4 Lesser-Known Personality Tests to Explore

The classic Myers-Briggs personality inventory is one of the most popular and renowned personality profiling systems. With over 88 percent of the Fortune 500 currently using it, it holds the crown as the choice questionnaire for people development and team-fit processes worldwide.

But, as freakishly accurate as this personality test can be, you’ll get a much more holistic breakdown of your personality as well as the individual traits that influence it when you combine the 16-type with other tests. Since personality psychology is extremely complex and multifaceted, one test cannot tell all there is to your identity.

Whether it’s team formation, relationship building, or personal curiosity (yes, looking at you!), personality tests have many useful real-world applications, which can guide you on your journey to personal fulfillment.

Enneagram Personality Test

Conceptualized and derived from the early teachings of Claudio Naranjo and Oscar Ichazo, this nine-pointed dreamcatcher-like Enneagram maps out the primary mottos, motivators, fears, vices, virtues, and ego fixations behind the actions and behavior of each individual.

Its geometric structure traces back all the way to the mathematical Pythagorean era (approximately), and has striking similarities to various religious symbols. Energy is displaced based upon your core motives and desires, which is then reflected in your behavior.

The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI v2.5) is a choice-based test with 144 paired statements, developed by some of the most recognized experts in the field. Or, you can take Truity's free Enneagram test.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the nine roles (and each core motive):

• 1 - The Reformer (Principles)
• 2 - The Helper (Relationships)
• 3 - The Achiever (Status)
• 4 - The Individualist (Self-Expression)
• 5 - The Investigator (Understanding)
• 6 - The Loyalist (Security)
• 7 - The Enthusiast (Experience)
• 8 - The Challenger (Competition)
• 9 - The Peacemaker (Mediation)

There are extensions, or “wings” that further elaborate upon how intricate your personality could be, and these can be either one of the neighboring types — this is called a ‘subtype’.

For instance, an Achiever with Helper tendencies translates to the 3W2. This would look significantly different from a 3W4, which has individualist tendencies. It’s also possible to stick strictly to one role and lean toward neither wing.

In contrast to the 16-type indicator which focuses on personal judgement and perception, the Enneagram emphasizes how each of the nine types (or eighteen total subtypes) handles personal vices and deals with pain points, as well as emotive and thought patterns.

While the MBTI® may describe your outlooks and choices, the Enneagram can help uncover core motivations that drive your hopes and fears. A great application of the Enneagram is solving your internal and external conflicts with more clarity by understanding exactly what makes you tick. It’s like doing intensive detective work within yourself!

Instinctual Variants Test

With blocks arranged as a hierarchical stack, the three Instinctual Variants (Self-Preserving, Sexual, and Social) effectively expand upon the Enneagram. The Instinctual Variants Questionnaire (IVQ v2.0) is a choice-based inventory with 37 sets containing three statements each.

There’s a focus question each type aims to align with their actions:

Self-preserving (SP):

“How can I conserve my own energy and resources for the future and live securely?”

Common topics of discussion with SP-firsts involve finance, food, clothing, real estate, interior design, and home decor. They may relish in lavish lifestyles and indulgence under extreme stress.

Sexual (SX):

“How can I achieve inner satisfaction through the intensity and merging of my energy with another (person/object/passion) into one?”

Personal likes, tastes, fantasies, desires, dreams, and gleaming visions for the future are what SX-firsts bring to the table. The intense, inward-facing energy can appear to the outer world as brooding or rumination.

Social (SO):

“How can I better facilitate the functions of my group and understand where we stand in society, together?”

Politics, relationships, friendships, family, social gatherings, trends, and global news are a few of the many topics SO-firsts enjoy discussing. They seek to figure out exactly how they fit as a puzzle piece in the world around them.

These three blocks then turn into six combinations (the final block is usually omitted):

• SP/SO
• SP/SX
• SX/SP
• SX/SO
• SO/SP
• SO/SX

The primary stack will come intuitively — and is comparable to the primary function in the Briggs and Myers system. The second piece is called the helper, and the final one is known as the blind spot (the ‘area of neglect’...or perhaps the root of bad decisions).

Socionics

If the 16-type indicator had a slightly wacky and soft-spoken cousin, then Socionics is its name. Conceptualized in the 1970s by Lithuanian Aushra Augusta, this test takes a unique approach on the original 16 types. It combines Model A (of the psyche) with a model of interpersonal relations.

While the 16-type system uses eight cognitive functions to determine type, Socionics enters the scene and bridges psychology and sociology, hence its name. The ‘Thinking’ function is translated to ‘Logic’, and ‘Feeling’ is to ‘Ethics’ — another key difference in naming.

Instead of focusing on the individuals themselves, it sheds light on interpersonal relations (in sociological terms, that would be symbolic interactionism). Socionics combines the classic four Jungian and the following 11 Reinin scales:

• Static — Dynamic
• Positivist — Negativist
• Asking — Declaring
• Tactical — Strategic
• Constructivist — Emotivist
• Result — Process
• Yielding — Obstinate
• Carefree — Farsighted
• Judicious — Decisive
• Aristocracy — Democracy
• Merry — Serious

Eight functional positions (leading, creative, role, vulnerable, suggestive, mobilizing, observant, demonstrative) are present instead of the classic four (dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, inferior) in the 16-type system.

The results from the Socionics test are known as ‘Sociotypes’, and focus upon Freudian values of ego, superego, id, and superid blockages — using the original Jungian typology as a base to build upon.

The Big 5

As one of the most popular industrial-organizational hiring tools, the Big 5 traits-based test lives up to its name. It’s essentially an empirical coordinate system that translates answers into useful numbers or statistics.

These iconic five pillars (taking OCEAN acronym) are:

• Openness (Novelty, Creativity, Exploration)
• Conscientiousness (Responsibility, Goal-Setting, Focus)
• Extraversion (Sociability, Outwardness, Expansion)
• Agreeableness (Diplomacy, Trust, Warmth)
• Neuroticism (Reactivity, Stress, Instability)

The 16-type system and the Big 5 have very clear links: Agreeableness for Feeling, Conscientiousness for Judging, and Openness for Intuition (there's no correlate for Neuroticism in Myers and Briggs' system). What’s the major difference between them? Their framework: the type theory versus the trait theory.

You can take a free Big Five test right here at Truity! It consists of 60 questions and takes around 15 minutes.

Closing Thoughts

The world of personality tests is a vast and ever-expanding one. It can be challenging to wrap your head around the functionalities of each system at first (all of those terms and graphs, ahem).

As our personalities are being moulded by technology, it’s easier than ever to gain a better understanding of ourselves. While some traits may be biologically innate; others could be moulded through our later-day social interactions and first-hand experiences.

The Enneagram, Instinctual Variants, Socionics, and Big 5 are all fantastic personality test resources to further expand your self-knowledge. It may even open some new doors, to your surprise!