Personality typing systems are reexperiencing widespread attention. According to the Harvard Business Review, personality testing is a $500 million industry and grows by 10 to 15% annually. Psychology Today reports that 80% of Fortune 500 companies used the Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to assess their employees.
However, personality tests are not contained to the workplace; teachers have begun to implement tests in their classroom as well. Among them is Kayla Gerlach, an AP English Language and Composition teacher, who uses another popular typing system known as the Enneagram. There are nine Enneagram types, each with their own core fears, desires, and internal dynamics.
“My preference is the Enneagram, because it’s all about your motivations,” Gerlach said. “It’s not like you are this way and it’s a negative thing, it’s about what motivates you and then how you can kind of use that to benefit, but also it helps you to understand other people better.”
Seniors Ellen Jiang and Felicia Chen said they both preferred the Enneagram system for similar reasons.
“While I don’t think you have to stick to one specific system, I mainly use the Enneagram system because it goes really deep into how people think and their motivations and their fears and deepest desires,” Jiang said.
“I mainly use Enneagram,” Chen said. “I mean I found it from the popularity of MBTI, but I thought the Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator was kind of shallow compared to Enneagram, so I like that much better.”
Chen said she felt this personality test was extremely accurate.
“It put a system for me to follow,” Chen said. “I never really noticed details about people until I found out about these personality systems.”
Jiang said she had a similar experience with personality tests.
“I think (Enneagram is) really accurate. Since it focuses on the worst parts of yourself, often when people first read about it, they’re like, ‘Wow, this is so violating,’” Jiang said. “When I first read about it, it was really a life-changing experience because it helped me recognize a lot of patterns of my own fear that I never really understood before.”
Jiang said she also felt personality tests have helped her understand her peers.
“I’ve been able to understand other people better because I understand that everyone has different goals in life, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and I can see that myself as well,” Jiang said. “It’s helped me become more self-aware and introspective than before, and it has helped me grow as a person.”
Gerlach said she has gone as far as using personality test results in her teaching.
“For this particular personality test, there are a lot of career paths that people tend to go to based on what number they are,” Gerlach said. “So a lot of times teachers are Enneagram 2s because they are helpers. Nurses, things like that are Enneagram 2s. I think it is helpful to find a path that would be helpful or interesting to you. But more importantly, I think it’s important to look at what your personality type is and how you can protect yourself at your work in terms of work-life balance or getting burnt out.”
“I have my students take the Enneagram test and then look at what motivates them,” Gerlach added, “and then from my side of it as a teacher, I try to use that to help motivate students in a way that works for them. So if someone is really motivated by doing something because they care about helping other people, then I might help them find motivation or assignments that align with that, versus someone who does things because it’s the right thing to do, I need to help make sure that they are not getting stuck in that but they’re finding other motivations as well.”
Personality types and self-growth
Chen said she didn’t think personalities could change under the Enneagram system.
“There’s shallow traits that can be changed,” Chen said, “but who you are as a person, unless I get brain damage, is probably fixed.”
Jiang said she agreed with the theory of fixed personality types.
“The theory of the Enneagram is that after age 11, your personality is set in stone and you can’t change anything about it because it’s mainly based off of your childhood,” Jiang said. “But the level of mental health you have can change. So for example, within a certain type, a healthy 2 would be very different from an unhealthy 1 because this was developed for mentally unstable people, so there’s different levels of health that have been written about and researched.”
Gerlach also said mental well-being can impact someone’s behavior.
“That’s one of the things about the Enneagram is it has multiple levels of how you’re doing overall, how healthy is what they call it, (and) when you’re stressed versus whenever you’re doing really well, it can look different,” Gerlach said.
However, Gerlach also said she believes personality can be changed beyond someone’s mood.
“I would say with the particular personality test that I like to use with Enneagram, my motivations haven’t changed, but how it has shown up has changed,” Gerlach said. “I would say my type hasn’t changed, but my personality has probably changed over time.”
Decision-making and personality tests
Chen said she didn’t believe personality tests had a big impact on her decisions.
“I don’t think it impacts my choices,” Chen said. “I do think sometimes, is this what I’m supposed to be, or what would this categorize me as? I usually reflect on my choices, but I don’t think it would change them.”
Gerlach said she also finds herself reflecting on the personality test after her decisions, but not before.
“I would say maybe not the test itself, whether I knew about it wouldn’t have impacted (my decisions),” Gerlach said. “My gut instinct, my natural reaction is to do something and then sometimes I pause and think about it. I’m like, okay, am I doing this because of my Enneagram type? Is there something I could be doing differently or should really think about?”
In terms of relationships, Chen said compatibility indicators do not impact her decisions on who to be around.
“I do like varying people, because I like other perspectives I can listen to,” Chen said. “That’s fun. (But) if you try hard enough, you can make things work.”
However, Gerlach said she has noticed the personality tests have also had an impact on her perspective of relationships.
“I think a bunch of people who are Enneagram 1s like me would be terrible to spend time with,” Gerlach said. “We’re exhausting. So I spend a lot of time with other personality types. Each Enneagram has a type that they go to when they’re stressed or not doing well. I have found that people don’t typically get along with the people who are that personality type. So as a 1, when I’m stressed, I become more like a 4. One of my sisters is a 4, and I love her so much. But I find those particular characteristics a little irritating, and I find that to be true for most people.”
Similarly, Jiang said personality tests do not consciously affect her decisions to spend time with other people.
“I found that some personality types are a lot more common than others, but people’s personality types don’t really affect whether I talk to them or not,” Jiang said. “I do think that I enjoy being with more positive people because I myself have two positive fixes.”
Despite this, Jiang said she believes personality tests have had a positive effect on her relationships.
“It influences how I approach my relationships and personal growth to an extent,” Jiang said. “I feel like in my childhood, even like a year ago, I was very immature towards others. I was pretty judgmental towards other people. But I’ve learned to be more accepting and understanding of others’ actions.”
Ultimately, Jiang said they would encourage others to use personality typing systems.
“A lot of people I’ve talked to about this think that personality stuff is stupid, and it’s like astrology,” Jiang said. “I feel like it’s really eye-opening, and it can help you learn about yourself and other people and understand humans better. And I think everyone can benefit from this.”
Gerlach and Chen said they agreed with this sentiment, but to be cautious of projecting it on others.
“I encourage people to type themselves, but not to type other people,” Gerlach said, “because we never know what the motivating factor is for someone.”
“Don’t go crazy, but it is a fun system,” Chen said. “(Personality testing) is just a fun thing to do.”