Have you ever taken a personality test? If so, you may have noticed that the results aren't consistent over time.
Over the past decade, from the age of 18 to 28, I’ve taken the MBTI test 5 times and received 5 different results. Similarly, my Enneagram test results shifted within just two years.
Why does this happen? Is it because we have "multiple personalities"? Or Do our personalities change over time? The Lumina Personality Test is here to offer insights into these questions.
What Is The Lumina Personality Test?
The Lumina Personality Test has been developed since 2009 by Lumina Learning - an organization specializing in in-depth research and consulting on human resource management solutions. The test builds on well-known human personality studies but avoids the tendency to categorize people into rigid personality types.
The Origins Of Lumina’s Approach
To develop the current model, researchers examined various available human personality classification systems. The earliest model is the Hippocrates' theory of four humors from Ancient Greek, which linked the ratio of bodily fluids to four different types of psychological temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic.
Fast-forward to 1921, Carl Jung’s personality theory identified 2 additional dimensions of personality, which are feeling/thinking and intuition/sensing. However, much of his work was based on observation rather than analysis or statistics.
The next milestone was the Big Five Personality Test—a comprehensive project that spanned over 60 years. It identified five core traits that explain human behavior: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. In the 1990s, Myers and Briggs adapted Carl Jung’s research to create the widely known MBTI personality test.
However, these models share a common drawback—they rely on a dualistic framework. The MBTI, for example, presents extraversion and introversion as mutually exclusive traits. This often leads to people being "boxed" into a specific personality group. The Lumina test addresses this weak spot by recognizing that seemingly opposite traits can coexist within the same person.
Lumina’s Eight Personality Groups
The Lumina Personality Test also classifies people into 8 personality groups, each characterized by 3 core traits. These groups are divided into two categories:
- “Hot” personality types: Inspiration Driven, Big Picture Thinking, Extraverted, and Outcome Focused.
- “Cold” personality types: Discipline Driven, Down to Earth, Introverted, and People Focused.
How Does Lumina Differ From Other Personality Models?
One of the earliest personality models in modern philosophy - Carl Jung's personality theory - suggested that human personalities were dualistic. For example, a person was either introverted OR extroverted. However, in reality, many introverts can exhibit extroverted tendencies in a comfortable setting, such as among friends or colleagues.
The Big Five test, on the other hand, classifies individuals based on a Likert Scale - the degree of each personality trait. You might score high or low in extroversion, for instance, but the test still places you on a continuum, assigning you a fixed spot on the scale. This doesn’t fully account for the fact that our personalities can shift based on context.
With Lumina, each person has three "personas": the underlying one, the everyday one, and the overextended one, which manifest according to the environment. These personas are measured across both extremes of each personality group, revealing a more comprehensive view of one's personality.
For example, a salesperson with an innate introverted tendency could switch to “extrovert mode” when the job demands. In their everyday life, they might be more reserved but highly enthusiastic in specific social settings - such as being with like-minded people.
In other words, each of us wears three different “masks” at different times. Thus, Lumina offers a complete portrait of a person, where all three "masks" are clearly depicted.
Benefits Of The Lumina Personality Test
The Lumina test explains the shifts in personality and clarifies how a person can exhibit opposing personality extremes. Understanding how different traits dominate to cope with various environments can enhance emotional intelligence, communication skills, and more effective collaboration both in the workplace and in personal relationships.
For organizations, especially managers, Lumina test offers a big picture of team members' personalities. Managers can see how their team's personalities align and complement each other, making it easier to assign tasks appropriately.
By recognizing personality changes in different contexts, team members can also understand their colleagues better, allowing them to adjust communication styles, reach consensus, and improve teamwork.
To learn more about the Lumina Personality Test, you can join the Lumina Leadership Seminar: "Illuminate Yourself" this November. The seminar will explore leadership principles, offer effective communication training and provide opportunities to engage with human development experts.
At the event, attendees will have the chance to take the Lumina test at a 50% discount and receive a full personality analysis, as well as a 50% discount on the training course to become a Lumina Spark Practitioner.
Additionally, the top 4 participants in the Q&A session will receive a free personality report, and the best participant will receive a 1:1 consultation with speaker Cat Thao Nguyen.
Time: 14:00 - 17:00, November 1, 2024
Location: Friendship Tower - 31 Le Duan, Ben Nghe, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Language: English
Tickets: Available at Lumina Leadership Seminar