163. Personality

Can Buzzfeed quizzes, Myers-Briggs Types, and Enneagrams tell us anything valid about who we are? In episode 163 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss personality. They talk through the Big Five personality test and its legitimacy, the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (MBTI), and how the concept of personality emerged out of abnormal psychology. Why did the concept of personality replace using literature to understand the self? How does the concept of personality presuppose a fixed concept of the self? And what is the connection between MBTI and World War II? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts think about how personality tests might be susceptible to the Barnum effect and their reduction of the self to egos. Overthink is a philosophy podcast hosted by your new favorite professors, Ellie Anderson (Pomona College) and David Peña-Guzmán (San Francisco State University). Check out our episodes for deep dives into concepts such as existential anxiety, empathy, and gaslighting. Works Discussed: Theodor Adorno, The Authoritarian Personality Merve Emre, What's Your Type? The Story of the Myers-Briggs, and How Personality Testing Took Over the World Colin Koopman, How We Became Our Data: A Genealogy of the Informational Person Enjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3v Subscribe to our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/ Website: overthinkpodcast.com Substack: overthinkpod.substack.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Overthink-podcast-105420885026249 Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overthink/id1538249280 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4aIlXHTDz5vrc78DyjFg66 Art19 RSS: https://rss.art19.com/overthink Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at @overthink_pod