Psychometrics: measuring ourselves, with John Rust

<strong>Podcast</strong>: <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/on-opinion-parlia-x9hXRoSlZCs/">On Opinion</a> (LS 32 &middot; TOP 5% <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/listen-score/"><small>what is this?</small></a>)<br><strong>Episode</strong>: <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/e/ed27f5fb01ef4b99a64d8fca0fe6f7fb/">Psychometrics: measuring ourselves, with John Rust</a><br><strong>Pub date</strong>: 2021-06-09<br><br><img src="https://production.listennotes.com/podcasts/on-opinion-parlia-visLQWFAzCN-x9hXRoSlZCs.300x300.jpg" width="150" height="150"></img><br><p>### S2 E22: Psychometrics: measuring ourselves</p><br><p>&gt; _“Psychometrics is one of the most important or influential areas of applied psychology”_</p><br><p>Psychometrics, the study of personality and ability, began with the Chinese Imperial Court exams, which measured intelligence and civility, as well as archery and horse-riding. Via the East India Company, testing - of intelligence as well as psychological traits - spread to the British and French civil service, and then onwards to education. Psychometrics gave us exams.</p><p>John Rust, one of the world’s foremost authorities, walks us through the history and politics of psychometrics, from eugenics and the fraught question of race and IQ, through to the four core psychographic theories of personality: Freud’s psychoanalysis, Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Theory of person, the Social Learning approach, to the Genetic (Rust’s own focus). In the process, he tackles the very politics of testing, psychometry’s complicated place in the world of psychology, and the validity of Myers-Briggs and OCEAN tests.</p><p></p><p>&gt; _“It's a remarkably important area of science. If we can get it right, we can do lots of good. If you get it wrong, there can be a disaster.”_</p><br><p>Listen to John explain:</p><br><p>- The origins of psychometrics</p><p>- The problem with Evolutionary Psychology</p><p>- The Naturalistic Fallacy</p><p>- Myers-Briggs and Big 5 Theories of Personality</p><p>- The Flynn Effec