Thursday, February 11, 2010

Don't Judge Me By My Color (Code) or Should You?

The Jdate Color Code Test Analysis 
Written by Lauren K. and Lindsay K. of Love Kudos

Recently, Jdate felt the need to add some "hard" science or psychological testing into their online matchmaking methods. Therefore, about a month ago, they introduced to the site Dr. Carmen's Color Code Personality Test.

Here is how it works: there is a series of questions about the reactions you had to situations when you were a child and you choose “the best” answer, which may or may not accurately describe you. It creates a personality type that, instead of a Myers-Briggsian “ENFJ,” assigns you a color. 



Are you yellow, red, blue, or white?

The 15-minute test (unlike JDate.com membership that enables you to actually interact with people on the site) is free, and promises to help you.

Many of the answer choices are not all that favorable and you feel like they are trick questions. They encourage you to think back to what you were like as a child and not as the evolved adult that you are today.  (Hopeful thinking here, that we are all mature adults and not acting in an early Erickson developmental stage.)

Jdate claims the color code test is one of the best tools on the market today, because it is based on human motives (why you do what you do) rather than on human behaviors (what you do). Behavior (for example, the way you act in a chat room or on a date) can be imitated, copied or faked, but if you know the true motive behind the behavior (what is driving the person to behave as they do), you already have a much clearer picture of what that person is all about.

Jdate hypes the test as a way to discover what type of people you work well with based on your core color code. The Color Code is one of the most revolutionary and accurate measurements of your personality and is your best bet for understanding how to make sense out of your relationships.
Ever wonder why some people are so easy to love, work for, and befriend, while it's difficult to build and maintain healthy relationships with others? All of these relationships begin with you. Imagine the power of truly knowing yourself, including what motivates you, and how the relationships in your life are impacted as a result.
The Color Code Personality Test will provide you with in-depth understanding of why you do the things you do and how you can best interact with the other Color personalities.

What's Your Color?

Lauren K.'s Experience:
Prior to this blog, I had resisted taking the test, because I did not want to be branded or boxed into one category. You can either be red, blue, yellow, or white. My core code is "RED." A picture of my results is posted above. Yes, I am assertive and do consider myself a leader, but I consider myself first and foremost a "connector," which is on the blue spectrum.

Your viewers do not see your complete answer set, only the color choice, which is visibly displayed beneath your profile picture. I recently did some personality testing for a leadership program and learned I was a "Relator" and minored as a "Maven." This test revealed a very different set of results. Perhaps, because the color code personality test is focused on "what motivates your actions" more so than your actual behaviors.

People do alter a lot from their mindset as a child and have made conscious efforts to change their way of thinking to work in today's world. This test does not account for this. I do think that in intense fighting or disagreements, people can revert back to their core color code personality tendencies. I am not ruling out the results from this test, but like Lindsay, I am a little skeptical how my childhood "mindset" is going to determine who I am best suited to marry.

Lindsay K.'s Experience: 
I took the color test through Jdate and I am labeled as a blue 45%,yellow 23%,white 17%, and red 15%. My core motive is intimacy and developing legitimate connections.  My natural gifts are quality and service.  My needs are to be good morally, to be understood, to be appreciated and accepted. My wants are to ensure quality, to have autonomy, to have security, and to please others.  To me, most of this sounds like what most people's wants and needs. 

I actually went out on one date with another blue, but there was no follow through on his part.  I am skeptical about the personality tests that any online dating sites offer.  I think it mainly comes done to meeting that individual and giving yourself a chance to get to know a person.  If you do consider these kind of tests, it might prevent you from meeting someone who could be a good match.  People are too quick to rule out people when they first meet.  I know I have done it in the past (and guys have ruled out me after one or two dates) when there wasn't an instant spark or instant connection. I think its best to start a relationship out as friends, take out the romantic aspect, and get to know the person.  

In the courtship days of our parents, according to my mom, singles were set-up on blind dates from mutual friends. This is my mom's story. She reports, "After 6 months of dating your father, he told me he was too busy to see me.  I took his comment that he wasn't interested and asked him if he wanted to be set up with a friend of mine.  He agreed to be set up and went on a date with her.  He later called me to report my friend wouldn't go out with him on another date.  I told him not too worry and that I have other friends that I would set him up with.  I casually asked him if he wanted to go out that night, but stated he was playing basketball that night. The forecast said 50% rain.  If it rained, then he wouldn't play and we could meet up.  Guess what?  It rained and we went out. Your father told me he hadn't realized how much he had really missed me, until that night. The rest is history."

Halley's Experience*:
I actually really liked the color code analysis. To your point about how we try to change our way of thinking as we grow older - I completely agree. However, I think we fail to consider how much our actions and our experiences as a child shape the way we instinctually react to life situations, and I think that's what the color code is trying to tell us. It's our core motivators. Our core strengths and weaknesses. While we may proactively try to identify who we are throughout life, and become the best version of ourselves that we can be - I think there are many insights from childhood, because as a child we are not proactively trying to change. We are just being who we are. And that's the insight that the color code reveals.

I don't think that any one personality test can sum anyone up to a T, but neither can our JDate profiles, or even any way we try to describe ourselves in words. I think the descriptions that personality tests provide, like the color code, can prove to be valuable insights depending on how much value you place on looking at yourself in different dimensions.

At first I did hesitate to take the color code test, only because I didn't want any potential matches to judge me, or my compatibility with them, based on a color. However, I think that it's useful in learning how we can effectively relate to others - and I think that's part of what online dating is all about. It's a journey of discovering and experimenting with how we can relate to others virtually, intellectually, physically, romantically, emotionally, and even just as simple companions...and all of this can uncover a lot of insights about who we are along the way.

* - Halley is a female Austinite from Chicago, IL and a technical blogger.
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Men, we want to hear your perspective on the Jdate Color Code Personality Test. Write in or comment on the blog.


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If you have any comments or suggestions, please write in or call us.
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2 comments:

Esther S. said...

"Interesting. I've never heard of this, but wholeheartedly reject the idea that an online personality test widget would accurately be able to tell someone his/her ideal match. furthermore, it never matters who you match well with on paper, does it? :) Boo to jdate for trying to boil people's personalities down in such a clinical way when love is too subjective for rules."

Uk webcam chat said...

We should renew the tradition of blind dated and friends-moms matchmakers.

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