Forums » Smalltalk » Myers-Briggs' Mumbo Jumbo

ATTENTION RPR - It's me, nullbyte. I'm curious to see/hear people's thoughts on Myers-Briggs and that whole 16-personalities thing.
Link for the unknowing: https://www.16personalities.com/

I find that I don't have a stable Myers-Briggs type; I often get different results when I take the test, or end up 50%/50% on some of the categories, which makes me especially skeptical of it.

i find it pretty fun, and that's about it. it is a little peculiar to me when i hear people attributing genuine scientific significance to it! however, i also think that some people are unnecessarily rude in dismissing it- it's just for a good time!! and it can be a useful starting point for determining a character's personality and some of the quirks/details of their psyche.

i will say though that i've probably taken the test over a dozen times in my life and i've NEVER gotten any result besides INFP, so i dunno what that says about me? but apparently solid INFP all the way

It's not something I'd put any weight on in real life. However it's fun to run your characters through it because it gives you a simple framework in order to think about them.

For example: I know this character trends towards a more emotional mindset, so how would they react to this surprise.

I wish that everyone thought about it this way! I've literally had to take this test as part of job applications, and other types of mandatory metrics collection where it felt that it was impacting my life despite not actually being particularly scientific. I'll admit, that definitely left me with some hostile feelings towards these types of tests I am still getting over.

I hated that I was forced to take it in high school, as I dislike getting grouped based on my personality. I want to be unique, in a group of all my own.

i'm w/kim on this one, my first brush with it was through a job application process and that felt incredibly intrusive (and more than a little ablest, lbr)

yes i did know how to lie to read like a perfect fit for the job but i very deeply resented the patronization and clear efforts to discriminate against the introverted. who i am as a personality has no bearing on my professional capacity, and frankly it is NONE of my employer's business if i am extroverted or introverted because i need a paycheck to be able to live and that's the cold reality that managerial practice never seems to take into account.

seconding the 'it's not even scientific' point too. my scores fluctuate month to month and hover 48-52 ish range

i also gravely despise the 'you're the MOST RARE' result attached to INTJ like... if you do the math it's not that far a percentage gap it's like saying 100 people divided up semi-evenly into 12 groups and you're in the group that's got 6 ppl instead of 7 or 8.

BECAUSE IT'S JUST LIKELY THAT INTJ PERSONALITY TYPES

AREN'T THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO TAKE MEYERS BRIGGS TESTS OR SOMETHING
THEY'RE NOT RARE THEY'RE JUST NOT SHOWING UP TO COUNT FOR THE STATISTIC

I love this thing, to be honest. Originally I did it for myself and, roughly, learned what I am. I did some researching into it and discovered what personalities my characters had too.

That's how it started for me. Now I roleplay behavioral and mental disorders and try to work on various personalities. My biggest characters for those are Autumn and Melanie and I'm working on a new character with an 'unusual' disorder.

It can be helpful in getting a baseline understanding of someone you're working with, without having to be all proddy-pokey about their history etc. We use them as a team building (with a few other tests/assessments) tool, where we each take them individually and then come back with the things that stood out most to us or made the most sense.

May I present a better and FUNNER option that my psychometrician partner believes is the most accurate and relevant personality test that exists lol

I also sometimes do 5 factor for my characters because I find it helps me guide their decisions more consistently. RL too, scaling neutral factors is always the better alternative to throwing people in a bucket and telling them what kind of problems they'll generate because that's who they are.

(Also, who needs personality tests when you have oven WHO SAYS EVERYTHING THAT'S IN MY BRAIN..GET OUT WTF that INTJ thing messed. me. up.)

I have a lifetime of experience with people using that test to put others into boxes so... eh.

It's fun to do it for laughs though but I've gotten mostly pretty varied results myself, as some others in the thread have pointed out...

I took that test and recognize like, 3 characters in my results, and barely any of the media... Guess that's what happens when all I know is anime and video games.

I pretty consistently get INFP-B when I take it and many of the traits ascribed to that type apply to me. Having said that, I think it's still a generalization and people are far too complicated to be easily categorized into so few categories. As others have said, it can be a useful writing tool as well.

I think it's fun, and there is Some weight to it, but not all that useful in real life. It's like zodiac signs, but for psychology nerds instead of astrology. I think most people don't understand how deep it goes, since most of the info out there is oversimplified or incorrect. Basically, don't trust tests, learn cognitive functions, and f-k stereotypes. The memes are hilarious though.