> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://thepulse.org/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The Cult of Personality: Why Personality Tests Are Booming
- URL: https://thepulse.org/en/the-cult-of-personality-why-personality-tests-are-booming/
- Published: 2024-11-28T15:05:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-06T18:36:06.000Z
- Description: Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, love languages, Hogwarts houses: why are personality tests everywhere? Cory Draper sees a search for identity behind the trend, especially among teenagers, and shares how the tests helped him on his own journey.
- Author: Cory Draper
- Tags: Articles, #target-leaders, #topic-leadership, #age-teens, #age-young-adults

Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, love languages, even Hogwarts houses: personality tests are everywhere. Some people roll their eyes at them; others take every new one and share their results. Cory Draper asks a different question: why are so many people taking them in the first place?

Draper is a certified Enneagram coach who writes about personality and identity on his Substack, *Wholly Me*. This piece is the opening post of that newsletter, and in it he explains what drives him. His answer: we live in a culture where people are searching hard, not only for meaning but for themselves. He sees a collective identity crisis in the West, and he sees it most painfully among teenagers.

Middle school and high school are the years when the big questions of identity and belonging come up: Who am I? Where do I belong? Draper points to the pressure we put on young people to excel at school and in sports and to know early what they want to become, and to social media, which shows them peers who seem to have it all together and amplifies every insecurity. The usual advice tells them to look outward and change something: their friends, their surroundings or themselves. Draper is convinced that many people, young and old, simply want to hear that there is a place for them.

His own experience points in a different direction. Each assessment gave him another piece of the puzzle: words for how he thinks, feels and works, and ways to deal with his weaknesses and use his strengths. He’s honest that no test can tell the whole truth about a person and that getting to know yourself takes a lifetime. But he’s convinced that pointing someone to these tools is better than leaving them alone with social media.

If you work with teenagers who are asking who they are, this short piece is a good conversation starter for your team.

📖

****Read the full article:** [Cult of Personality](https://whollyme.substack.com/p/coming-soon) by Cory Draper, on his Substack **Wholly Me*.

## More from Pulse

- [The 4 Temperaments Explained: Which Personality Type Are You?](https://thepulse.org/en/the-4-temperaments-explained/)
- [Why Teenagers Feel Misunderstood, and What You Can Do About It](https://thepulse.org/en/why-teenagers-feel-misunderstood-and-what-you-can-do/)
- [Youth Group Session “Why Your Grades Don’t Define You”](https://thepulse.org/en/why-your-grades-dont-define-you/)
- [Youth Group Session “Social Media and Mental Health”](https://thepulse.org/en/social-media-and-mental-health/)

*This article by Cory Draper first appeared on* [Wholly Me](https://whollyme.substack.com/)*, his Substack. Pulse published a German version in November 2024 (*[in German](https://thepulse.org/de/kult-der-personlichkeit-warum-personlichkeitstests-boomen/?ref=thepulse.org)*).*