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26 October 2010

Myers Briggs types →[More:]
What are you?

I took it this morning. I'm an INFJ. These descriptions of INFJ fit me, but I didn't relate to the examples in the Keirsey newsletter. My co-worker is absolutely an ENFP. It was strange how accurate the descriptions of us were.

As an aside, I've tried to take the Myers-Briggs twice before but found the test aggravating and nearly impossible to finish. I wasn't comfortable taking it, and wasn't comfortable with the results. Today I found the answers to be easy. It's the first 'test' I've taken since I started on Concerta a few weeks ago. Interesting.

post by: toastedbeagle at: 10:39 | 52 comments

Let me see... I seem to remember that I'm an INTJ but I'm going to go ahead and do that test right now.

posted by gaspode 26 October | 10:44

ENTP. Myers-Briggs is fun like astrology is fun.

My approach when figuring out my Myers-Briggs was to figure out what they were basing their decisions on and then to pick my letters based on the intention of the questions, rather than the actual questions.

posted by aniola 26 October | 10:46

ENTP means the Internet says I'll fall madly in love with the INFJs and the INTJs among you.

posted by aniola 26 October | 10:48

I'm an ENTJ. Definitely but not extremely E, very close to the line on N versus S, decidedly T, and overwhelmingly J.

posted by bearwife 26 October | 10:48

Oh, and here's my ENTJ link, which is mostly right though I enjoy sitting by the airplane window. (And, being an ENTJ, figuring out how it corresponds with the map in the airline magazine and pointing this out to my husband, and persuading him I'm right.)

posted by bearwife 26 October | 10:51

Well, that time I was an ISTJ, but the S was very weak.

ENTP. Myers-Briggs is fun like astrology is fun. yep!

posted by gaspode 26 October | 10:52

INTJ here, and the description is pretty good. Especially the part that says: "Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel."

posted by FishBike 26 October | 10:52

People love to hate on the MB, but there's some pretty good cognitive science behind it. It's reductive, like any categorizing test, but it's more useful than not-useful, especially when you are empowered by the knowledge of the characteristics and strengths of your own type and some of the types you live and work with on a daily basis. Basically, the way we all take in information and process information can be mapped along continua, and the resulting combination of information-handling preferences really can really help you understand how you and other people behave, based on their intellectual tendencies.

We've discussed it here before a lot. I would have to go back to my most recent test to be completely sure, but I think it scored me ENTJ.

posted by Miko 26 October | 10:54

I find these tests troubling cause of all the self-reporting. I could say I'm a quiet stay at home type, but I know I get these wild hairs to go out and be frantically, exhaustively social. How I see myself isn't exactly how I behave, and the fact that I'm even aware of that is a personality trait.

Take question 2, I'd love to have a more fast-paced job cause I'm very stimulus-driven, but it would exhaust me if It was an understood-to-be-9-5-7 day a week thing. I have vastly different working styles when I'm, say working on a proposal (rules, structure, details) or making a show (improv, looseness, experimentation). Maybe the only thing I could pull from this test is that I end to swing between extremes and am uncomfortable with moderation.

Like Astrology, I only like it when they point out negative traits.

That being said ......

INFJ

posted by The Whelk 26 October | 10:57

which is, ha, the carrer metric points be between design and science, which is funny cause I'm a cartoonist who wanted to be a biologist.

posted by The Whelk 26 October | 11:00

INTP

posted by rainbaby 26 October | 11:03

I searched for Myers Briggs and found only one post, back in '06. I must have missed the other discussions.

Myers-Briggs is fun like astrology is fun

Yeah-I get there could be a hunk of confirmation bias. But my coworker and I have extremely different personalities, and those descriptions were damn close to describing each of us. It does help me 'get' her wackiness.

posted by toastedbeagle 26 October | 11:05

ENTJ! Apparently just like Hillary Clinton.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 26 October | 11:06

Well, that time I was an ISTJ, but the S was very weak.

Same here. Fellow INTJ (and Virgo) thinks there's something wrong with this one. I haven't changed that much since I last took the test. (Thought I have gotten more frustrated with its questions.)

posted by mudpuppie 26 October | 11:08

There are some expedient, dumbed-down versions of this test, and this is one of them. The full versions actually cost money to take and are rarely found for free online.

To get a solid result, you need both a range of responses along a continuum (getting around The Whelk's " but sometimes I'm like THIS and sometimes I'm like THAT" question by asking you to honestly assess how many times out of six or ten you'd make that choice), and you need many many more questions (more like 100 or even longer, can't remember how long my last one was) and they need to be in mixed categories, so you stop tracking whether you think they're asking an introvert/extrovert question or a thinking/feeling question and just move on to the answers, answering more intuitively.

Even then, it's not a self-verifying test like a blood test. It's based on self-reporting, so in some sense it's going to tell you what you think about yourself, whether or not you really behave that way. It relies on honest self-assessment skills. For that I really appreciate the continuum-answer format, because it's easier to honestly assess myself by starting out eliminating extremes that really don't apply, or eliminating the center spectrum when I know I have a strongish tendency.

posted by Miko 26 October | 11:16

INTP.

From Wikipedia:
"Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone."

The second half of that is so me. If I'm at a party or in a meeting too long, I can feel the life force draining out of me. My wife is the same way, she'll come back from a contentious church meeting and pass out sitting up on the couch because she's so depleted from social interaction.

posted by octothorpe 26 October | 11:23

I have a hard time classifying myself fully as an extrovert or introvert. I feel like I'm both. Other people might classify me as an extrovert, but how would they really know if they can't see inside me?

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 26 October | 11:25

Solidly INTP. My first semester at my current job I, like every other employee of the college, had to go through TQM (now CQI) training. The first session, we did full Myers-Briggs. When the instructor announced he was an ESFJ, I thought then that the class would be hell. In retrospect, it was better than I expected ;-).

posted by fogovonslack 26 October | 11:30

ISTJ, like Lance Armstrong, Warren Buffet, Donald Rumsfeld, Greta Garbo.

Only slightly for everything. I tended to give conflicting answers, I felt, depending on how the question was framed.

posted by danf 26 October | 11:32

I took a very long version of this test for a class in tenth grade and hated it because I'm not very good at self-reporting. I have the same problem about self-assessment with scientific studies in general, but I suppose it's the best we have to go on, eh?

Ah, the nuances of unanswerable questions. This is why probably I studied philosophy....

posted by aniola 26 October | 11:37

I'm WQXZ!!

Okay, it's really ISTJ. Everything seems "moderate" and "slightly," which I guess makes sense since I think many of my answers contradicted other answers. The description doesn't sound like me at all.

posted by JanetLand 26 October | 11:59

INFP. I always get INFP no matter which variation of the test I take, so, well, I suppose it must be true. Me, JK Rowling and Princess Di, we are all so alike.

posted by mygothlaundry 26 October | 12:04

fogovonslack, I am married to an ESFJ. Opposites attract!

posted by rainbaby 26 October | 12:07

ISFJ. The description is spot-on - I'm never happier than when I'm needed.

posted by punchtothehead 26 October | 12:43

I think the Big Five test is better because it includes the idea of personality being a spectrum in the results.

posted by drezdn 26 October | 12:52

I feel like I'm both.

I've always wavered back and forth on the I/E thing. I don't really feel like an "I" because I love to be active with other people, talk, socialize, etc. I really enjoy other people, which makes me seem like an extravert. But I would often test Intravert. One of my friends is an HR consultant, and she explained it like this: It's not about whether you like socializing with people - it's what it does to your energy level, as octothorpe said. Extraverts actually get recharged and reenergized by being around people, and they continually seek opportunities to talk, listen, interact, and be around other people as a way to regain energy lost through other activities. Intraverts may love socializing and being around people, but in order to stock up on the energy to do that, they spend time alone to recharge. They do their best resting and refueling when alone, and that then enables them to go out and sparkle as much as they want, as long as they're getting that refuel time.

When she clarified that for me I was more comfortable moving toward the I end of the scale. I definitely like being out and about, but I most definitely need quiet, personal downtime to rest in between.

posted by Miko 26 October | 12:52

Opposites do attract. My beloved hubby is pretty definitely ISFJ.

posted by bearwife 26 October | 12:53

Miko - that's a great explanation.

posted by punchtothehead 26 October | 12:54

INTJ. "100%" introverted, hee.

posted by Melismata 26 October | 12:59

When she clarified that for me I was more comfortable moving toward the I end of the scale. I definitely like being out and about, but I most definitely need quiet, personal downtime to rest in between.

That makes perfect sense to me. I will now go around stubbornly declaring myself an introvert, to the shock and horror of those around me.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 26 October | 13:26

This time I'm ESFJ--I'm always right on the S/N border (this test gives me a 1% preference) and sometimes waver between J and P (as this says, I'm a very expressed extravert, slightly expressed sensing personality, distinctively expressed feeling personality, and slightly expressed judging personality--I really like that "distinctively", heh). The description seems accurate enough, but the careers are way off ("fashion merchandising"? I'm right on top of that, Rose!).

posted by leesh 26 October | 13:48

There are two kinds of people. Those who apply Meyers-Briggs to themselves and those that don't.

posted by jouke 26 October | 13:50

ENFP. Though I always describe myself as the most extroverted introvert you'll ever meet.

posted by Madamina 26 October | 13:54

Yeah, Madamina that's what I say about myself too! A very extroverted introvert. Or an extremely introverted extrovert, either/or.

posted by mygothlaundry 26 October | 14:08

XNXX. No, seriously. I can be anything but S.

posted by Eideteker 26 October | 14:24

It was strange how accurate the descriptions of us were.

Forer Effect.

posted by Eideteker 26 October | 14:34

Thanks for the expansion of what I was trying to say, Miko. I actually love parties and have great time at them but I feel like I've run a 10k afterward.

posted by octothorpe 26 October | 14:53

I feel like I've run a 10k afterward.

Excellent way to describe it! I am the same.

I also like to take the time to process things like parties or trips away where I've talked to a lot of people. It sort of likes to settle, and for a while I like hearing the voices and memories echo around in my brain and engrave their meaningful bits in. If you keep going and going, there's not much time to do that because you're moving on to the next interaction.

posted by Miko 26 October | 15:18

There are two kinds of people. Those who apply Meyers-Briggs to themselves and those that don't.

Apply directly to the forehead!

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 26 October | 15:36

I used to be an ENTJ but I've drifted to INFJ. I think a lot depends on the length of the test. On something short I'm more conscious of a question being basically the same as another question only with different wording. Or I get hung up on one or two sentences. I feel like for me the E/I line is weird because there are a lot of questions that are like "Do you love being alone?" and I'm like "yes, I love it, it's great!" and other questions that ask "Do you like hanging out with people?" and I say "Yes, that is also fun!" but when they ask "Do you want to read a book or go to a party?" The answer is always "Book!" And so, the I.

posted by jessamyn 26 October | 17:34

INFJ. I used to come up INFP but the last few times it's been J. I think it's the depression talking.

posted by deborah 26 October | 17:40

Mine's changed over the years as well. ESFP to INFP to INTJ. Mostly the questions irritate me because of the black/white dichotomy.

The only personality test that I thought might be useful was the StrengthsQuest one. It said one of my characteristics was that I don't like personality tests. :)

posted by lysdexic 26 October | 17:43

I hear you, lysdexic. My answer to every Myers-Briggs question is: "It depends."

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 26 October | 17:48

ESFP here, in good (?) company with Liz Taylor and Elvis. I hover with the E/I and P/J areas, but the S it is distinctive. The F is moderate. I used to be ENFP, so I'm not sure what changed. I swear it's different every time I take it.

posted by Stewriffic 26 October | 18:27

I always thought I was INFJ.

Today it's saying ISFJ, but I scored very low on sensing -- 1%

posted by LoriFLA 26 October | 19:14

It can be different each time you take it because we do change throughout life as we accumulate experience and get better at understanding and managing ourselves.

posted by Miko 26 October | 21:00

INF* for sure, after many, many attempts over the years, but I really waver between F and P. Any decent shortcuts for figuring out where you lie?

(And now that I took the test again: ESFP? Huh? The E, S and P were all pretty mildly expressed, though, and the F was at 75%, which sounds about right.)

posted by maudlin 26 October | 21:24

(ARGH! I meant, I waver between J and P. I just don't do details. Or proof-reading.)

posted by maudlin 26 October | 21:25

Just for the record; I hadn't taken it before this comment, though I looked at the link. I just took it - INTJ. Good enough for me, pretty consistent result with the only wavering really being on my I/E borderline.

posted by Miko 26 October | 21:34

I turned up INFJ, though only the I part was really solid - not surprisingly. I'm an extroverted introvert, in that I love spending time with my friends and can be quite outgoing when I'm with them, but hot DAMN I need my time alone to recharge, and that's what actually fuels my batteries. I know I've taken another version of this test online somewhere that was a little less "here is a black and white dichotomy that does not really apply to your experience of life. Choose!" but I don't know where.

posted by lriG.rorriM 26 October | 22:15

Strongly and consistently N and P. The I/E and T/F waver like crazy, though.

posted by tangerine 27 October | 01:38

I used to always come up introverted, but this time I crossed over (barely; 1%) into extroverted. Makes sense, I am far more comfortable socially then when I was younger.

posted by amro 27 October | 11:33

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