5s, need your help: took two different versions of the test, got two extremely different results

Posted by Chris Wright on October 17, 2000 at 14:43:30:

There are two different versions of the Enneagram test on this site, and I took them both. The results of both tests were astonishingly different, and I've no idea why.

As near as I can tell, I answered the questions to both as truthfully as I can.

After taking the first test, my scores were:
1 5
2 2
3 4
4 3
5 6
6 3
7 4
8 5
9 2

The second test, however, was completely skewed:

1 (-7)
2 (-2)
3 (2)
4 (9)
5 (0)
6 (-2)
7 (4)
8 (1)
9 (-5)

Which fascinates me. Of course, it might simply be that having taken the first test, I was subconsciously trying to skew the results of the second. But I don't think I was. So I was trying to think of what might make the test scores so different.

If we assume that I took both tests honestly, I can think of the following hypotheses:

1. The first test is faulty. The first test does not take into account the degree to which you feel you are either a or b, and the passion or lack thereof you feel for a statement will indicate which diagram you belong in. Under this model it would seem that some Diagrams share similar traits, but the degree to which those traits exist, or the degree to which they are valued, are different.

Still, if that were the case I would expect to see some similarity between the two scores. For example, if on the first test diagram 5 is my highest score, I'd expect to see it represented higher than it was on the second.

2. The second test is faulty. The second test forces you to choose between two concepts, but you only get to rate ONE. Under some grading schemes this can unbalance one area over others, since there isn't necessarily a way to rate the actual feeling towards the other concept in the pairing. However, this assumes that I actually know how the second test is scored, and I don't.

3. Both tests are correct, suggesting that these diagrams are not absolute -- in other words, in some instances, or in a specific area of my life, the first test is correct, and in another area of my life, the second is true. There could be some truth to this -- in my day-to-day life I am a technical writer, when I'm not at work I'm a musician and an internet cartoonist, among other things.

4. Both tests are correct, suggesting that I need immediate and extensive therapy. Well, people have suggested that from time to time, but I always assumed they were joking.

5. Both tests are faulty, for the reasons stated in items 1 and 2. I really can't comment on that, for the same reasons listed in 1 and 2.

Those are the ones I came up with. Can anyone else think of any other scenarios? Or do you think I just pissed away one of the tests for some reason or another?

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Follow Ups:

• my longstanding low opinion of enneagram tests (oops... this one is real) isaac 08:16:52 10/20/00 (0)
• my longstanding low opinion of enneagram tests isaac 07:59:46 10/20/00 (0)
• Re: 5s, need your help: took two different versions of the test, got two extremely different results Laurence 03:37:14 10/19/00 (1)
  • LOL Chris Wright 11:03:53 10/19/00 (0)
• Re: 5s, need your help: took two different versions of the test, got two extremely different results voodoodolly 17:32:29 10/17/00 (0)
• TYPO Chris Wright 14:45:24 10/17/00 (1)
  • Re: TYPO Nyks 11:41:22 10/19/00 (0)

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