KNOW THYSELF: Take a Personality Test!

DIVYA RAO shares her experience taking personality tests and how the present generation’s approach to establishing relationships might help us solve problems in the future.

- DIVYA RAO

“Hi, my name is Rachel, I’m an Entrepreneur (ESTP), and my Zodiac sign is Virgo.”

My summer program at medical school is focused on advocating for children’s health in the face of global warming. It started this week with a round of introductions, with each of us stating our names and two of our favorite personality indicators.

The elderly pulmonologist who was leading our session looked slightly bemused, especially when the other physicians happily contributed their Zodiac signs and Myers–Briggs types. He laughed, stating that when he was a medical student the introductions were definitely very different. Indeed, a lot of the people in the session were skeptical about how personality tests could be important to our advocacy. The facilitator said that understanding ourselves, and each other, would lead to more impactful teamwork and, as a result, advocacy.