Psychometric profiles

[gadgetmind]

Would anyone be interesting to hear how I've been using psychometric assessment and psychological preference techniques to understand and guide the characters I've been creating?

I've found it useful, but others may either regard it as suspect, obvious, or maybe both!

Ian

 

[Interference]

Love to hear more.

I sometimes wonder how many writers also take account of "star signs" when deciding their characters' birthdays. Most sources give James Bond's dob to be in mid November - is he a typical Scorpio, then?

 

[Ursa major]

...but others may either regard it as suspect, obvious, or maybe both!

You seem to be writing fiction, which gives you a certain leeway in these matters.

If the text describes the use of psychometric profiles, however, you should make sure that what ever you write about it is at least plausible (unless you wish it not to be).

 

[Stylus]

I had a go with Briggs-Meyer testing for my last novel – not to create or guide characters, but just to see if I came close to the type personality I was aiming at.

I took the test on behalf of the main characters – for each question, I tried to think of an incident or thought that was actually in the novel (rather than how I thought the character ought to answer).

The results came out quite close to the personalities I had been hoping to convey (a 'leader', an 'idealist' etc.). It was fun and, in a way, useful. It focussed me on demonstrating a characters personality, rather than just telling the reader about it.

So my answer is: yes, gadgetmind, I would be interested in hearing more.

 

[gadgetmind]

Stylus: Well, it sounds like you're well ahead of me!

I discovered the Myers Briggs stuff via work, where I was initially somewhat sceptical, but it actually seems to yield valuable information on how people perceive the world and make decisions.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have nearly always come out as intj on these tests (occasional forays into intp) and my wife can read wikipedia pages on both of these and nod a lot, which doesn't happen for any of the other types.

In my writing, I have a rough idea which direction characters will go, and so use this to do what you did and get their MBTI category. I can then refer to this to help with their mental musings, dialogue and decision making. I don't let it be a straight-jacket, but I do think it's a good way to get a 'potted' summary of your character to use as a starting point.

Interesting that star signs were mentioned: as "an intj" I have nothing to do with these, and almost certainly never will. But I was wanting to get a MBTI reference into my book at some point as I want to use the phrase, "sixteen signs of the psychobabble zodiac."

Ian

 

[gadgetmind]

you should make sure that what ever you write about it is at least plausible (unless you wish it not to be).

I have found it hard to write about (or even think about) the implausible from an early age. As a result, I read science books, non-fiction books and *hard* science fiction.

Ian

 

[The Judge]

I don't want to sound too sniffy about this, but surely if you know your characters, you don't need to refer to any kind of psychological profiling for them, any more than you do for members of your family (and in fact, as an author you ought to know your characters a damn sight better than you do know your family...)

I would also question whether you should be "guiding" anyone. Your characters should be doing in the novel what it is they want and need to do according to their own personalities -- they should not be waiting for you to read a chart and see what kinds of things they should be thinking.

It occurs to me that most good writers write believable characters because they are observers of human nature -- they might not know anything at all about psychology in an abstract sense, but they can tell you a lot about people.

I think Stylus has the right of it -- the tests come after the book is finished to see if the characters appear plausible as written, and to help see how to use incidents to show personality rather than tell it.

 

[gadgetmind]

> most good writers write believable characters because they are observers of human nature

Ah, yes, humans. Tricky little things, not at all easy, not like computers or maths.

Maybe I'm not a good writer (likely), or maybe I don't relate to people with quite the same fluency as others (oh yes!), but I find the understanding that others have built up regards how people make sense of things to be useful.

I accept what you say about knowing your characters, and I have been *very* surprised by the direction that some have taken, seemingly of their own volition. But I'm a scientist (dammit!) not a psychologist, and I'm big enough to accept that I need a crutch at times. I'm sure others need more help with the science than I do ...

As for sniffy, don't worry: my spider senses told me that this one was going to receive a mixed response, and it's an area where there is no right or wrong answer.

Ian