Would you Lie on a psychological test if it meant getting the job?

[DManKee]

Recently I was given a psychological test for a job interview. On it where questions such as: how social are you? Do you enjoy social situations? Are you the life of the party? 

The options where only YES and NO.

I answered honestly knowning that I´m not a very social person. However answering NO may not have been in my benefit. I´m a little torn by this. Do people often lie on such test? Should you make yourself seem more extroverted than you really are? I felt that being honest was best but I´m not so sure.

What would you have done?

Edited January 12, 2022 by DManKee

[LSD-Rumi]

I think face to face interview is what matters, if you give good vibes to the interviewer, you will be liked and vice versa.

[Yarco]

A good psychological test will have mechanisms built into it to test for incongruence or lying... they'll ask you the same thing multiple different ways and see if you're consistent or not.

But it doesn't sound like you were talking to a psychologist or anything formal, it was just a self-reporting form where you check boxes.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your employer is inevitably going to trick you or guilt you or f*** you over in some way, so I don't think you really have an obligation to be totally honest and open with them under our current capitalist system. They can fire you with no notice and hold all the power.

The only thing is that if you aren't a social person and it's a role that involves a lot of talking to people, you might end up hating it or it will really be emotionally draining for you, so it might be better to be honest and not get into a job that isn't suited for you.

I'm guessing this specific form didn't say anything about "You must answer these questions truthfully". There's no way for them to know anyway. You can honestly believe you're social, especially if you think of a group of small friends that you know. They didn't specify the situation.

Personally I probably would've been honest, but I'm not under any illusion with the fact that society massively favors extroverts either.

[Terell Kirby]

Nope.

[Matt23]

I think that being honest might save you a lot of trouble in the end.  

Like, consider that if you answered YES and lied, you might have been put in a job which you really didn't like and ended up either quitting soon, or being in that job you didn't like might make you more miserable and you know how that can affect the rest of your life.  

You also get peace of mind knowing you stayed true.  Well done. 

On the other hand, maybe the quiz is not ideal and inaccurate, and maybe it would have gotten you a job that you would have liked. 

Who knows?!

Anyways, applause on staying true.  I bet you feel better for it.  

Maybe try contemplating the trade offs between lying or staying true in this situation.  Imagine all the possible consequences and the causes and effects that could potentially follow from them.  Like, if you lied, maybe that would have made you feel like a fraud at work and that would have maybe made you less social, and in turn that maybe would have gotten you fired and you would have been fired without a good reference to use, and etc. etc. etc.

But don't over think it either. 

Sometimes just accepting, letting go, and moving on are wise things to do.  

 

Basically... 

You never know.  

 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Matt23

[DManKee]

@Medhansh I've been making a shift towards lying less. A promise I made myself 5 years ago.

 

Thank you! ♥️

[DManKee]

@Matt23 @Terell Kirby @Yarco @Terell Kirby @LSD-Rumi Thank you everyone for your views! Loads of hugs! ♥️

[Ulax]

@DManKee i would answer no.

[Lyubov]

They had psychological tests for working at the grocery store here… unbelievable. It felt invasive too. I would lie to get a job if I had to. I need to eat. 

[BlueOak]

This is a good question. I hate lying. 

Yeah if its survival. If it was that or not eating, i'd lie, i'd cheat to keep living. Manipulation is common when we feel threatened or unsafe. I feel the justice system doesn't take that into account enough.

Beyond survival, beyond the very basics no. We weaken ourselves when we lie. The truer I am, and the more clearly people see me for who I am, the less surprises there are, the more grounded I am, people take you at your word, life just works better and is easier. Truth is strength. Manipulation, deceit, theft it just makes things harder.
 

[Michal__]

If you're working for an employer it is very likely that you'll have to lie at some point. Only way out is building your own thing while not becoming corrupt, which is pretty hard.

[Danioover9000]

@DManKee

On 1/12/2022 at 4:11 PM, DManKee said:

Recently I was given a psychological test for a job interview. On it where questions such as: how social are you? Do you enjoy social situations? Are you the life of the party? 

The options where only YES and NO.

I answered honestly knowning that I´m not a very social person. However answering NO may not have been in my benefit. I´m a little torn by this. Do people often lie on such test? Should you make yourself seem more extroverted than you really are? I felt that being honest was best but I´m not so sure.

What would you have done?

   It depends on the circumstances. For example, if I have enough intrapersonal intelligence to know that my personality type is more introverted than extroverted, and the job involves lots of communication to customers, either by phone or face to face, and I made it clear to myself that my goal is to be more extroverted and take more action, then I would answer no, for the benefit of overcoming my introversion. However, that's if I made that intention clearly beforehand. If I wasn't interested in being more extroverted, then maybe a yes is also practical as well, because that's a slightly larger part of your own psyche, as an introvert.

   Also, depending on your morality/circle of concern, the smaller it is, the more likely you'll lie and be more ok with lying. The bigger your circle of concern, the more empathy you have, the more likely you'll not lie, as lying at this point feels slightly uncomfortable to do so.

[flowboy]

On 12/01/2022 at 5:11 PM, DManKee said:

Recently I was given a psychological test for a job interview. On it where questions such as: how social are you? Do you enjoy social situations? Are you the life of the party? 

The options where only YES and NO.

I answered honestly knowning that I´m not a very social person. However answering NO may not have been in my benefit. I´m a little torn by this. Do people often lie on such test? Should you make yourself seem more extroverted than you really are? I felt that being honest was best but I´m not so sure.

What would you have done?

I would have asked: if I answer YES, what expectations will they have from me, and do I feel good having those expectations on me?

If the answer to that is yes, then I would feel fine answering a psychological test question "wrong", because I would actually be answering it right.