Will the real xxxxx please stand up?

What are we really like? What we think? How others perceive us? Is there a reality of self that both miss? Self-perception is an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes we see ourselves as we wish we were, or as we fear we are, or as others convince us we are. The degree we deceive ourselves about ourselves is the degree we fail to receive feedback from others about us. Its true that some feedback, if not all, is contaminated by the biases of the source of the feedback. The motive of the feedback source can reduce credibility of the message others have for us about our self. Yet information from others about us is necessary to challenge the tendencies we have to see our self as we want to and not as we really are.

In my organizational behavior class i require students to provide me with a write-up of their reflections on each chapter they read. I am currently reading the first write-ups form this semester's class. The chapter includes the topic of personality and how it informs behavior. Students had opportunity to take a personality survey on them selves to further grasp the topic of personality.

Here is one student's reflections: "The results show I have a distinctive preference for judging.... I see myself as not very judgmental... I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt."  The student then proceeds to slam "personality tests." She writes "I do not believe this is an accurate way of assessing one's personality... people perceive each other differently and a test cannot determine a universal way of knowing.... the model isn't a sure fire way of assessing who a person really is...I see myself differently than this test has scored me.... I believe I have a great personality.. the personality test I have taken would not agree.. its all how one perceives it (personality)."  REALLY???

I found this so interesting. Personality is merely the tendency to behave a certain way. There is no right or wrong personality. Depending on the desired behavior, some are more likely to produce the behavior than others.

This student announces the "test" pegged her incorrectly ( based on her own self-perception) but then spends the rest of her write-up (behavior) displaying her judgmentalism by condemning personality tests. I don't think I have ever witnessed a more blatant example of how one's behavior totally contradicts one's self-perception. So, what is this student really like - what she thinks or what some objective feedback suggests?

Duh!!!!!