In the ever-evolving digital landscape, the quest for self-discovery has found an innovative avenue through online personality assessment platforms. Among the myriad options available, two standout contenders have captivated the attention of individuals seeking to unravel the intricacies of their psyche: 16Personalities and The Spiritual Seek. This article delves into an exhaustive comparison of these two online portals, shedding light on their unique offerings, strengths, and areas for improvement.
Decoding the Essence: An Overview of 16Personalities
Rooted in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) framework, 16Personalities has carved a niche for itself as a renowned platform for personality assessment.
The cornerstone of 16Personalities lies in its comprehensive personality profiles, meticulously crafted to provide insights into an individual’s preferences, strengths, and potential growth areas. These profiles are categorized into four overarching groups: Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinels, and Explorers, each encompassing four distinct personality types.
The Analysts: Rational and Impartial Thinkers
Embodying the essence of logic and rationality, the Analyst group comprises the Architect (INTJ), Logician (INTP), Commander (ENTJ), and Debater (ENTP) personality types. These individuals are renowned for their intellectual prowess, impartiality, and analytical acumen, making them invaluable assets in fields that demand critical thinking and strategic decision-making.
The Diplomats: Empathetic Idealists
The Diplomat group, consisting of the Advocate (INFJ), Mediator (INFP), Protagonist (ENFJ), and Campaigner (ENFP) personality types, is characterized by a profound sense of empathy and idealism. These individuals possess a unique ability to connect with others on an emotional level, making them natural leaders and peacemakers in various social and professional settings.
The Sentinels: Practical and Orderly Individuals
Representing the pillars of practicality and order, the Sentinel group encompasses the Logistician (ISTJ), Defender (ISFJ), Executive (ESTJ), and Consul (ESFJ) personality types. These individuals thrive on structure, security, and stability, excelling in roles that demand meticulous attention to detail and adherence to established protocols.
The Explorers: Spontaneous and Adaptable Souls
Embodying the spirit of spontaneity and adaptability, the Explorer group comprises the Virtuoso (ISTP), Adventurer (ISFP), Entrepreneur (ESTP), and Entertainer (ESFP) personality types. These individuals embrace change and thrive in dynamic environments, often showcasing their ingenuity and flexibility in various creative pursuits.
Beyond the core personality assessment, 16Personalities offers a range of specialized tests and resources tailored to personal growth, relationships, career development, and team dynamics. These supplementary tools provide users with deeper insights and actionable strategies to enhance various aspects of their lives.
16Personalities’ Focus: Personal Growth and Career Placement
This website and all the products it offers, which are generally of excellent quality, have a practical purpose, namely to help users understand their strengths and weaknesses with a focus on personal growth and job integration. Because of their setting, 16Personalities tests are suitable for a very wide audience, as they consist of short, precise questions with answers based on the level of agreement. All the user has to do, in essence, is choose his or her level of affinity with respect to the concept proposed by the question.
Anglo-Saxon Mentality: Pragmatism and Measurability
The thinking behind the development of the psychological assessments offered by 16Personalities is what we call the Anglo-Saxon mindset. It focuses on the measurement and categorization of data, with the aim of producing mathematical predictive models. Its origins lie mainly in the thought of John Dewey and William James, who were in turn influenced by the empiricist philosophy of John Locke. This type of approach offers obvious advantages; in fact, it tends to simplify what is complex by making it fit within certain groups or categories. It is a process of standardization that accentuates differences and blunts similarities so that a clear division between personality types is achieved. This method is especially effective in the work environment, where certain skills and character inclinations are required, while others are to be avoided.
The main limitation of such a model of research and interpretation of reality lies in the risk of oversimplifying things by losing sight of their broader meaning and possible links to other phenomena, since it proceeds from particular to general.
A Different Perspective: The Spiritual Seek Humanistic Approach
Stepping into the territory of The Spiritual Seek, users are greeted by a diverse array of psychological assessments designed to unravel the complexities of the human psyche. Our platform stands apart with its unique approach, offering tests that delve into realms beyond the conventional personality assessment. The main goal of The Spiritual Seek is not to provide a precise and immutable description of personality, but to take a snapshot of the current user’s way of thinking and then place that snapshot in the broader context of human possibilities. This is an evolutionary perspective focusing not so much on social and job growth, as in the case of 16Personalities, but on introspection and self-reflection.
Greek-Roman Philosophical and Spiritual Mindset
The mindset of The Spiritual Seek staff is philosophical in nature, and originates from the thought of the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. It could be described as “humanistic”, and contains elements of spirituality and transcendence inherited directly from the ideas of some great thinkers of the past such as Socrates, Plato, Epicurus and Seneca. This way of thinking sees human beings in their complexity, but focuses on the essential aspects that motivate human behavior. Philosophy seeks the essence of things, and not so much the details and colors that make, at least in appearance, one thing different from another.
The most frequent criticism of this philosophical approach concerns its lack of scientificity and attention to measurable data, since it proceeds from general to particular. In short, the pragmatic model of thinking is interested in the practical and useful aspects of things, while the humanistic model wants to understand the intrinsic value and meaning of things, whether useful or not, measurable or not.
Differences Between Philosophical and Anglo-Saxon Mentalities
What distinguishes these two ways of examining reality is the ultimate goal. While the Anglo-Saxon one is pragmatic and focuses on the outcome, the philosophical-spiritual one aims for deeper understanding and inner evolution. While the Anglo-Saxon mindset tends to simplify reality in order to make it more understandable and measurable, the philosophical mindset tends instead to introduce further elements of complexity, giving rise to a never-ending quest. Moreover, philosophical examination begins with the individual and then expands to the social context, while pragmatic examination always considers the individual as part of a larger context.
Quantitative Versus Reasoned Responses
The different intellectual approach of our staff compared to that of 16Personalities, is most evident in the format of the answers. Whereas our tests contain articulate and reasoned responses, 16Personalities’ tests reflect the need to mathematically measure the user’s thinking by providing a numerical scale based on the level of agreement. Our tests compel the user to read the responses carefully before making his or her choice, thus adopting an active and “strenuous” attitude, while 16Personalities’ tests turn out to be decidedly more fluent and quicker to complete, at the cost, however, of being not always easy to interpret. In fact, some times, it’s not very clear what to choose on a scale from 0 to 7, since in most cases there are 3 positions at most: agree, disagree, partially agree.
Resulting Profiles: I-Am Versus I-Think
The test results reveal another fundamental difference between the humanistic approach typical of our assessments and the pragmatic approach of 16Personalities. While the resulting profiles of ours attempt to describe the user’s current way of thinking, those of 16Personalities’ tests provide a description of the user’s way of being. At first glance, this might seem like a minor difference, but it actually encapsulates the whole point of our personality tests. We try to provide some food for thought in our test results, not sparing constructive criticism and using irony whenever possible. This reflects our view of the human being, that is, an entity in constant motion and evolution. If someone wants to improve themselves, they must first change their thinking; their behavior will adapt accordingly.
Our tests are meant to be a challenge to yourself, in other words, a journey into your most authentic inner self; while 16Personalities’ tools are meant to define where you stand in relation to others and help you enhance the personal and social skills needed to achieve your goals.
Minor Differences in Privacy Concerns
16Personalities requires registration to access one’s results, while The Spiritual Seek is registration-free. This minor aspect may be of interest to users who are more concerned about their privacy, since we do not ask them for any personal information outside of a name (or nickname) and age in order to view results. If you also enter your email address (optionally), you will receive a detailed report of your answers and results, as well as a personalized certificate of participation.
The Spiritual Seek App: Dedicated to Younger People
Since some of our tests are also suitable for a particularly young audience, we have developed an App for Android and iOS so that anybody can carry our personality tests and articles with them. It may come in handy when you want to take a moment to relax, or when you feel a little sad and wish to lift your mood. Unlike other Apps, ours contains exactly all the material on the website, only in a format suitable for viewing on the smartphone screen.
The Mental Age Test: Unveiling Your Mindset
One of the standout offerings from The Spiritual Seek is the Mental Age Test. This innovative assessment aims to gauge an individual’s attitude towards life, transcending the boundaries of traditional personality tests. By presenting a series of thought-provoking questions and entertaining scenarios, the test provides insights into the user’s mindset, determining whether they reason like a curious and hopeful youngster or a weary, habitual individual.
The Awareness Test: Exploring the Breadth of Perception
Delving into the realm of consciousness, the Awareness Test offered by The Spiritual Seek is a profound exploration of an individual’s ability to perceive and understand the world around them. With a multitude of non-obvious questions and a pyramid-based scoring system, this test challenges users to transcend the limitations of duality and embrace a broader, more unified perspective.
The Awakening Test: Embarking on a Spiritual Journey
For those seeking a deeper understanding of their spiritual awakening, The Spiritual Seek presents the Awakening Test. This introspective assessment guides users through a series of questions, each designed to gauge their level of spiritual awareness and open-mindedness. The test aims to provide an indication of the individual’s position along the path toward the evolution of consciousness.
The Great Personality Test: A Comprehensive Exploration
Inspired by the Myers-Briggs indicator, the Great Personality Test offered by The Spiritual Seek is an exhaustive and sophisticated assessment tool. With a staggering 65 questions, each offering five reasoned responses, this test encourages users to carefully evaluate their choices, resulting in a tailored and accurate personality profile.
One of the unique features of this test is its self-calibration capability. By recommending multiple attempts, the assessment adapts and refines its accuracy, providing users with a personalized and insightful experience.
In addition to these core offerings, The Spiritual Seek presents a diverse range of assessments, including the Logical Intelligence Test, the Youth Wisdom Test, and the aptly named Impossible Quiz. These tests cater to a wide audience, from puzzle enthusiasts to individuals seeking to challenge their analytical skills.
Since we don’t want to miss a thing, we present you our reworked and super-quick version of the MBTI 16-Personality Test! Try it now, it’s free.
MBTI 16 PERSONALITY TYPES TEST – quick version
In Conclusion: Complementarity Instead of Opposition
In summary, we can say that both 16Personalities and The Spiritual Seek offer powerful and interesting psychological inquiry tools. While the main personality assessment of 16Personalities is based on a pragmatic and descriptive approach, the several tests offered by The Spiritual Seek investigate different areas of human thinking and feeling from an introspective and humanistic point of view.
16Personalities thoroughly investigates human character from a social and work perspective, while The Spiritual Seek focuses more on individual thinking and perception. Since both approaches are fundamental and equally interesting, our advice is to consider the tests offered by the two psychology portals as complementary. They are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they can be used in parallel to obtain a truly global picture of one’s character and way of being.
If you perform 16Personalities tests first, you will surely be able to appreciate more fully the peculiarities of ours. If you take our tests first, however, you will notice more vividly the particularities of the two different approaches, the introspective and spiritual approach of The Spiritual Seek, and the pragmatic-descriptive method of 16Personalities.
Enjoy!
MINI SELF-ASSESSMENT TEST: DO YOU HAVE A PHILOSOPHICAL MIND?
Read the sentences below and select the ones you agree with and that you think make the most sense.
Count the number of boxes checked and read the corresponding profile.
0: Your mind is anti-philosophical
1-2: Your mind is unphilosophical
3-4: Your mind is prone to philosophy
5-6: You are a true philosopher