Hartman Personality Profile

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The Color Code Personality Profile also known as The Color Code or The People Code is a personality test designed by Taylor Hartman. [1] Despite being widely used in business and other fields, it is a pseudoscience. [2]

Contents

Classifying the motive types

The Hartman Personality Profile is based on the notion that all people possess one of four driving "core motives". [3] The Color Code is based on four types of personality, identified by color: Red, (motivated by power); Blue, (motivated by intimacy); White, (motivated by peace); and Yellow, (motivated by fun). [4] Although demographic groups vary, Hartman suggests that Reds comprise 25% of the population; Blues 35%; Whites 20%; and Yellows 20%. [5] There is no scientific proof to support these claims. [6] [ failed verification ]

Criticism

The Hartman Institute and its many subsidiaries offer "coaches" to businesses seeking to improve interpersonal relations, for career counselling, or to collect data for use in hiring practices. [7] The test informally[ clarification needed ] passes most psychometric measures of reliability and face validity, [8] but this may be attributed to the open predictability of the test.[ citation needed ] The criteria are likely self-fulfilling to an extent. Although internal and small sample corporate-sponsored data have been reported, [9] no peer-reviewed studies of the psychometric value of the test exist.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myers–Briggs Type Indicator</span> Non-scientific personality questionnaire

The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a pseudoscientific self-report questionnaire that claims to indicate differing "psychological types". The test assigns a binary value to each of four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. One letter from each category is taken to produce a four-letter test result representing one of sixteen possible types, such as "INFP" or "ESTJ".

Psychological testing refers to the administration of psychological tests. Psychological tests are administered or scored by trained evaluators. A person's responses are evaluated according to carefully prescribed guidelines. Scores are thought to reflect individual or group differences in the construct the test purports to measure. The science behind psychological testing is psychometrics.

In statistics and psychometrics, reliability is the overall consistency of a measure. A measure is said to have a high reliability if it produces similar results under consistent conditions:

"It is the characteristic of a set of test scores that relates to the amount of random error from the measurement process that might be embedded in the scores. Scores that are highly reliable are precise, reproducible, and consistent from one testing occasion to another. That is, if the testing process were repeated with a group of test takers, essentially the same results would be obtained. Various kinds of reliability coefficients, with values ranging between 0.00 and 1.00, are usually used to indicate the amount of error in the scores."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rorschach test</span> Projective psychological test created in 1921

The Rorschach test is a projective psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly. The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach. The Rorschach can be thought of as a psychometric examination of pareidolia, the active pattern of perceiving objects, shapes, or scenery as meaningful things to the observer's experience, the most common being faces or other pattern of forms that are not present at the time of the observation. In the 1960s, the Rorschach was the most widely used projective test.

Cronbach's alpha, also known as tau-equivalent reliability or coefficient alpha, is a reliability coefficient and a measure of the internal consistency of tests and measures.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enneagram of Personality</span> Model of the human psyche used as a personality typology

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">David McClelland</span> American psychologist (1917–1998)

David Clarence McClelland was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation Need Theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and its descendants. McClelland is credited with developing Achievement Motivation Theory, commonly referred to as "need for achievement" or n-achievement theory. A Review of General Psychology survey published in 2002, ranked McClelland as the 15th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

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References

  1. "Ross and Carrie Find Their True Colors: The Color Code Edition". Oh No Ross and Carrie. 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  2. Goldberg, Emma (2019-09-17). "Personality Tests Are the Astrology of the Office". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  3. Hartman, Taylor (1998). The Color Code. Scribner. p. 36. ISBN   0-684-84376-5.
  4. Doc7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120210214421/http://forum.tufat.com/archive/index.php/t-18989.html. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. Hartman, Taylor (1998). The Color Code. Scribner. p. 40. ISBN   0-684-84376-5.
  6. Hardy, Benjamin. "Most personality tests (like Myers-Briggs) are junk science and can make you cling to a label — instead, focus on making meaningful change". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  7. "Validation analysis of the Hartman Value Profile (Standard Version - Byrum Method)" (PDF). 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  8. Ault, John T.; Barney, Steve T. (2007). "Construct Validity and Reliability of Hartman's Color Code Personality Profile". International Journal of Selection and Assessment. 15 (1). Wiley: 72–81. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2007.00369.x. ISSN   0965-075X. SSRN   969150.
  9. "Validity Studies of the Hartman Profile Model". Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2013-12-04.