Your opinion of The Myers-Briggs Test Instrument

[Orrex]

Poll question: Your opinion of The Myers-Briggs Test Instrument

[Dr. Strange]

1. Is that the one they use to tell is someone is a replicant?

I think it's pretty effective.

[TZ]

3. rofl

Speaking of test instruments...I need some career advice from you..and Orrex too since he's a fine critique of movies *cough* (did I just say that)
I'm thinking about a new career..sexy scientific devices video star...check out this ad..I so could be the main character..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7933045

[lizerdbits]

21. Haha that was going around our place the week before.

Our safety officer (who is a funny while doing his job unlike SOME we have known) sent it around and I asked if he notice that the woman wasn't wearing safety glasses with side shields, nor were any but one of the guys at the end. I told him to search for the PCR song. :rofl:

[Orrex]

10. What's a tortoise.

"You know what a terrapin is?"

"'Course."

"Same thing."

[leeroysphitz]

24. You want to know about my mother?

I'll tell you about my mother...

[Critters2]

2. Woo-hoo!! I thought I was the only one who felt this way!!

Critters
sometimes an IFNP, sometimes an ISNP...wtf kind of test gives me a different personality at different times?

[TZ]

4. ....

I will NOT say it..I will NOT say it...Critters..you know maybe its not the test....;)
Do I get the finger wagging smilie now?

[Critters2]

5. The finger-wagging smilie computer is down right now.

But close your eyes and imagine it!!

[Orrex]

9. A test designed to seem accurate to the widest possible customer base

I don't care if people want to use some Jung-inspired woo-woo to evaluate themselves in some pleasant and non-verifiable way, but this stupid test is actually used by actual companies for assessing career potential and job suitability.

Heck, why not consult a tea leaf reader when making those tough hiring decisions?

[Critters2]

22. Yep. In seminary, we had to go through this career rediness or something program

using the MBTI. It was treated like a sacred text! Happily, they decided I could be ordained, in spite of the test's confusion as to whether I was an "N" or an "S". But some people were given really hard times by the Jungian fundamentalists!

[u4ic]

31. As I understand it, the test isn't either or

It's a continuim from one end of the spectrum to the other. So being in the middle - ie sometimes having a score that's N, sometimes S - just means that you are more balanced, not strongly preferring one over the other.


Sensing and iNtuition are the information-gathering (Perceiving) functions. They describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer Sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches that seem to come out of nowhere. They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data. On the other hand, those who prefer iNtuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern). They may be more interested in future possibilities. They tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from the unconscious mind. The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.


It sounds like the ones conducting the tests were J's. According to Myers<2>, Judging types prefer to "have matters settled." :P

[pokerfan]

11. Perhaps you are borderline in that category

Like many of the fuzzier sciences, (granted Jung was fuzzier than most) I think psychology continues to remain a bit nebulous. Do I really believe that g-d or nature carved us up into sixteen personality types? No. I think the reality is much, much much more complex.

It's like asking how many colors there are in the rainbow? Seven? Eight? A thousand? All of them? The number of colors we see is closely tied with our language. Similarly, our models of mind tend to follow current vernacular. Is our mind like a steam engine (building up, letting off, blowing off steam) or is it like a film projector (replay, rewind) or is it like a computer (a memory bank with a central processor, short term cache and long term hard drive). Funny how our models follow our current technology.

It's like the Nolan theory. Is there really only four or five categories of political thought? No. But I think there are clearly more than two.

I think that simple models can provide some small amount of insight but we shouldn't confuse the model with reality.

[tigereye]

20. actually Jung did some of the earliest psychological research

I think a lot of employers would use an MMPI or something along those lines if they were hiring folks and looking for serious personality and psychological flaws...

I suppose the Meyers-Briggs could highlight some personality styles and attitudes...

[jeff30997]

6. I think it could be interesting to watch...

Mike Myers and Megan Briggs test each-other's Instruments.(Only for Scientific purpose of course).

[jberryhill]

7. It works well if you are an ENTJ

But those ISFP types are so screwed up that the test is not as accurate with them.

[jeff30997]

8. ENTJ?

Entertaining Nut Toking Joints ?

ISFP? Mmm,sounds like a sex thing but I can't even

imagine what it could be.

[Ysabel]

12. i don't like that some companies use it as a hiring practice...

it seems intrusive...

i've taken the test for myself several times and i always come up the same...

i've purposely NOT applied for jobs where i knew that the myers-briggs test was being used...

I don't know whether the myers-briggs test results have any significant meaning i tend to think that if so it's probably only minimal and that a much more in depth test than that or rather more in depth / numerous tests over time along with a number of people evaluating and comparing notes including the test subject's input on the analysis would most likely give a much better result...

btw i've been involved in that sort of thing in the past from a very early age at the university of illinois as i attended class with my mother who was getting her teaching degree as well other students studying psychology sociology and other related fields often would go around the neighborhood interviewing children i grew up on campus so this sort of thing went on fairly regularly...

later i went into the field of education as well however i dropped out of it since i became involved in the administrative side of it and dealing with higher ups who were more concerned about money and the cutting of education rather than expansion of it became a constant battle...

- some of the same people who would cut education seem to put a lot of stock in tests like myers-briggs imo...

--------------------------------


edit: typo (firefox did NOT work that time it missed it)...

[Fox Mulder]

13. I think it sums up my personality pretty well.

I wouldn't compare it to astrology, that's for sure.

[Orrex]

14. Well, here's one way to test it

Find me the result that reflects something along the lines of "dangerous sociopath on the brink of a homicidal killing spree."

Well, that's an exaggeration, of course. But find me a result in the Myers-Briggs spectrum that truly reflects a truly negative personality type. And here's a hint: it doesn't exist.

That's right--the test instrument so beloved by net-savvy psychologists-of-self is skewed to give only nebulously positive responses. And they are indeed sufficiently nebulous to apply to just about anyone willing to believe them from the outset.

Even setting all of that aside, the MBTI has a fatal flaw that precludes it from being anything other than a cutesy online novelty: if the test's results don't match your expectation of personality indicator, you can tweak the results! Here's a bit from Consulting Psychologists Press, which owns the Myers-Briggs Test Instrument:

Many people find that their MBTI results describe them quite well. But for others, changing a letter or two may help them discover an MBTI type that more accurately captures their personality. If you feel the characteristics (listed) above do not fit you, the person who administered the MBTI can help you identify a better-fitting type.

See page 2 of this pdf document.

In other words, "the test works well, but if it doesn't work for you, you can tweak the results up to 50%, and we'll still say that the test works well." By that one little caveat, the MBTI is utterly destroyed as a valid predictive tool.

Holy moley. I've never even met you, and I'll bet that if I asked you sixteen questions I could get within 50% of an accurate though vague description of you. Just like the MBTI does.

Honestly, and as I've said before, I don't care if people like to amuse themselves with this little bit of online nonsense. What sickens me is that companies use this product to assess people for career potential and advancement eligibility. You might as well say "You're an Aries, so I think you'd do well in middle management."

[Fox Mulder]

15. I didn't look at it that way before.

And it makes sense.

I agree with you, Orrex.

[Orrex]

16. Them's fightin' words!

No one agrees with me! I'm the lonely outcast crusader, fighting the good fight and trapped in a world I never made.

[Fox Mulder]

17. Oh, but I do agree with you on this.

:)

[Orrex]

18. Now you're just trying to piss me off

(Just kidding!)

;)
;)
;)
;)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. it's Pat

[applegrove]

23. It is right on. Except the part about saving money.

[rucky]

25. It's consistent.

FWIW. Each different one I take reads INTP.

[Critters2]

26. LOL!!! I've NEVER known it to be consistent.

It simply cannot decide what my type is. It's nice as a party game, but for real psychological evaluation, it's, well, a party game.

[rucky]

27. That must mean you're crazy.

:silly:

[Critters2]

28. No, as someone pointed out up thread, the MBTI doesn't find craziness.

It's all about where your strengths and creativities lie. No matter who you are, the MBTI thinks you're just swell! It just can't decide in what ways I'm swell.

Like most things Jungian, it's a load of crap.

[Orrex]

30. No. YOU'RE consistent

When confronted with a test that asks a lot of vaguely kind and gentle questions, you answer basically the same each time. The parameters of the test, and the demands of shoehorning billions of people into 16 different types, means that each of the 16 types is preposterously broad. As such, you have a lot of latitude from one test to the next, and each time your answers are sufficently similar to shoehorn you into the INTP type.

I mentioned astrology as a point of comparison, and I'll mention it again here. The reason astrology (and all such "cold readings") seem accurate is that they're general and positive, so that just about anyone can identify with enough of any particular horoscope or MBTI test result to claim it as accurate.

And even if the descriptions of the "types" weren't hopelessly broad, the questions themselves certainly are. You can answer vague, life-probing question with a binary yes/no and expect to get anything that accurately and specifically describes your own distinct personality.


I know that these tests are hugely popular, because it's fun and validating to figure out where you belong in the grand scheme. But what they make up for in popularity they lack in empirical value.

[rug]

29. IMOK with it.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

32. That test nailed my personality type exactly:

INTJ. Fairly rare type, and I was quite amused to read some years later that both Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling were typed as INTJs. I am rather fond of both of them. But I'm DXd Asperger's too,

[Orrex]

33. kick

Because people are still talking about this piece of bullshit pseudoscience.

[TZ]

34. Confession.

My dad was a long time middle mangaer for GE..He used this ALOT and he seems to find it useful..I think he found it useful in trying to evaluate what groups of people would work more efficiently together.
While I don't think its a very accurate test, I think there is SOME value to it, if not nearly as much as some people assign to it.

[Orrex]

36. Hey--check your PM in a minute or two

I need to complain about something.

[zanne]

35. I think it's too damned accurate. nt

[MullenBank]

37. Nailed

me dead on. INTJ. We're the best. All others are number 2 or lower.....