HBO’s “Persona” — Sorting the Facts from the Fictions

“Persona — The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests” tries to connect the dots between personality tests and employment discrimination.

It spends a lot of time on the history of the MBTI(r), gives a brief but definitive platform to representatives for Unicru and Vision Hire (who provide AI-based hiring tests) without challenging their product or their methods in any significant way, and we have to wait until the penultimate screen to learn that Kroger’s discriminatory online application was based on the Big 5 model.

There were three main content themes:

1. the history of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator (MBTI(r)) as told by Merve Emre, author of “The Personality Brokers” (2018) which the film is based (and spent a considerable amount of time) on
2. the personal story of Kyle Behm, a young man in Atlanta who had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, was later “red-flagged” (i.e. not hired) after taking an online personality test based on the Big 5 model for a job at Kroger in 2012, and who died by suicide aged 29 in 2019, and his father, attorney Roland Behm, who filed complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for discrimination against mentally ill applicants through the use of personality tests
3. the greater dangers of “weaponizing” personality tests, i.e. using artificial intelligence (AI) like vocal and facial recognition technologies to screen applications submitted via biased instruments which are built on and therefore reinforce classist, racist, sexist, white supremacist, and ableist ideologies, as told by, among others, Lydia X. Z. Brown, American autistic disability rights activist.

Facts

(as stated in the documentary by various speakers, condensed and paraphrased for legibility):

• people are biased
• personality type instruments are flawed
• instruments devised by people with racist, ableist, classist, or sexist ideologies will skew to those prejudices and be biased in their results
• personality “tests” are being used for hiring purposes
• the MBTI(r) and Big 5 are the two models that are most used
• the personality type industry is not regulated by law
• where a biased human might be able to discriminate against 10 job candidates per day, a biased computer algorithm can scan and discriminate against thousands
• Isabel Briggs and Katherine Myers were two women who did not have psychology degrees
• the MBTI(r) started in a living room and after WWII was used to support America’s growing workforce to find the best use of their innate talents
• the MBTI(r) is useful for individuals in their self-discovery journey
• the MBTI(r) was never intended to be used as an exclusionary hiring tool, because it doesn’t predict performance
• the personality “test” used by Kroger in the example of Kyle Behm’s discrimination was based on the Big 5
• companies and “big tech” have been collecting consumer data including education details, shopping habits, and online activity for years
• that data is sold to the highest bidder, usually companies who want to profit from the existing capitalist system, and used to exploit the consumer

Fictions, Falsehoods, and Omissions

“INFJ is the rarest Type” — the “national representative sample” this statement is based on is not only way too small, it’s also over 20 years old (sorry INFJ, I still think you’re special and I love you 🤗).

“We went to a luxurious off-site, and an MBTI(r) practitioners told me “you’re ENTJ” — not debating her personal memory of that event, but that would be the “test-and-tell” method, which is against MBTI(r) code of ethics. After filling in the indicator, you meet with a certified practitioner so they can explain the theory and discuss your result to make sure your reported Type is actually your best-fit Type.

Incidentally, this is why most online questionnaires aren’t reliable — you simply HAVE to talk to someone about why you chose some answers over others if you want a more complete picture. Motivations and mindset matter. Check out the MBTI(r) Ethical Guidelines for more.

“You’re born as one Type and that’s how you die” — that’s not how I understand it. Your four-letter Type is a starting point, and by definition, the starting point doesn’t change, yes. Jung said we have a predisposition to use our brain a certain way, yes. But you also need opportunity to practice your innate strengths so you can develop skills. And then as you grow older and hold different jobs or move to different countries, you learn to adapt your behaviors and learn additional skills.

The theory is not about categorizing people, it’s about categorizing ways of thinking. So it doesn’t “put you in a box forever.” If you insist on interpreting the four letters as a box, think about Type as showing you a map the size of a gajillion cubic feet for you to explore. Just remember the map is not the territory; it never pretends to be. The theory is about balancing the psyche, developing as a person, and becoming “whole” inside yourself. It’s too complex to tackle within one paragraph, but check out the CAPT Milo database for more on Type Development.

Takeaway

Overall, I found the movie sensationalist and the use of visuals that accompanied some of the voice-overs very misleading and in poor taste.

It sets the MBTI(r) up as this nefarious thing, and then obviously can’t connect it to the “two classes of people: the employable and the unemployable” distopia, because that’s just. not. how. it. works. I can’t speak to the Big 5, I’ve never used it.

The film ends on an emotional note showing clips of Roland Behm at a suicide prevention event, as well as some of the previously featured experts talking to Congress about online tests and employment discrimination.

Yes, the actual harm that some companies are doing using online application tests is affecting people all over the country as we speak. But they are not tied to the MBTI(r) you spent half the movie talking about!

Could the MBTI(r) be even stricter than not selling to companies who use it for hiring? Sure. There should be fines. But also, you had the ACTUAL guys who are engaging in the discriminatory activities in front of your camera and you never took them to task!

Not only that, the documentary also failed to examine the greater cultural context of why companies resort to shady hiring methods in the first place. Viewing people as “human capital” is the slippery slope that fuels the engine of capitalism. Maybe spend 10 minutes to mention how companies might have less turnover if they paid their workers a decent living wage, provided health care, and dignified, safe working conditions.

OF COURSE Type shouldn’t be used for hiring or excluding potential candidates. Every Type can do every job, because we can learn skills and are capable to adapt our behaviors to the context.

OF COURSE Type shouldn’t be used for dating or excluding potential friendships. Every Type can have relationships with every other Type, because we can practice communication skills and are capable to adapt our behaviors to the context.

The movie mentions the two main personality models, then spends 10:1 time on the MBTI(r), and doesn’t even differentiate between the different underlying theories — MBTI(r) is Type-based, the Big 5 is trait-based.

The only purpose all those minutes spent on Isabel Briggs served was to illustrate potential bias from individuals who design instruments. Filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins should have shown at least as much rigor towards David Scarborough, co-creator of the Unicru personality test used by Kroger, and the rep for Vision Hire, which looks like a legit nightmare. Analyzing my facial expression while I answer questions about my boss?? No, thanks. As he said himself, it’s not scientifically verified. And I’m guessing, like any polygraph it can tell you that you appear nervous, but not why. Maybe there’s a spider in the corner and it’s throwing you off.

Still, I learned a few new things. I didn’t know Katherine had two more children who didn’t survive infancy. I didn’t know she was obsessed with personality and had a “lab” in her living room from Isabel’s birth. I didn’t know Isabel has written two novels before spending 45+ years working on the MBTI(r), one of those novels apparently showing a racist theme.

What this in-depth look at the women behind the instrument reminded me of is that everyone has inherent biases, and it is impossible to get away from them.

Of course their biases will have seaped into the first iterations of the MBTI(r). It was updated after her death in collaboration with psychologists and statisticians in 1998 (Form M for Step I, and Form Q for Step II), and the European OPP is offering various translated versions to include other cultures. Is it still inherently racist? I don’t know.

It’s absolutely true that psychology and medicine in general overly caters to white males. That’s something Type practitioners have to be aware of as we work with all of our clients, whether we use the MBTI(r) instrument, the Jungian theory, the Interstrength™ approach, or any other method.

I do know that I’ll continue using Jungian Type theory as a means for greater self-awareness, fostering empathy, and encouraging personal development and growth. Adding the Type lens and learning about cognitive functions has enriched my life and given me the tools to improve countless interpersonal situations. It even saved my marriage. Paying attention to my own biases and privilege is simply going to be an added layer.