Personality Types vs. Zodiacs
Comparing results from a couple of personality tests and a few zodiacal descriptions for my children and me, I saw some similarities.
Below are the links to each part that I’ll speak about:
Reading about personalities, whether they’re results from questionnaires, cultural beliefs, or studies, has been a lot of fun for me. Why? They’re helpful for me to explore and understand people and my culture better without potentially being judged for asking too many questions, not knowing what to ask, or posing the “inappropriate” questions.
My Story
Several years ago, our family took the personality test from 16Personalities as a result of my older son’s curiosity of his family and relatives. Last year, I heard about the Enneagram from AsianBossGirl’s Episode 74: What’s Your Number (Enneagram, that is)? podcast, so my kids and I took Truity’s Enneagram personality test as well. Our results made sense because, after all, we answered the questions about ourselves.
Now with astrology, it’s not something I fully understand. However, I’m still curious to see if the results from the personality tests correlate to any of the traits from our respective animal in the Chinese zodiac and sign from the Western zodiac.
After compiling and summarizing the common characteristics from our personality test results, the write-ups from TheChineseZodiac.org and ParentMap for our respective animal, and the properties from askAstrology for each of our zodiac signs, I saw some of the same qualities from 16Personalities and Truity’s Enneagram crossing over to TheChineseZodiac.org, ParentMap, and askAstrology. Below are some of the main traits for me and my kids:
Me
| 16Personalities | Enneagram | TheChineseZodiac.org | ParentMap | askAstrology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated | Adaptable | Adaptable | Detailed | Devoted |
| Efficient | Forgiving | Generous | Doting | Loyal |
| Hard-working | Helpful | Efficient | Observant | |
| Loyal | Loyal | Fault-finding | Protective | |
| Meticulous | Routine | Hard-working | Reliable | |
| Observant | Practical | Reserved | ||
| Perfectionistic | Self-controlled | |||
| Practical | ||||
| Protective | ||||
| Reliable | ||||
| Reserved |
Older Son
| 16Personalities | Enneagram | TheChineseZodiac.org | ParentMap | askAstrology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charismatic | Ambitious | Active | Ambitious | Protective |
| Curious | Brave | Cheerful | Charming | |
| Lively | Energetic | Courageous | Curious | |
| Outgoing | Protective | Energetic | ||
| Sociable |
Younger Son
| 16Personalities | Enneagram | TheChineseZodiac.org | ParentMap | askAstrology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communicative | Agreeable | Peaceful | Calm | Communicative |
| Creative | Calm | Easygoing | Creative | |
| Generous | Cooperative | Generous | ||
| Harmonious | Easygoing | Harmonious | ||
| Kindhearted | Forgiving | Kind | ||
| Sensitive | Gentle | Modest | ||
| Thoughtful | Humble | Nice | ||
| Kind | Thoughtful | |||
| Peaceful | Understanding |
Even though the words from the conclusions in the personality tests and depictions in the zodiacs are related, I still wonder if this is true for the majority of the people.
Although this comparison was not intended to be a scientific study, I could still get more data to see if the conclusion remains the same by taking the following steps:
Continuous Improvement
- Have everyone re-take the personality tests so we have more current information
- Repeat the exercise with different people to increase the sample size
Having access to the the personality and Chinese zodiac profiles are great tools to better understand people, but below is what I should remember:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Learning more about a person needs to be done by talking to and sharing experiences with the specific person because each person is unique.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Take some personality tests?
- Start a conversation with someone you’re curious about?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)