Personality psychology/analysis as a hobby?

[Egret_Farmer]

Hi, this is kind of a weird question, I guess... I have a hobby that's kind of like creative writing (I guess?), with what I think is a somewhat undesirable tang of pseudoscience. Which is to say, I'm an enthusiast of various pop psychology theories and sometimes write little analyses on fictional characters trying to classify them using said theories. (I tend to draw the line at real people.) These theories include Carl Jung's original trait theory, as well as its descendants (MBTI, Socionics), and Claudio Naranjo's enneagram theory, plus the adjustments his students have made. I post my "work" in various forums, but I don't publish it on a personal blog or anything.

If I mention it in my application, I can, of course, make it very clear that I DO NOT believe in Jung's or Naranjo's frameworks, at all. I understand that both of these theorists were something close to occultists, with unfalsifiable beliefs. But I have to say, their theories have been pretty useful as literary tools to me. There's a lot of appeal in being able to classify personalities into simple categories like Thinking and Feeling, and when applied to fictional characters, you can use it as an excuse/crutch to closely analyze how they act. That is, it provides you with a framework which helps you look more deeply at their motivations and how they interact with others. I'm also familiar with OCEAN, of course, but your type can change in that one (which I believe is more accurate), so it's not as fun for me.

The reasons why I thought this hobby might have been off-limits for sharing include 1. It appears to be consensus in reputable psychology that the theories I'm describing are on-par with astrology in terms of validity and reliability (which you yourself can tell if you read the original authors), and 2. It's not a particularly productive hobby, I suppose. I haven't won any awards for this activity (except user-generated ones on certain forums--I mean, I'm proud of those but not sure it's a black belt in karate). However, I do recognize that the theories are bunk. I would be highly against using these to decide anything of import. (I think some jobs might actually use it? And I did a test in high school that classified me a certain way, which I disagreed with but anyway.) And I've been interested in personality psychology for a long, long time. I don't believe you're supposed to put hours for hobbies (please correct me if I'm wrong), but it's been a passion of mine since I was in middle school, which you would probably be able to tell if you talked to me about it. I can even talk about some of the clinical correlations that the original authors "found" with their personality theories, and place the theories in a historical context. I have also looked at some medical schools so far, and some of them apparently acknowledge the existence of MBTI in a casual, non-clinical way. (Like for grouping dorm mates, I think?) I figured, if some schools mention it, I might be able to mention it too...

What do you all think? Should I leave this one off my application? I have other hobbies, I guess... I read. (One notable classic.) I cover songs with vocal synthesizers (kind of stopped on this one, and I didn't do this too well, either. No awards, not a whole lot of reach). I... make art with IbisPaintX, which I will not show anyone. Outside of that, I think I'd have to reach a little bit more.

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[chilly_md]

This is rather long-winded for something you can likely safely summarize and leave as creative writing or character arc analysis. If you have an easily relatable example that you can discuss for a couple minutes in an interview, that's more than enough.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I think "journaling" or "amateur criminologist" are perfectly appropriate to describe this activity too. Showing how esoteric you are is not an effective way to impress an interviewer or an admissions committee. I think you can also skip mentioning it since you've asked about other activities where you have more interaction or impact.

Seriously, have you taken criminology courses?

 

[AJS59]

Don't try to make it seem like you're acting like a psychiatrist or psychologist in terms of diagnosis but if you pick your wording carefully it's a unique enough creative writing hobby.

 

[Goro]

Don't try to make it seem like you're acting like a psychiatrist or psychologist in terms of diagnosis but if you pick your wording carefully it's a unique enough creative writing hobby.

100% agree

 

[Egret_Farmer]

This is rather long-winded for something you can likely safely summarize and leave as creative writing or character arc analysis. If you have an easily relatable example that you can discuss for a couple minutes in an interview, that's more than enough.

Got it, thanks! I was struggling on how to frame it as something more specific than "creative writing", but "character arc analysis" sounds a lot better. (Or does it not, since personality types are meant to be static, while real people change? One of many reasons why these theories are rejected--they aren't even reliable inventories 😔. But anyway.) Perhaps I'll put something within the word limit about using pop psychology theories to analyze characters in media.

Don't try to make it seem like you're acting like a psychiatrist or psychologist in terms of diagnosis but if you pick your wording carefully it's a unique enough creative writing hobby.

Never, haha. The only "patients" I would ever analyze with these frameworks are fictional; real people should see credentialed mental health providers. I hesitate in labeling this as any kind of psychology at all, honestly. I think it should be firmly bound to literature, kind of like how writers still reference Freud when writing about characters having meaningful dreams or fixations stemming from childhood, although I guess (I hope) if you press said authors, they'll admit that Freudian psychology is pseudoscientific. I think these frameworks have the potential to be artistically potent, but also that they have no business showing up in the DSM or being billed using ICD codes.

I think "journaling" or "amateur criminologist" are perfectly appropriate to describe this activity too. Showing how esoteric you are is not an effective way to impress an interviewer or an admissions committee. I think you can also skip mentioning it since you've asked about other activities where you have more interaction or impact.

Seriously, have you taken criminology courses?

No, I haven't taken any criminology courses 🙁. I should have been more exploratory as an undergraduate. Relating to criminals, though, one reason I'm against using these frameworks outside of a fictional context is because there are people who take it so far that they create apologia-type material for criminals. I think this is one of the reasons why pop psychology is so popular--it can "humanize" people to the extent of hiding traits that would be considered real problem areas in scientifically-validated frameworks. Having to face the real-life downsides of, say, low extroversion, is a little sobering; not as fun as saying you're creative but socially-isolated because you're an INFP.

Based on the responses here, I'm going to stay away from implicating actual psychology in reference to this (because it's not) and focus on the creative writing aspect of it. The fact that Naranjo related this or that enneagram type to ASPD/cyclothymia/etc. can be a fun interview fact, I guess. An indicator that the authors themselves took their brainchildren quite seriously and attempted to integrate them with scientifically-validated models in their own time. "Journaling" is a good way to describe what I do, though--it's not personal the way I associate journaling to be, but it's similarly unstructured and unofficial. I would say it's kind of like a non-fiction analog to fanfiction, although fanfiction can actually graduate to become original work, and what I'm doing is illegitimate (and should remain illegitimate) in scientific circles.

But yeah, I'm facing the contradiction of being a genuine enthusiast who would also view a true believer with suspicion. This form of "psychology" is... not science. "Esoteric" is a kind way of describing it, I think--if I read Jung with a critical lens rather than a hobbyist one, I can plainly see that he's a Neo-Freudian who believes in unsupported concepts like the collective unconscious and has questionable beliefs about marginalized groups (just like his intellectual forefather). This is one reason I don't mention this hobby to people I know in real life if I can help it; I think it associates me too much with people who genuinely believe that MBTI/star signs/palm reading are good ways to select employees or make important life decisions. I imagined it would have that connotation for people in admissions, too, so I thought I would ask ahead of time. Since I still don't have 15 activities on my list (12-13 without a hobby) and heard the advice to include a hobby to personalize my application, I was trying to think of something unique yet acceptable. It's definitely not going to be a MME--I might still put down "reading" as a hobby, but I'm a little encouraged by the responses here and am seriously considering it for an activity slot, with the suggested framings here in mind.

I appreciate all of the responses here, though! I wasn't expecting to see so many after logging back in, but thanks to all for your time.