What Is a Personality Quiz? And How They Impact Dating

A personality quiz is more than a way to while away hours of free time on the weekend.  It’s a collection of probing questions designed to assess the individual traits that make up a whole person.

Personality quizzes can range from scientifically backed psychological assessments to playful compatibility tests. They can reaffirm things you already know about yourself (I am, in fact, an introvert), or they can highlight aspects of your personality that you may never have thought of (I guess if I were a pizza topping, I’d be green peppers).

Some singles choose to post the results of a particular personality quiz as part of their dating profile. For instance, maybe you’ve seen profiles that identify the person as “ISFJ” or “ESFP” to reference their Myers-Briggs personality type. These letters are a badge of honor that offer insight into the person’s character and sensitivity.

Let’s dive into the types of personality quizzes out there and how they can improve your dating life.

Types of Quizzes | How They Work | Impact on Online Dating | Future Trends

Many people find personality assessments, such as the MBTI results or Enneagram types, helpful in areas of self-discovery. But singles could also use a quiz to up their dating game.

Quizzes can provide insight for determining who could be a good match. Here’s a rundown of popular quizzes you may see referenced in Tinder bios or eharmony profiles.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is a widely recognized personality assessment inspired by the work of psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The Myers-Briggs assessment uses a lengthy questionnaire to sort people into one of 16 personality types. 

The test evaluates people based on four dichotomies: Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. Your answers to the questions will sort you into one of the 16 personality types, which are represented by four letters. 

For instance, if you’re introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving, your personality type is ISFP aka The Adventurer. Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, and Brad Pitt are thought to be this personality type.

Big Five Personality Traits

The Big Five model, also known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM), is another popular framework in personality psychology. 

This personality test assesses individuals across five dimensions: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN). 

Professor Noam Shpancer explored how the Big Five model relates to dating. He wrote, “The data suggest that those looking for a partner for enduring love and sex need not fixate on finding someone similar to them in personality. Rather, they’d benefit from looking for a partner who’s agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable.” 

Enneagram 

The Enneagram system describes nine personality types, determined based on a person’s motivations, fears, and beliefs. 

For instance, Enneagram type one is known as The Reformer. This personality type is principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic. Enneagram type two is known as The Helper and can be described as generous, caring, people-pleasing, and possessive. 

In an interview with Mind Body Green, certified Enneagram coach and author Stephanie Barron Hall explained how knowing your Enneagram type can be useful in relationships. “The point of using the Enneagram for relationships is not to figure out who you can rule out of the dating pool but to learn how to use this tool as a path toward growth and deeper connection,” she explained.

Fun Quizzes

The internet is full of fun quizzes that put people into categories. Which Disney character are you? What pet suits your personality? Heck, quizzes can even tell you if you’re weird.

Such questionnaires can be a lot of fun, and sharing the results on your social media feed or dating profile can spark a lot of conversations.

Small caveat: Online quizzes aren’t particularly scientific, so you shouldn’t take the results too seriously. 

Dating or Relationship Compatibility Quizzes

If you ask me, there’s never been a better time to try online dating. You’ve got so much help from eharmony’s advanced compatibility matching to OkCupid’s endless quiz questions. Many apps have advanced personality quizzes that offer insights into your love life.

Compatibility quizzes can be fodder for interesting conversations between you and your online match. You could ask someone for their reasoning behind a particular answer. You could compare answers and find commonality.

Of course, you can swipe online with little more than a picture, but many dating apps and websites are encouraging singles to dig deeper with personality quizzes that calculate relationship compatibility. 

Personality quizzes may seem mysterious, but they actually work in predictable ways. Here’s a breakdown of the mechanisms and psychology behind an online quiz.

Question Formats

Personality quizzes have different question formats to identify key aspects of the test taker’s personality. Some of the formats may include: 

• Multiple-choice questions: Users select the option that best describes them or their preferences. For example, “Which of these best describes you?” with options like “Confident and bold,” “Compassionate and sweet,” “Curious and innovative,” and “Passionate and creative.”
  
• Likert scales: Users rate their agreement with statements on a scale (e.g., one to five). For instance, “I like it when friends come to me for advice” with options to choose one if you strongly disagree, two if you disagree, three if you neither agree nor disagree, four if you agree, and five if you strongly agree.
  
• Forced-choice questions: Users must choose between two options. This question format reveals their priorities. Daters can learn a lot from a question like, “Would you rather spend a cozy night in watching a movie with your date or go out dancing together until the sun comes up?”
  
• Open-ended questions: Some dating app personality quizzes incorporate short-answer questions to capture nuanced information. For example, online daters might be asked, “Describe your perfect first date.” This is an opportunity to discuss the activities or atmosphere you want for a first date.  

Providing Insights into Compatibility

Personality quiz results can be a useful tool for gauging compatibility. Perhaps you’re on OkCupid viewing quiz question responses and see someone say they like the taste of beer. If you do as well, you might send a message talking about your favorite local brewery. Bold daters may even extend an invite to grab a beer on a first date.

A Washington Post article about why people put their Myers-Briggs personality types in their Tinder profiles featured the perspective of college student Marguerite Franco, whose type is ESFJ. She said she added her personality type to her bio in hopes of attracting fellow extroverts.

Facilitating Self-Awareness

Beyond gauging compatibility, personality quizzes allow you to get to know yourself better, which is incredibly valuable in the dating game. 

Embrace the self-growth. By exploring your preferences, interests, and values, personality quizzes can help you develop a stronger self-awareness. 

Once you know who you are and what you’re looking for, it’s easier to determine who is or isn’t a compatible romantic partner. 

Potential Pitfalls and Limitations

While the results of personality quizzes can be useful, you shouldn’t base your entire dating strategy around them. 

Knowing someone’s Enneagram or MBTI type certainly tells you something about a potential date, but it’s certainly not the whole picture. 

You may find that you’re more compatible with someone whose personality quiz results seem to indicate they’d be a bad match. Opposites can attract in some situations. So many factors go into a happy, healthy relationship that it’s hard to truly capture compatibility using a personality quiz. 

Personality quizzes play an important role in dating to elevate the conversation and accelerate connection. Quiz questions have been refined over time to focus on what matters most to modern daters.

Early Days on Match

Match, launched in 1995, is the oldest dating site in the U.S. Almost 30 years after its inception, it remains an incredibly popular dating platform with more than 15 million active users. 

Since its earliest days, Match allowed users to join for free and browse local profiles that fit specific date criteria. In the 1990s, it was a groundbreaking way to connect people. From the beginning, Match centered its matchmaking around personality and asked nuanced questions to get the information the algorithm needed to make daily match suggestions that could actually spark relationships.

Of course, Match has evolved since 1995, and the team has honed its relationship questionnaire to fit the preferences of modern users. The current Match profile has a section for political views, family values, pets, and religious beliefs, and it has filters for these date criteria as well.

OkCupid’s Shift toward algorithm-based matching

OkCupid launched in 2004 and was purchased by Match Group (which owns Match, Tinder, Hinge, and many other dating websites and apps) in 2011. 

OkCupid gained a reputation as a free platform for people seeking serious relationships, in part because of its approach to algorithm-based matching. OkCupid incorporates extensive questionnaires and mathematical algorithms to recommend the most compatible matches. 

According to a blog post on its website, “OkCupid is the only dating app in the world that matches people on what matters to them through in-app questions that power our algorithm.” 

The early success of OkCupid proved that personality insights would become an essential part of the online dating experience across other platforms.

App Explosion in Popularity

As smartphones became ubiquitous, so did dating apps. Existing dating websites Match, OkCupid, and eharmony began launching app versions of their platform in the 2010s.

Meanwhile, new dating apps Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge have gained millions of downloads and changed how singles date. 

Each dating app is slightly different in how it allows users to match with each other. Still, practically all dating apps are powered by algorithms that evaluate profiles to determine compatibility. 

Some algorithms factor in behavioral analysis, looking at users’ response time, messaging frequency, and interactions to determine interest levels and compatibility. 

Importance & Impact

The shift toward algorithm-based matching based on personality assessments has led millions to find happy relationships through online dating apps. 

Candace and Michelle met on OKCupid after taking the personality test. In a blog post from the platform, Candace shared, “Online dating can be intimidating, but connecting on OKC was simple. We got to see and read a little about each other, message back and forth, and eventually meet in person! That one message was life-changing. It led us to start dating, move in together, get married, and just welcomed our first child in 2021!” 

“We clicked on a level that I had not thought possible.” –Jen, a former Match user

Another dating app success story comes from Jen and Michael, who met on Match in 2019. In a blog post on the Match Group website, Jen shared, “Since [our first date], we have only been apart for a few days at most. We clicked on a level that I had not thought possible. I see things in Michael that I have never seen before and I am so incredibly happy. Thank you SO MUCH for running such a reputable and amazing platform.”

On the Bumble blog, couple Aakriti and Viraj shared their experience with the algorithm-powered app. “I liked that it asked specific questions and I could filter out the people who were only looking to find something casual,” explained Aakriti.

The first thing she noticed about his profile was that he valued communication in his life and in a potential match; as a communications major, she knew she had to swipe right on him! They’ve been married since January 2022. 

Many dating apps are looking to innovate, so there will be interesting developments around smart matchmaking tools and personalized user engagement in the coming years. 

Transparency in Data Usage

All dating apps collect your personal data, but some collect more than others. If you’re curious about the data usage of the apps you’re using, look into their privacy policies in the terms of service. 

Such policies must be disclosed on the App Store as part of Apple’s privacy requirements. An analysis published by Cybernews found that Apple requires developers to disclose if the app collects 35 types of data or privacy points. App creators need to be transparent about whether they collect phone numbers, location, contacts, photos or videos, and audio data. 

It’s clear dating apps aren’t going anywhere, but as users become more aware of privacy concerns, we hope to see a shift toward more transparency in data usage. 

Integration of AI and Machine Learning

Like it or not, AI is already part of your dating life on the apps. For instance, Bumble uses an AI tool to help scan for and shield users from unwanted lewd images on the app. 

Tinder has a feature that allows users to use AI to update their bios. Match Group, which owns several dating apps, launched a new team in 2023 focused specifically on generative AI. 

Plenty of daters are now using AI to help them write bios, start conversations with their matches, and optimize their profiles to increase their chances of landing a date. 

As AI and machine-learning technologies advance, dating apps will likely develop more sophisticated algorithms to connect people. 

Daters should expect to see more advanced personality quizzes and AI-written conversation starters built into dating apps. 

Personalization and User Engagement

If you’ve found the questionnaires on dating apps to be tiresome, the good news is they’re getting better every day. Future developments could include more interactive and engaging experiences with gamified elements or adaptive questioning tailored to your previous responses. 

A blog post from RipenApps suggests that dating app innovators find a way to build a user experience that is personalized on an individual level. 

Online daters don’t want to feel like a number in the swiping scene. The more dating apps can personalize the experience, the better their chance of retaining users and combating burnout.

Personality quizzes are a fun way to gain insights about yourself and your potential dates. They’re so useful that many apps have found ways to integrate quiz questions into their matchmaking processes. 

Online dating apps and websites continue to develop and find new ways to incorporate personality quizzes into the user experience. The result is more informative dating profiles and more meaningful conversations.

That said, capturing a person’s essence and life experience in a simple quiz is hard. There are only nine Enneagram personality types, but most people would agree more than nine types of people exist in the world. 

While personality quizzes can be a great conversation starter and a tool to learn about yourself or your date, they should be just the start of the conversation — not the conclusion.