Drug & Alcohol Counselor Certification

Is Personality Testing Biblically Useful?

March 23, 2005

Personality Testing
By Rev. Mike Belzman

There is and always has been much unsettled thinking about
the use of Psychological testing among Christians. In the
field of Drug, Alcohol & Addictions Recovery, tests such as
the ASI (Addiction Severity Index) are used to get a
profile to help the counselor understand the areas of life
in which the individual most needs help.

On the surface this sounds like a good thing. After all,
we counselors love to fix people, and how better to do it
than to know where they need to be fixed. The problem with
this thinking is that we’re not God, though at times we
like to think we are.

Therefore it’s important for us as biblical Christian
counselors to have the understanding that it is not the
counselor’s great knowledge of the individual’s problems
that will ultimately heal him, but what God has done in the
individual’s heart to motivate him to seek God and His
truth. No one can get to heaven on a counselor’s shirt
tales. It’s up to every person to make their own choice.
Our role comes into play with people who are seeking God
and asking questions that we can answer. We are tools in
HIS hands, not fixers who can change people by reading a
blueprint obtained by a test.

CLAS: A personality test for school children hidden from
public scrutiny

California parents are expressing their concerns about a
state-mandated test for public school children. While the
California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test sounds
academic, it is reportedly also designed to evaluate
attitudes, values, and feelings. Parents are concerned
about personal questions regarding family members. In fact,
they are so concerned that they are banding together to sue
California school districts.

If the CLAS test does attempt to find out about values and
attitudes, it fits perfectly with Outcome Based Education
(OBE), with its goals centered on values and attitudes
(under the supposed umbrella of "critical thinking") with
class time devoted to exploring feelings.

Exploring feelings in the classroom utilizes psychological
techniques similar to those in group therapy. William
Coulson, who helped Carl Rogers develop an educational
approach based on principles of psychotherapy, saw the
disastrous results, not only in the drop in academic
achievement, but in the personal lives of those involved.
Coulson, therefore, encourages parents to oppose the test.1
Those who defend CLAS say, "They give children the
opportunity to express their personal values," and,
"They’re very stimulating and encourage expanded
thinking."2 However, the CLAS test is a "secure test,"
meaning that the public is not allowed to see it. Thus, the
concern about its psychological nature is based on what
people have heard about the test.

Psychological tests that measure attitudes and values in
contrast to abilities are generally called personality
tests. Personality tests "are instruments for the
measurement of emotional, motivational, interpersonal, and
attitudinal characteristics, as distinguished from
abilities."3

Parents who adamantly oppose CLAS, which they have not
seen, may not be concerned about other personality tests,
such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the
Personal Profile System (PPS), the Taylor-Johnson
Temperament Analysis (TJTA), and the LaHaye Temperament
Analysis (LTA). In fact, these tests are quite popular
among Christians.

Personality tests are used by psychologists and also by
those who call themselves "biblical counselors." They are
also extensively used by mission boards and seminaries to
decide who is fit for ministry. In addition, personality
tests and so-called spiritual gift inventories are given in
Sunday School classes.

However, unless such tests meet certain standards of
validity, they are worse than useless, because they become
lying instruments. Validity is "the most important question
to be asked about any psychological test."4 The validity of
a test indicates whether it actually measures what it is
supposed to measure and how well it does so. In spite of
the faith so many Christians place in such psychological
tests, personality and temperament tests and inventories
generally have extremely poor validity. In other words they
cannot be trusted to do what they are created to do.

We agree that personality tests have no place in the
classroom. We also believe that personality tests have no
place in churches, seminaries, or missionary societies.
Christians have no need of such tests. Christians are to
walk according to Truth, not with the help of personality
tests, which cannot even reveal the nature of the flesh,
let alone the spirit of one who has been born again through
faith in Jesus Christ.

(For more information on personality testing and popular
typologies which lead Christians astray, see Four
Temperaments, Astrology & Personality Testing.)

1William Coulson, quoted by Edith Inta, "Psychologist urges
action against test." Santa Barbara News-Press, April 12,
1994, p. B3.
2Edith Inta, "Goleta lets parents pass on CLAS test." Santa
Barbara News-Press, April 16, 1994, p. A14.
3Anne Anastasi. Psychological Testing, Sixth Edition. New
York: MacMillan Publishers, 1988, p. 523.
4Ibid., p. 28.

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