I’ve always found using self-reporting to be a tricky way of gathering information. I think my skepticism probably started with my experience with the Myers-Briggs test. It was all the rage in the 1990s. The test produced a four-letter result based on a bunch of questions to categorize people with personality traits.

I had to take it several times for school and work. The first thing I noticed was based on my mood, my score would shift around. I also noticed that some people scored seemed opposite of what they really were. A friend of mine thought that she is really laid-back because she had a very strict mother, but compared to our friend group she was still quite rigid. Another person I would consider a strong, outgoing person thought of themselves as shy and introverted and scored that way. The more recent enneagram tests are similar.

Even worse offenders of self-reporting are dating apps. Lots of people just answer based on who they’re trying to attract. According to those self-reported details, everyone really good looking and pleasant to be around. Honestly, I’m shocked that everyone isn’t married off after five minutes based on profiles. 

What was my point? Like individuals, groups write about themselves in press releases and newsletters and those documents become the basis of histories. Self-reporting is self-serving. Every group is the hero of its own story. If we don’t have an independent press, then we won’t have an accurate understanding of who we are as people.

If only you expose yourself to your own news and history, told from within your own group, then you’re not going have a very accurate view of yourself. You may be in for a shock when you interact with someone beyond your circle and find out how your behavior is perceived from the outside.