Author Archives: Rob Bailey

Is blood type, an accurate predictor of personality?

by Rob Bailey 07/11/2012

A recent BBC story addresses the Japanese custom linking character to blood type, otherwise known as Ketsueki-gata. Rob Bailey, psychologist and Principal Consultant, Research and Development at OPP discusses the drawbacks of relying on such a system.

free personality test

As with many non-scientific based personality analyses, Ketsueki-gata rings alarm bells with psychologists like myself. While within the psychometrics industry we also claim to be able to make accurate predictions about people’s personalities and characteristics, we use very different methods. A key difference between us and practitioners of pseudoscience is that we continually collect data to check that our methods actually work. Graphologists, Astrologists and blood type enthusiasts don’t tend to collect data – they rely on anecdotes and magical thinking to hoodwink people into accepting the veracity of their ludicrous claims.

 

The popularity of Ketsueki-gata in Japan means that a person’s blood type is believed to determine temperament and personality. ‘What’s your blood type?’ is often a key question in everything from matchmaking to job applications. Many research studies have contradicted these beliefs citing scientific errors, such as including no quantitative data, violating statistical rules, having flawed methodologies and presenting inconsistent results; all contributing to the evidence that no connection exists between a person’s blood type and personality.

Psychometrics makes accurate predictions of behaviour and potential, based on decades of research and application. Persona Bubble is based on the ‘Big Five’ model of personality. It identifies five broad dimensions of personality – a widely accepted model that has influenced the development of many other trait-based assessments.

So before employers or potential partners consider asking for a date’s blood type or a candidate’s blood type during an interview (which, in itself, could result in an uncomfortable situation), perhaps look into a more scientifically proven method of assessing personality type – such as PersonaBubble’s free personality test.

The graph below shows the clear difference between proven methods and the preserve of the charlatan.

free personality test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key for the graph, which is from Robertston and Smith (2001)
A validity index of 1 would show a perfect fit between the assessment method and what it is predicting; 0 shows no relationship; 0.4 and above is very respectable

 

Do you have an unlucky personality?

by Rob Bailey 13/07/2012

To mark the final Friday 13th of the year, we thought we’d have a look into the relationship between personality and a belief in bad luck to see if some personality types believe they are more unlucky than others. We looked at personality data from 1,200 people who had taken our personality test and who had also answered the question: ‘How lucky would you say you are?’

Personality test

There were some clear results…

It appears that people who say that they are unlucky differ from other people mainly by being more anxious. They are more likely to describe themselves as:

  • less emotionally stable
  • less socially confident
  • less trusting of others
  • more likely to worry about themselves

…than people who say that they are averagely, quite, or very lucky.

Although we haven’t looked into the reasons for these differences, we believe it could be due to three main reasons:

  1. People with these kinds of personality traits are less likely to create their own luck. If they lack trust in others, emotional resilience or confidence, then they are less likely to persist with things, more likely to give up on plans and ideas, and are less likely to establish networks with others. Persistence and networking are important in creating situations where luck and success are more likely; no matter how talented you are, sitting in your bedroom worrying is unlikely to bring you success and luck.
  2. People with the above kinds of personality are more likely to blame a lack of luck for times when things go wrong rather than to address their own failings. Which might be the root cause of their lack of luck. Confident people are more likely to think that they can shape the world; anxious people are more likely to think that the world is against them and is to blame for their lack of luck.
  3. People have come to feel less emotionally stable, less confident and less trusting of others because they genuinely have had a worse ride in life than others.

 

So what should unlucky people do?

There might be a rare few people to whom life really has dealt them a poor hand; however, belief in luck is more likely to be just that – a belief which is not grounded in reality. The best thing to do is to challenge that belief, realise that the harder you work, the luckier you are likely to become, and to take steps to shape your own future.