma that came in on my shift. This requires a trauma team. The team consists of doctors, nurses, techs and more. This team did not miss a beat. It was like watching a perfectly performed dance. They all knew what each other needed, where they would step next and worked around each other perfectly. In this case, everyone was equal. Everyone had an intricate part in the trauma. I believe medical staff, teachers, fireman and police officers can perform at higher levels when they have people around them that they trust and work well with. These professions also require self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined in our text book on page 364 as the belief in one’s personal capabilities. Self-efficacy underlies people’s faith in their ability to carry out a particular behavior or produce a desired outcome. For these jobs listed above, I think self-efficacy is something that is not only important, but could be lifesaving. The police department uses the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2. This is a test that predicts behaviors and can predict the how likely an officer is to fire their

The Man with the Devil on his Shoulder

Most of us have seen the classic situation of a person deliberating between two ethical choices. In the midst of the debate, an imaginary devil appears on one shoulder to encourage the person to do what he or she wants to do. Then, a cartoon angel appears on the other telling him/her what they should do. Freud’s theory of personality is very much like this image.

Image for a moment that it is a cold and rainy Monday morning. Your alarm clock goes off at 6:00 am so you can be ready for your morning class. Imagine the following conversation with yourself:

“I am exhausted; it’s cold and rainy. I do not want to go to class! I want to stay in bed!”

According to Freud, the part of your personality that directly relates to your primitive drives and impulsive behavior is called the Id. The Id is defined as the raw, unorganized, inborn part of the personality whose sole purpose is to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression and irrational impulses. The Id operates according to the pleasure principle, in which the goal is the immediate reduction of tension and maximum of satisfaction. This would desire to stay in bed would be the shoulder with the devil. The devil would signify your desire to stay in bed and miss class. The angel would know that although you want to stay in bed, you need to go to class. The internal argument would be, I want to sleep in, but I need to get a good