…Because it’s fun. For those of you who are not psychology geeks, Myers-Briggs is supposedly the ultimate personality test. Well, maybe not the ultimate, but if the test-taker answers all the questions truthfully, it’s usually pretty damn accurate. Supposedly, the better you understand yourself and your motivations, the easier it will be to get by in the world. The test is also very confusing.
According to Myers-Briggs, there are sixteen types of people. Types are differentiated by an acronym made up from the letters of words describing his or her personality. Sound hard to understand? Uh, it sort of is. It’s hard to explain, you see. But I’ll try. There are four basic personality categories (the four dichotomies). One pertains to how you handle social situations (whether you’re INTROVERTED or EXTROVERTED)(but the Myers-Briggs test spells it ‘extraverted,’ because it thinks it’s soooo special). Another to how you take in information (whether you are SENSING or INTUITING). Another to how you make decisions (whether you’re more of a THINKING or FEELING type). And a final one just for good measure (JUDGING or PERCEIVING).
Unfortunately, Myers and Briggs did not subscribe to the highly controversial and popular ‘CosmoGIRL!’ school of thought, which is why options like ‘Wilting Wallflower’ and ‘Spunky Monkey’ are conspicuously absent from the combinations.
When you take the test, you will get a result that reads like a person trying to swallow down soup and speak at the same time. A jumbled mass of letters. We had to take the test at our school during freshman year. I believe my response (as I am ever so eloquent) was something along the lines of, “What the hell is this crap?”
There is an explanation. The test determines which of the two words in each category would best describe you. Are you more extro(extra?)verted, or introverted? Sensing or intuiting? It will then determine, from these categories, a description that applies to you. For example: a person who enjoys their solitude more than the company of others, loves to think of ways to improve the world, acts on his or her feelings, and gets information through lots of mental processing would be an ISFJ (Intuiting, sensing, feeling, judging) type of guy/gal.
But there does seem to be a problem. Due to the test-taker’s less than objective opinion of him/herself, as well as his or her mood, answers are subject to change. Most of the time, I swing between ENTP and ENTJ (which, I was delighted to find out, is the same type as Barbara Ehrenreich), and it’s pretty obvious. Not so much, though, after getting humiliated at a party or something. During moments like those, I want to be alone with my angst and a book on reptilian overlords. It may be just me, but I think that the mood one’s in has definite sway over the result one gets. It could be argued that the test has tried to work around this by asking more general questions, but they’re not so general that momentary bias won’t creep through (double-negative, hooray).
Why am I telling you this? I’ve been reading the reader-contributed blogs here, and I sense a common trend. Loads of us latch onto the same subject: how stereotypes figure into our lives. As most of us are in high school (as the name ‘TeenInk’ would lead you the believe) this is not illogical. We feel either excluded due to the misunderstandings that they produce, or disgusted when we ourselves fall prey to the desire to make assumptions about people we hardly know. Now, I have a theory. As teenagers, we struggle to make sense of the world around us, as well as ourselves. How the exterior relates to our interior. We start to form connections, compare ourselves to others in often arbitrary ways (he likes Dungeons and Dragons, I don’t, therefore, we won’t get along).
Myers-Briggs focuses more on general differences, like whether or not you enjoy talking to people a lot, or sitting quietly alone and reading. Not silly stuff, like whether one enjoys different music than you. Ideally, taking the Myers-Briggs test would help to evaluate people based on a more general spectrum, and help one understand him or herself.
The downside that this could potentially create would be that people would start judging others on said generic qualities, which could be perhaps worse, but we would have to test it. So far, it hasn’t been done.
If you want to find out what Myers-Briggs type you are, there are several resources. The more comprehensive tests cost money, but there are cheaper (less comprehensive, mind you) tests available online.
A list of all the types, as well as descriptions (if you don’t feel like taking the test, and are reasonably sure which one would apply to you):
http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html
A short version of the test (it may not be as accurate):
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
which one are you?
You can take it at Blogthings.com…
Im INFP, but sometimes get INFJ
You Are An INFP
The Idealist
You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world.
Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.
It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close.
But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop.
In love, you tend to have high (and often unrealistic) standards.
You are very sensitive. You tend to have intense feelings.
At work, you need to do something that expresses your personal values.
You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.
How you see yourself: Unselfish, empathetic, and spiritual
When other people don’t get to know you, they see you as: Unrealistic, naive, and weak