This postAt work a few weeks ago we took the MBTI, which is the Myers-Briggs test (except it’s not really a “test,” mind you :P). We turned the bubble sheets back in and then today got our scores back, along with a really good presentation on what it all meant. I was expecting to be an INFP, but ended up scoring as an ENFJ.
As a really quick runthrough, the I stands for introvert and the E for extravert. I knew I was a mixture of both, but it seemed to me like I was more an introvert — my idea of a perfect vacation is having oodles of hours to read in peace, for example, not partying and such. I’m quite fine spending time alone, and that seems to be my default. But I also love people and depending on the situation can be rather outgoing and even boisterous. (I don’t know if that’s actually true; I just wanted to say “boisterous.” :P) So, I guess I can understand the E. But I’m both.
The N is for intuitives, as opposed to S for sensors, people who just want the facts, ma’am. I used to be more of a sensor, I think, but as I’ve gravitated towards the arts and humanities, I’ve become much more of an intuitive. And I feel more at home there.
Similarly, F is for feelers, contrasted with T thinkers, and I think — er, I feel :P — that I used to be a thinker but have morphed into a feeler over the years. (And it was “extra clear” that I was a feeler, by the way.) When I was younger I wanted to be Spock. Seriously. The idea of such efficiency and clear-cut straight-to-the-pointedness was somehow appealing to my young mind, and if I remember correctly, it sort of messed up my smile for several years. After trying to do the Spock face for so long, it took a while of conscious reminders before I was back to normal aqgain.
Finally, J is for judgers, with the opposite being P perceivers. Perceivers are open and flexible, whereas judgers are scheduled. In retrospect I understand why I’m more of a J than a P, of course, but I think I’m a mixture of both.
Oh, they also have temperaments based on which letters combine together. So, for example, I’m an NF, which they say is the people person temperament — NFs care about how things affect people. SJs are good at gathering facts, NTs plan how to get things done, and SPs actually get the things done.
I hesitate to believe that a multiple-choice test can accurately nail a personality — it seems too…I don’t know, too much a simplification of what in reality is incredibly intricate and complex for even the simplest of people. But it’s fun and it does help with expanding your perspective, realizing that other people think in different ways — and that it’s okay that we’re different. And that’s the single most important thing about the MBTI.
