We informally assess and describe personalities every day. When we talk about ourselves and others, we frequently refer to different characteristics of an individual's personality. For example, we might refer to someone as adventurous, kind, or moody.

Psychologists do much the same thing when they assess personality but on a more systematic and scientific level. They use different types of personality tests to make these assessments.

Personality testing and assessment refer to techniques designed to measure the characteristic patterns of traits that people exhibit across various situations.

The personality tests commonly being used at the workplace typically identify our distinct qualities, habits, values, motivations, emotions and behaviors that make up our personality. This is done to see what strengths we have to bring into the organization and see if the environment can give what we require to leverage on our strengths and add value. So it gives an idea whether we could be a fit in a given environment.

So how do personality tests work? Personality testing is designed to get responses from test takers about their behaviors, preferences, emotional responses, interactions, and motivations in order to evaluate personality characteristics and patterns.

There are two basic types of personality tests: self-report inventories and projective tests:

Self Report Inventories or otherwise known as Objective Personality Tests involve having test-takers read questions and then rate how well the question or statement applies to them. Their answers are then scored against an objective classification system. These have a wider range of applications and are particularly suited to workplace settings.

Projective Tests or Subjective Personality Tests involve presenting the test-taker with a vague scene, object, or scenario and then asking them to give their interpretation of the test item. These are used in clinical and court settings. They require the test taker to offer subjective responses to stimuli, which are then analyzed by a psychologist.

Self-inventories are relatively easy to administer by anyone certified to use a particular tool.

Projective tests, on the other hand, are most often used in psychotherapy settings and require a psychologist.

Most personality tests follow conceptual frameworks.

The conceptual framework that is widely used is the trait theory. It divides personality into recurring behavioral tendencies and tries to measure these traits based on the five-factor model. Participants listen to or read a question, compare the question with their self-view, and then self-report based on that comparison. While the five-factor model is useful, newer lower-order variables have been shown to predict outcomes more accurately. Another issue is that this model assumes that self-reports are a trustworthy measurement of what participants actually feel, think, or do. This assumption is shaky because self-reports are likely skewed to serve the interests of the participant, especially when they are aware that their answers will be used for a hiring decision. Moreover, this approach assumes the disposition to introspect about one’s actions is universal rather than distributed throughout the population.

Another conceptual framework is socioanalytic theory. The theory states that all people live and work within groups and that those groups are structured in status hierarchies. This suggests three primary motives in life: getting along with other people, achieving status, and finding meaning. People solve these problems during their careers and individual differences in personality drives their career success or failure. This framework is rooted in pragmatism and does not view participant data as self-reporting but rather as self-presentation. Instead of trying to predict why participants say the things they do or whether they are true, this framework simply focuses on how responses will predict behavior and performance.