Sometimes Psychobabble Can Be Fun. Usually Not But Just This One Time It Kinda Was.
Published by Lisa Kansas September 19th, 2008 in Punkass!, "Science", Work
Apparently this is me.
So, not too long ago at work we were suffering through some “group exercises” to “build teamwork” (thankfully there was no “hugging,” or GOD forbid, “sharing”)–BUT anyway, one of the things we did was take the Myers-Briggs assessment. I’ve never formally taken it before and certainly never done so with a whole bunch of other people. One thing I must say, the statistics provided as to what percentage of the population is usually this four-letter combination and what is usually that four-letter combination turned out to be nearly spot-on in terms of our little gang of twenty or so.
As it turns out, I am an INTP. This is an INTP:
INTPs live in the world of theoretical possibilities. They live primarily inside their own minds, having the ability to analyze difficult problems, identify patterns, and come up with logical explanations. They seek clarity in everything, and are therefore driven to build knowledge. They are the “absent-minded professors”, who highly value intelligence and the ability to apply logic to theories to find solutions.
The INTP has no understanding or value for decisions made on the basis of personal subjectivity or feelings. They strive constantly to achieve logical conclusions to problems, and don’t understand the importance or relevance of applying subjective emotional considerations to decisions. The INTP is usually very independent, unconventional, and original. They are not likely to place much value on traditional goals such as popularity and security.
INTPs are about 1% of the general population, making this one of the rarest of types.
Contributions to the team of an INTP
In a team environment, the INTP can contribute by:
* using analytical and critical skills to solve problems
* focusing attention on the central issue
* providing intellectual insight
* suggesting ideas that achieve long and short term aims
* viewing information objectivelyThe potential ways in which an INTP can irritate others include:
* being too intellectual
* finding too many flaws, and not accepting imperfect but ‘good enough’ solutions
* not taking account of others’ feelings
* leave others to worry about implementation once the major problems have been solved
* clinging to a principle at the expense of relationships and harmony
Yeah, well. Scarifyingly dead-on, I must say. How bout any of the rest of you PunkAssBloggites? Ever done a Myers-Briggs assessment? If so, how accurate do you think it was?
I’m an ENFP, and I first discovered this in marriage counseling years ago. It is pretty darn close to who I am, and my wife is very much the ESTP. I don’t know that the MBTI can be taken too seriously, but like some advanced forms of astrology, it’s accurate enough to go beyond the weirdly coincidental.
I took a Myers-Briggs test in school, but I don’t remember any more my type. I think maybe it was PTSD.
I do think it was lots of fun, especially to compare notes with others, and gave food for thought and even can inspire moments of self-discovery; but then again, I think the same thing about tarot cards and astrology. To which, if you said “I think those are complete and utter bullshit on any scientific level”, I’d say, “well put.”
Despite the inflammatory comparison I just made, I *don’t* think that Myers-Briggs is complete and utter bullshit. But I don’t find it that impressive either. I do think that the typical logical fallacies which let other forms of fortune-telling claim their victims are also in play with Myers-Briggs. It’s just that Myers-Briggs solicits a bit more useful information in its “input” phase, and so has a bit higher success rate in its “output” phase. Still, there are always several personality types that would fit any person well, not just one. For instance, chances are I wouldn’t test as INTP, but based on the description you just gave, if I were told that I was INTP, I would say, “yep, that sounds like me”.
I don’t really feel like expending more brain cells on it at the moment. Have you gone and looked at some skeptical viewpoints like this one? Or were you really just hoping to get a bunch of people to have some fun sharing their types?
I’m a Virgo, by the way.
I, too, am an INTP. I was first tested in high school, and then every subsequent testing has always returned the same result. I, too, find it scarifyingly dead on. You can’t appeal to my emotions, you have to appeal to my logic or you’re not getting anywhere with me. By the same token, I tend to be rational about things others are extremely emotional about/get into huge moral hissies over. I’ve accepted some pretty out there things in my time simply because there’s no logical reason NOT to.
This has not made me a very endearing person, sadly.Nobody seems to enjoy having logic injected into his or her hissy fit, and I come off as a very cold fish, and very detached from people. They’re probably not wrong.
I officially have no use for Myers-Briggs tests because I’m borderline on all 4 traits, so I get wildly different result depending on the specific questions and how I’m feeling that day.
Well, that and I find many of the questions to not make any sense at all to me. I think on every version I’ve ever taken there’s always one that’s like, “Which do you listen to more, your thoughts or your feelings?” and I don’t get it. My thoughts and feeling inform each other and I can’t divorce the two from each other! Also my answers vary depending a lot on context. I lived in Japan for a while and have a ‘Japan self’ that addresses the world in a way that is very different than when I’m in the US. When I’m in my ‘designer mode’ I operate differently too.
Maybe I’m strange, I don’t know, but I can’t say that one personality is the real me and the others are fake because it’s not true.
I think I was strongly IN, mildly TJ. Not sure what use it is to know this, though.
Another INTP, strongly TP as I recall. I took one my freshmen year in college, and we did a group activity to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the types: how intuitives are hopeless at giving directions, and extroverts are good at selecting group leaders, and, my favorite, having thinkers argue over the definition of words.
So, its far from scientific, but it’s certainly useful for huggy, feel-y group dynamics.
I am an INFP. It fits pretty well with my personality.
I forget the name of the researcher, but there have been several experiments done that show you can give a personality test to a group of people, throw away their answers, give them all the same personality profile, and on a scale of 1 to 5, people will rate its accuracy at an average of 4.6. As long as the profile is the least bit flattering, it is human nature for people to cherry pick their lifetime of data points to believe these positive, self-justifying profiles actually mean something. I agree that their only value is in the self-discovery they may inspire in some people. Otherwise, they are like IQ tests in that they don’t measure anything real or offer any legitimately useful predictions about how any given group will interact.