Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests

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Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests

2021

Documentary

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4 Reviews

38%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Taking a personality test can provide useful insights into our sense of self, but many may not realize how deeply embedded personality assessments are in everything we do. PERSONA explores the unexpected origin story of America’s great obsession with personality testing, uncovering the intriguing history behind the world-famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, while raising a slew of ethical questions and demonstrating how some personality tests may do more harm than good – like impacting online dating matches or job prospects. This eye-opening documentary reveals the profound ways that ideas about personality have shaped our society.

Brad Newsome

Sydney Morning Herald

This eye-opening documentary provides startling insights into the megabucks personality-testing industry.

Apr 7, 2021

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Matthew Rozsa

Salon.com

Persona will hopefully serve as a clarion call for those who make hiring decisions based on personality tests.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 17, 2021

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Serena Seghedoni

Loud and Clear Reviews

Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests takes a scattered approach, but still manages to raise the right questions on a complex, timely issue.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 18, 2023

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Alexis Nedd

Mashable

Persona takes on a lot and only succeeds in making a point half the time.

Mar 9, 2021

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Aline C

gross. Just an overweight blue haired river troll and associates whinging without understanding how trade offs work in the real world

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/14/23

Full Review

Annette J

Wow, terrible. Could not even finish watching it.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/21

Full Review

Audience Member

The film certainly has an agenda, but the filmmakers present their case with nuance and care, digging into the problematic past of these tools and how they have been used institutionally to disenfranchise many in society. The message is not that personality tests are unequivocally bad, unscientific, or not useful, but rather that their use beyond personal development and fun has historically been and continues to keep people on the fringes of society.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Riveting, unsettling, thought provoking. RUTP.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/30/21

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Tidge H

Excellent documentary. Another tool ‘the man' uses to exclude and discard minorities. Those tests have less science than a horoscope.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/21

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Audience Member

If you want a continual stream of unsubstantiated claims by unknowns without a SHRED of academic credibility - this is your film. Sure, any tool can be used incorrectly and give bad results, but that's the fault of people using them. This film completely ignores years of research, the proper and ethical ways to administer these validated and legally-defensible personality assessments for a string of -isms. This is the worst kind of anti-science outrage activism that sets their own cause back and EVERYONE should be against.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Tim Travers Hawkins

Director

Julia Nottingham

Producer

Mark Monroe

Screenwriter

Mark Monroe

Executive Producer

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Synopsis

Taking a personality test can provide useful insights into our sense of self, but many may not realize how deeply embedded personality assessments are in everything we do. PERSONA explores the unexpected origin story of America’s great obsession with personality testing, uncovering the intriguing history behind the world-famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, while raising a slew of ethical questions and demonstrating how some personality tests may do more harm than good – like impacting online dating matches or job prospects. This eye-opening documentary reveals the profound ways that ideas about personality have shaped our society.

Director: Tim Travers Hawkins
Producer: Julia Nottingham
Screenwriter: Mark Monroe
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 4, 2021