Unit 7: Communication Skills

Tests of Normal Personality Traits

Some psychological tests were designed to measure normal personality traits. The questions on these tests are likely to ask questions about how you see yourself and how you react to everyday situations. The questions may be true/false questions or multiple choice questions. A typical question might be something like this: Compared to most people, I am easy going. (True or False?) These tests measure such personality traits as how sociable you are, or how aggressive you are, or how flexible you are. Some psychological tests measure dozens of such personality traits. Personality tests recognize that individuals may be very different for one another but still well within the range of normal characteristics. There are usually many questions (perhaps twenty or so) for each personality trait because there can be such great differences in responses to individual questions.