Media Feature

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Most personality tests (like Myers-Briggs) are junk science and can make you cling to a label — instead, focus on making meaningful change

July 2, 2020

In an analysis on the conceptual structure of personality tests, Michael Wilmot, Jingyuan (Sarah) Tian, Nick Haslam, and Deniz Ones show that structuring personality into "types," although fun, is false. There is no such thing as a personality "type."

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The problem with ‘Type A’ personalities

October 30, 2018

Michael Wilmot and his team (Nick Haslam, Jingyuan (Sarah) Tian & Deniz S. Ones) re-examined archival data from previous surveys of nearly 4,500 people across the US and UK, whom had participated in old Type A surveys years ago. They were unable to achieve similar results that suggested “Type A” is a naturally occurring personality type, and found that personality is better understood as sliding scales of specific traits rather than categories.