Scepticism and personality type

[althea]

Good morning and a Happy New Year to all. I am new here, so hallo.

Now we have got that out of the way, I wonder if anyone wants to discuss the psychology of skepticism?

For a start, it is clear that we humans are all different in the way we feel and think about ourselves and the world, and we know that various people like Jung have gathered people into groups and given them names like "Intuitive" etc. according to their personality. There is a general website about personality testing, if you haven't met this before.

We also know that there are several ways of creating personality types: my question is - is a skeptic a member of a specific personality type, and if so, which one?

If you haven't met any of these these, try them (for free) and let's see if we skeptics are in fact a similar type (that is, assuming that all posters to this forum are indeed truly skeptics!)

Myers Briggs Personality Analysis

The Enneagram test

A General Personality test

I am making a guess here, but I think that intuition is not something that most skeptics trust. A gut feeling or a belief, however true it FEELS, simply isn't enough to establish a firm truth based on reality.

What do you think?
???

[Mongrel]

http://skepdic.com/enneagr.html

http://skepdic.com/myersb.html

Generally personality 'tests' are fairly hopeless, relying on the Forer effect (check the link to Barnum statements as well) and the testee being absolutely honest.

Try and find a test where that includes lazy, arrogant, insensitive or any other negative character aspect, we all have some...

[Mulder]

I'm a bit sceptical about personality tests.

[seren]

I'm much more interested in skepticism and political affiliation- has anybody studied that?

[Cuddles]

I'm much more interested in skepticism and political affiliation- has anybody studied that?

I don't know of any studies, but if the politics section of the JREF is anything to go by there's no connection between skepticism and any political views.

[althea]

http://skepdic.com/enneagr.html

http://skepdic.com/myersb.html

Generally personality 'tests' are fairly hopeless, relying on the Forer effect (check the link to Barnum statements as well) and the testee being absolutely honest.

Try and find a test where that includes lazy, arrogant, insensitive or any other negative character aspect, we all have some...

Thanks Mongrel.

I checked out the skeptics enneagram link and found this among the references:

Romancing the Enneagram by Don Riso (reformed enneagrammy---well, not completely reformed: Rebecca Newgent's doctoral dissertation at the University of Akron proved Riso's version of the Enneagram is scientifically valid and reliable.)

Does that mean as a skeptic according to this forum I must not consider the Enneagram system scientifically valid, when at least one PHD student, presumably after many years of study, discovered otherwise?

If skeptics were all Enneagram type Five, that would make perfect sense of skepticism......and that would mean that skeptics are born, not made, because that is the whole point of the Enneagram. Its a way of being you are born with, to use in making sense of the world. Its based in pre-birth experience, it seems.

I do hope we can get some other responses! Do try them!

The Enneagram test (http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/)

A General Personality test (http://www.personality100.com/)

[Pebble]

Does that mean as a skeptic according to this forum I must not consider the Enneagram system scientifically valid, when at least one PHD student, presumably after many years of study, discovered otherwise?

If skeptics were all Enneagram type Five, that would make perfect sense of skepticism......and that would mean that skeptics are born, not made, because that is the whole point of the Enneagram. Its a way of being you are born with, to use in making sense of the world. Its based in pre-birth experience, it seems.

I do hope we can get some other responses! Do try them!


Here is the paper abstract:

The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator: Estimates of Reliability and Validity.

by Rebecca A. Newgent , Patricia E. Parr , Isadore Newman , Kristin K. Higgins


This investigation was conducted to estimate the reliability and validity of scores on the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (D. R. Riso & R. Hudson, 1999a). Results of 287 participants were analyzed. Alpha suggests an adequate degree of internal consistency. Evidence provides mixed support for construct validity using correlational and canonical analyses but strong support for heuristic value.

Standardized measures are expected to have published norms and an established record of reliability, validity, and predictive utility. As of yet, many personality assessments have not established this record. For example, some professionals and lay people use Enneagram personality measures such as the Cohen-Palmer Inventory (Palmer, 1988), the Wagner Inventory (Wagner, 1981), and the Zinkle Inventory (Zinkle, 1974) as a measure for gaining information about clients or for self-understanding. According to Riso and Hudson (2000), the Enneagram of Personality Types is a modern synthesis of a number of ancient wisdom traditions.

I get very worried when I see statements such as those I have bolded, coupled with statements of 'scientifically proven'

Note if you go to Newgents CV, you will find that her main sponsor is the Enneagram Institute. I'm not implying that this affected the outcome, but grand theories require rather more work than that presented to enter the mainstream of thinking.

[Mongrel]

Does that mean as a skeptic according to this forum I must not consider the Enneagram system scientifically valid, when at least one PHD student, presumably after many years of study, discovered otherwise?

When they only have one dissertation from a psychology student, yep that's a little suspicious.

If skeptics were all Enneagram type Five, that would make perfect sense of skepticism......

Why?

and that would mean that skeptics are born, not made, because that is the whole point of the Enneagram.

So it's Astrology then? Congratulations, you've just solved the entire Nature\Nurture debate.

Its based in pre-birth experience,

ROFL (to use the vernacular)

Human nature is far too complicated to sum up with a number from 1-9 combined with such sentences as

Ultimately, you are the only one who can decide what your basic type is. When you read the description of your own personality type, you will know it. You may feel chills run down your spine, or an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. This will be your subconscious telling you that something is hitting home (from Personality Types, p. 42).

(Source) means I'm highly dubious of any benefit from personality studies... "If you don't like what the test says just change the result!".


It's just another pile of self-indulgent, touchy-feely wanking (in the American sense) that keeps the 'consultants' pockets lined.


PS - We saw the links first time around, no need to post them again or we'll think you're a commercial spammer

[seren]

Thanks Cuddles.

wanking (in the American sense)

Eh? They do it differently? What did I miss?

[Mongrel]

Eh? They do it differently? What did I miss?

Over there they use the word to mean devotional, fanboyish mental masturbation.

[Julia]

Now there's something I wouldn't have known had it not been for this site.

[Mongrel]

Now there's something I wouldn't have known had it not been for this site.

We aim to please

[dashwood]

i'll tell you my personality type; i used to belive in ghosts and ufos but i started reading books and that cuered me, because knowlege is the only way to correct incorrect thought proccesses...

[n8rae]

Good morning and a Happy New Year to all. I am new here, so hallo.

Hi there.

I am making a guess here, but I think that intuition is not something that most skeptics trust. A gut feeling or a belief, however true it FEELS, simply isn't enough to establish a firm truth based on reality.

What do you think?
???

I'm not sure about this.
I think that a gut feeling is very valid in the majority (95%ish) of decisions that we make. I personal rely on gut feelings all the time especialy as i am an art student and must often make decisions based on nothing more than what i feel. in fact my work suffers if i think about it and analyse it to much.
This is also the case in my relationships, what i want to eat, and many other areas of my life.

A lot of research has been done on "gut feeling" decision making. One study the partisipants were asked to bet on a game which was weighted in one direction (fixed for one character to win based on roughly fixed cards). Many of the participants had a "gut feeling" that something was up before they realised it was fixed and long before they worked out what was actualy wrong with the cards.

I also think we can train our "gut feelings" by thinking thru situations before we get to them, so when we are in the middle of something (and there is not enought time to logicaly think things through), we are more likely to make the right choice.

So my advice for all us skeptics out there would be: Go with your gut feelings more often and see what happens.

natahn

[Pebble]

Hi there.



I'm not sure about this.
I think that a gut feeling is very valid in the majority (95%ish) of decisions that we make. I personal rely on gut feelings all the time especialy as i am an art student and must often make decisions based on nothing more than what i feel. in fact my work suffers if i think about it and analyse it to much.
This is also the case in my relationships, what i want to eat, and many other areas of my life.


So my advice for all us skeptics out there would be: Go with your gut feelings more often and see what happens.

natahn

Going with your gut feelings is fine when the outcome is unimportant, and probably essential in some areas e.g.art. In real life 'gut feelings' are ok for prioritising which option(s) to investigate further, but a disaster if relied upon. How do you think con artists and fraudsters survive? They rely on people liking what is revealed and not trying to analyse or investigate.
Relying on gut feeling is the antithesis of skepticism. It can of course lead to a much more exciting life, if on balance your guesses pay off and you can live with the mistakes.