The Psychologist's Book Of Self-Tests: 25 Love, Sex, Intelligence, Career, And Personality Tests Developed By Professionals to Reveal the Real You

by Louis Janda

Now readers can uncover their strengths and weaknesses with this collection of 25 actual personality tests developed by psychologists for professional use. The tests cover every aspect of personality--intelligence, self-esteem, ambition, platonic and romantic relationships--and, at the end of each, expert advice to help readers change their lives for the better is included.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help, Reference, Childrens

230 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has many tests that are supposed to let me know more about myself. They didn't do much, but did tell me that I need to spend more time trying to be with my husband and interact with him. Well, duh!
The tests were fun, but I did them all in 2 days. Whew, glad it's over.
Some of the tests told me one thing where others told me the opposite.
I thought I would learn so much more than I did!

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little book! It’s a bit dated since I believe it’s from the ‘90s, but I enjoyed learning more about myself through these tests which are developed by psychologists. The author even gives some insightful information after each section which taught me a lot. Scoring yourself becomes tedious and it’s easier to just take an online quiz lol, but I liked it nonetheless. 4/5 stars, June 12, 2022.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Janda has taken a variety of tests and published them in one place for you to determine how intelligent you are in addition to measuring your fear of failure and how well you get along with your significant other. The first battery of assessments are straight-forward in evaluating your intelligence but the other keys used are sometimes confusing as they use different scales and can even be a challenge when answering the questions. All in all, it is a pretty interesting read.

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book of tests you can take to learn more about yourself. It is pretty dated and I would argue that a bunch of the tests aren't very valid (especially since the book skips over validity measures completely stating "I won't bore you with the details, trust me, it's valid!") but it's no worse than your average online test (i.e "who in your friends list are you going to marry"!!!) So fun, and gets you thinking about some things, but certainly not something to be taken very seriously.

[Jbussen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.
In order to use (Library) you need to have a spreadsheet because after you log your answers you have to sort them out to find where you are. Each test has its own scoring system etc. And then it talks about what it means etc. This book is a good idea poorly executed. I would like to try another of this type of book with better results. Some of these tests were pretty crummy. Others were decent. The interpretations of? Personally I'm just not impressed. A "meh" book. Forgettable.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed. The test questions seemed ambiguous and difficult to know what to answer. The test results taken by myself and my son seemed skewed in odd directions. But we did have fun doing this together. It just didn't leave me feeling like the tests were worth my time/energy to do.

[Sandra Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to do this book back in high school. I loved this book.

[Melodie Wendel-Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read; for each test there is afterward discussion.

[Adrienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, the sections I enjoyed and learned valuable insight from is: job hunting skills (read previous books but this one helped me see what we need to do more so when we are seeking employment especially in this economy today); comfortable with success (for some reason most people are not comfortable with this status but yet desire it dearly); and smart about taking tests.

While I am preparing for LSAT (done the GMAT, GRE, and SAT/ACT in the past), I also have to take many tests for the job market today as well...sometimes I do exceptionally well and others times when I think it is easy--do not pass. I have to see what I am messing to do better in the future. The 8 flaws not only did I review thoroughly but also took notes for future studying and preparation! I know most of us know the basic: check off the ones that are incorrect and choose between the last obvious two for the right answer.

Some of the tests scores:
The Fear of Success Scale - 10, 85th percentile (10 or higher)
The Assertive Job-Hunting Survey - 67, 15th percentile (90 or lower)
The Impostor Phenomenon Scale (comfortable with success)- 97, high in the 85th percentile (37 or higher)
The Self-Esteem Inventory - high esteem (only missed 12 out of 58)

The Internality, Chance, and Powerful Others Scale:
Internality - 30, highest score which indicates a belief that one's efforts can make a difference in the outcome of events.
Powerful Others - 16
Chance - 18

*Rational Behaviors: less than 15%, only got a 10. I know I am a rational logical person overall. Sensation seeking scale shows Experience Seeking was the highest score of 4 and then 2 points on Dis-inhibition, and others were 0. Surprisingly, it stated that we seek out novel experience which is true for me, prefer meditation, and try a new vacation every year rather than go back to the old place--on point for me! If we score low in this section, we would like a job as college professor. I had the opportunity about 5 years ago and turned it down; now I am considering it as I am pushing closer to 40 years old. Overall, we have to examine our life choices!

I teach a class on Competitive Spirits in Dream Experience Series (DES), and see that I am very competitive since I score 79% (75 score) and 21% as cooperative but this shows that I am a leader and need cooperative team. I do have a great team of spiritual DYRP leaders in ministry right now. There was one test score I didn't fully agree with but it was all in fun.

[Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I freakin' love this book! It's one of the best, most informative, truthful, and fun books I've ever read. I learned so much from reading this book! Super interesting facts with surprising accurate exams that you can take yourself or with friends to find out more about your personal qualities and attributes or about you friends and family. A must have for anyone interested in self-interpretation and psychology! Amazing! I simply love it!!! :)

[Chris Seltzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think a website would be a better venue for this content than this book.

Perhaps it made sense at the time of publication, but not the format makes it seem cramped and dated.

[Carole Skees · Rating 4 out of 5]

An brief but interesting look into oneself.