--- description: The test ran in the June 18, 1965, issue of TIME title: Personality Tests for Jobs: See Sample Questions from a 1965 Quiz image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb48fb2ad00a4684f/6988533735ba6f08dbc0d995/test.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bizarre](/tag/bizarre/) ## Bizarre Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Take a Totally Strange, Completely Real Personality Test from 1965  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 11:30 AM CUT  From the June 18, 1965, issue of TIME From the June 18, 1965, issue of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 11:30 AM CUT This week’s issue of TIME explores the unexpected ways that personality tests are reshaping the workplace. The esoteric questions–what does understanding why stars twinkle have to do with getting a job?–are but the latest step in a process that’s been going on for a long time. Almost exactly 50 years ago—on June 18, 1965—TIME printed an earlier example of just such a test. It isn’t hard to see how frustrating it could be to take. After all, how would an employer make use of an applicant’s answer to true/false statements like these? _I have not lived the right kind of life. I brood a great deal. Once in a while I laugh at a dirty joke. I feel uneasy indoors. I dislike to take a bath. I like mannish women. I practically never blush. I would like to hunt lions in Africa._ And, of course: _I never attend a sexy show if I can avoid it._ Many of the concerns expressed by TIME readers over that 1965 story are similar to those faced by potential employees today: Is this an invasion of privacy? Is it accurate? Is it going to help? One TIME reader suggested a more puckish response, which ran in the [letters section](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-06-25/page/20/ "undefined") the following week: --- > “” --- **_Read more about the contemporary use of personality tests_** [**_in this week’s issue of TIME_**](http://time.com/3917703/questions-to-answer-in-the-age-of-optimized-hiring/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3911210/believe-i-am-being-followed-test/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3911210/believe-i-am-being-followed-test/"},"headline":"Take a Totally Strange, Completely Real Personality Test from 1965","datePublished":"2015-06-11T11:30:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:58:09.551Z","description":"Among the true/false questions: \"I never attend a sexy show if I can avoid it\"","url":"https://time.com/3911210/believe-i-am-being-followed-test/","keywords":["Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb48fb2ad00a4684f/6988533735ba6f08dbc0d995/test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb48fb2ad00a4684f/6988533735ba6f08dbc0d995/test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"test 1965","caption":"From the June 18, 1965, issue of TIME","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bizarre/","name":"Bizarre"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3911210/believe-i-am-being-followed-test/","name":"Take a Totally Strange, Completely Real Personality Test from 1965"}}]}] ```