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TESTMANIA!
The personality tests that have been used over the years may ultimately reveal more about the test creators than about the test takers. Here are some of the craziest.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
In 1913, Katherine Blackford, M.D., convinces corporate clients that the best way to determine an employee’s personality is by his looks. Blackford’s "character analysis" included analyzing handwriting, style of walk, and physical characteristics. According to Blackford, "Always and everywhere, the normal blond has positive, dynamic, driving, aggressive, domineering, impatient, active, quick, hopeful, speculative, changeable, and variety-loving characteristics; while the normal brunet has negative, static, conservative, imitative, submissive, cautious, painstaking, patient, plodding, slow, deliberate, serious, thoughtful, specializing characteristics."
SZONDI TEST
The
Szondi test started with the assumption that everyone is a little crazy
and proceeded to unearth whichever disorder was the cause. Each test subject
was shown photos of people and asked to pick out the person they’d
most like to sit next to on a train trip. Little did subjects know that
the people they were shown were all "thoroughly disordered"–a
homosexual, a 
sadist,
and an epileptic, among others. The "disorder" subjects selected
was presumed to indicate their own disposition.
Above: Images from Blackford’s Analyzing Character. According to Blackford, employers can determine personal qualities such as intelligence, aesthetic sense, and attention to detail from looking at subjects’ hands.
WIFE TESTING
In the early 1950s, enthusiasm for personality testing extended to family life. Companies searching for the ideal organization man would sometimes insist on interviewing applicants’ wives. In so doing, managers hoped to weed out men whose devotion to their partner might deter loyalty to the company. Moreover, as Vance Packard documented in his book Hidden Persuaders, "Important men may not be recommended for higher priced jobs because the wives may be too flirtatious or she may not drink her cocktails too well, or she may be an incorrigible gossip. Investigations in this respect are quite thorough."
DRAW-A-PERSON TEST
Still
in limited use today, this test analyzes the subject’s drawings for
signs of mental imbalance. Drawing a figure in the lower left corner of
the page, for example, is said to indicate depression; large eyes represent
the subject’s suspiciousness; and a large head suggests a preoccupation
with one’s own intelligence.
