| | Bob wrote: "David you were right to have reservations about Myers-briggs, like Jung's mysticism it is junk...The test was developed by Isabel briggs Myers...Tests of the test show that if people take it again, 39 to 76 percent will be assigned to a different 'type.' The profiles sound like something from an astrologer, so general so they can fit most people."
The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is to identify current experienced preferences and, based on that, one's most likely personality type. Also, it indicates one's likely type, it does not infallibly identify it.
One source of discrepancy between the indicator results and one's "best fit" (the one of the 16 profiles one feels best described by) is that one or more of one's preferences may be on or near the mid-point of the scale. For instance, I have often shown a close balance between extraversion and introversion. This suggests several possibilities: there may be aspects to my personality that are more extraverted and aspects that are more introverted. Indeed, when I took a more complex version of the MBTI a few years ago, I came out introverted on 3 facets of the E-I scale and extraverted on 2 of them. It so happens that INTP is my "best fit" type, even though I have "tested" also as an ENTJ and an INTJ. (More on this below.)
Another source of discrepancy (see Jennifer's and Jordan's INTJ and ENTJ results above) is that one's relative energy level can influence how one tests on the E-I scale. David Keirsey (Please Understand Me) claims that the E-I scale is the least basic of the four preference scales for this very reason. During the late 1980s, when I was at my highest level of fitness and emotional health, I was much more comfortably outgoing than I am at present, and at that time, I tested as an ENTJ. I was also much more focused, by necessity rather than inclination, on being organized and pro-active in my dealings with the world, and I tested J for that reason. Even when I became less outgoing later on, I still tested as an INTJ, because of the organizing and pro-active focus. Since then, I have relaxed into my natural introverted, flow-seeking state, for better or worse. :-)
So, type preferences are not necessarily stable in a given person. My intuition (N) and thinking (T) preferences have been very stable, while my introversion (I) and perceiving (P) preferences much less so. There are various reasons why this is so, including personal physical and emotional health, stress in personal life and workplace, pressures to conform or camouflage oneself at work, etc. That is why it is very important to be healthy and to be in the right relationships and job, so that one is most comfortable being one's true self!
These 16 types are first approximation pigeon-holes. They miss a lot of detail and nuance. Even if one of them is one's "best fit," it is still the case that one is sharing this slot with tens of millions (or more) of other people. Still, they are not a horoscope. They are based on preferences for using one's awareness and energy in relating to the world. Those with consistent high preferences for one end of each scale will fit the profiles to an eerily high degree -- those with more mixed preferences will have a harder time settling on one profile or the other (assuming they are trying to be objective and not just picking a profile they would like to be). And that is as it should be with these kinds of instruments.
I'll have something to say about Annie Murphy Paul's critique of the MBTI at a later time.
Best to all,
Roger Bissell, INTP
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