Myers-Briggs Personality Type

Has anyone ever taken this personality type test? It assigns one of sixteen different personality types based on answers to a number of yes or no questions. Despite the fact that the scientific community is not generally an advocate of it's reliablity, many employers etc. continue to use versions of it for applicant screening.  I've done three or four flavours of it over the years for one reason or another and the results have been consistent. There are multiple places online to see what your type purports to say about you, what percentage of the general population shares your type, ideal careers etc. 

I got this one sent to me from an online friend I was chatting with last evening.  He's fairly knowledgable about the various types, and what was interesting to me was that he sent me the test and said 'I bet you're an INFP' (he was right) even though he's halfway around the world and we only know each other online and have chatted on MSN for maybe 10 or 15 hours over two years.  It's amazing what we reveal of ourselves in this 'anonymous' medium. :)

According to Myers-Briggs the career I work in is the ideal job for an INTP (as opposed to INFP), but again what is interesting is the 'F' in my type is only slightly expressed.  In other words, that dimension could have been a 'T' with a few different responses on my part.  In the end, I think I work and relate to information like an INTP and relate to ideas and people and myself like an INFP.

Anyway, sorry!  I'm deeply babbling.  But if it sounds passingly fun or interesting to anybody else the online test my friend sent me follows.  If you're struggling with any questions you're supposed to think back to how you would answer it if you were thinking about yourself as a child.  This is meant to reveal your basic personality without the screen of later learning and experience etc.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

I am an ISTJ and in the right profession. 

I  = introverted
S = sensing
T = thinking
J = judging

I am

INTJ

Introverted
Intuitive
Thinking
Judging

Which, considering the descriptions of this personality-type, seems to correspond quite well. The recommendation that I should work in natural science is a bit less on the mark, I'd say. I'll take the arts any day of the week. The only recommended occupation that might suit me would be "librarian". Corporate lawyer? Never!

An interesting test, though I do see obvious problems with asking those who take the test to assess their own traits - not only can one learn to answer the test to yield the desired outcome, but the aspect of (unintentional) vanity also comes into play, even disregarding the now accepted fact that people are not usually aware of the mechanisms they themselves use in their decision-making.

Your Type is
ESFP

Extraverted
Sensing
Feeling
Perceiving

IT SAY I SHOULD BE A PERFORMER. Ha. Oh dear.

tcc wrote: I am an ISTJ and in the right profession.  I  = introverted S = sensing T = thinking J = judging

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That type is one of the ones found comparatively frequently. (11-14% of the US population).  Uh, congratulations or something! :)  Did you find the characteristics matched up? Here are the type stats for all: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/my-mbti-results/how-frequent-is-my-type.asp

ThomasQuinn wrote: I am INTJ Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging Which, considering the descriptions of this personality-type, seems to correspond quite well. The recommendation that I should work in natural science is a bit less on the mark, I'd say. I'll take the arts any day of the week. The only recommended occupation that might suit me would be "librarian". Corporate lawyer? Never! An interesting test, though I do see obvious problems with asking those who take the test to assess their own traits - not only can one learn to answer the test to yield the desired outcome, but the aspect of (unintentional) vanity also comes into play, even disregarding the now accepted fact that people are not usually aware of the mechanisms they themselves use in their decision-making.

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My friend who sent me the test is also an INTJ (one of the pretty rare types).  One thing I'm sure I could say about him  is that he gets extremely focussed on tasks and initiatives in his life, almost to the point of being slightly obsessed.  But in a good, ultimately productive way.  But I suspect other things fall by the wayside as a result.  Does that fit the type? I had the same 'What? No!' reaction to the occupation suggestions for me.  It was all humanities and  social sciences and human services type stuff which is truly the polar opposite of what I do.  But then I look at my bookshelf and it's full of the last 40 years of American political history, books about the the philosophy and psychology of human behaviour,  one on cultural history and civilizations, a bunch on music and movies etc. etc.  So those interests are clearly there, just not in my work life.  It surprised me. You're absolutely right about the perils of self assessment.   Instruments like this, especially the formal ones, do attempt to minimize those kinds of things through neutral phrasing and asking the same question in multiple ways that wouldn't be readily apparent to the person taking the test.  In the end I suppose the 'proof' is in the results.  I find they're not like horoscopes where you can find yourself in just about anything.  Both the positive and negative things it says about my purported type are fairly specific, and tempered by a strong rational side in most things, they're pretty bang on.  The one thing that was really out of place was a fear of or aversion to conflict.  That doesn't apply. Rather than being a rubber stamp for things I wanted to think about myself (your vanity point) I found it just the opposite.  I found it extremely intstructive for myth busting the things I thought I knew about myself, but upon reflection really didn't.  I first took the formal instrument (among a bunch of others) in a psych class with one of the those life changing profs who told us at the beginning of the year that the most powerful thing you could ever do was truly know yourself, and that if we did the work and took it seriously his class would change our lives. Anyway, this one's just for fun and if it's informative that's a bonus. :)

One more INTJ- introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging. 
Strongly disagree about "intuitive"- I don't have even the slightest bit of this in me. 
And yes- rather librarian than law! 

So it was a bit difficult to concentrate on the test while listening to heavy metal. :D

Argggh - it says I am like Hillary Clinton, although it does say I am also like Stephen Hawking or Marie Curie

INTJ - particularly Introvert and thinking ... and I am in the right profession:  Technical / Science

Grateful -- Love the Warren Zevon reference.

Apparently I'm furiously magnificent, and shaped from the Earth's molten magma.

My ideal job is shark wrangler or ET greeter.

Weird...

dragon-fly wrote: One more INTJ- introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging. 
Strongly disagree about "intuitive"- I don't have even the slightest bit of this in me. 
And yes- rather librarian than law! 

So it was a bit difficult to concentrate on the test while listening to heavy metal. :D
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It's a bit misleading because the words don't really mean what they mean in everyday speech.  Introverted for example doesn't mean shy or socially deficient or anything like that.  Ditto for intuitive meaning something somewhat different.  I really resisted the 'feeling' over the 'thinking' thing in mine because I think so much I even manage to annoy myself sometimes. My career on the surface at least is one of hard and pure logic.  I was actually insulted. But I read more, and now fear it's true. LOL

Panchgani wrote: Argggh - it says I am like Hillary Clinton, although it does say I am also like Stephen Hawking or Marie Curie

INTJ - particularly Introvert and thinking ... and I am in the right profession:  Technical / Science

Grateful -- Love the Warren Zevon reference.
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I was allegedly like a bunch of classic authors and JFK Jr.  I don't write fiction, but it's true I can' t fly a plane.

Most people in the population are 'E' rather than 'I', but I was actually expecting alot of 'I's to be spending some of their time on a discussion board.  So I'm not surprised at that, but what's with all the INTJs?  I was wondering how many replies there would be before a 'match' between members.  The answer is, apparently, not many.   Of course there are lots of things that could skew results, but it's still kind of interesting.

Re: Zevon.  Yeah...I kind of like it too. :)   Warren's ex wife has said that the 'Johnny' was Johnny Carson and the 'Freddie' was Fred DeCordeva.  Zevon was a fantastic songwriter and he left a great legacy. I first read this post last night before I left work 5 hours late at 10 ish, and it prompted me to dig out my Zevon in the car on the way home and again this morning.  Thanks for that. :)

Holly2003 wrote: Apparently I'm furiously magnificent, and shaped from the Earth's molten magma.

My ideal job is shark wrangler or ET greeter.

Weird...
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Yeah, the test can take a bit of a left turn depending how you answer number three, 'boxers or superhero comics?'  But you are furiously magnificent though, so it's probably right.  What's the retirement gig for a molten shark wrangler? Anchor maybe?