The Great Myers-Briggs Showdown: What Are Your Results?

A little over a year ago, I stumbled across a Myers-Brigg Type Indicator [MBTI] test, took it, and was intrigued by the results. Essentially, the MBTI test is intended to measure a person’s psychological preferences for perceiving and making decisions about the world. The results of the test intrigued me because it was the first such test that seemed to provide information useful for making sense of myself.

I had tried other personality tests before and the results always seemed to be too general to be useful or too specific to be plausible. The results of the MBTI test seemed to strike the right balance. Its conclusions are robust enough for me to make meaningful and testable predictions about my own behavior and they are not so specific to seem absurd. As I dug a little deeper into the model and the test, it quickly became apparent that the underlying theoretical framework could also help me make sense of others. With that, I was hooked. For a useful overview of the MBTI, check out the Wikipedia entry.

Now, I should say, in my own experience the MBTI model and the test (a bunch of tests of varying quality can be found on-line) are by no mean perfect but I still think both are useful. Some of the questions are a bit dated, the dichotomous oppositions often too blunt, and the language employed in the MBTI model a bit misleading within the context of normal language use.

There is also a tendency amongst some MBTI advocates to re-frame the test’s results in terms of specific archetypes. For instance, a person expressing INFP type preferences is often called, “The Artist.” This tendency, I think, works against the main strength of the test. The test usefully highlights that different persons have different preferences about different ways of perceiving and making decisions about the world. So, different artists can be expected to have different personality types and not all persons exhibiting INFP preferences will be artists. 

Even so, despite its imperfections, the MBTI model and test provides a mostly effective means of making sense of persons and how they interact and understand the world around them. Most importantly, the MBTI model helped me understand that people can and do understand the world differently. Two people can draw the same conclusion about the world but the means employed to reach that conclusion may be very different and these differences can lead to conflict if the differences are ignored. Moreover, it also means different approaches need to be employed to change people’s views about the world and this fact is crucial for all shared pursuits and group activities.

At any rate, the best assessment I’ve heard of the MBTI model goes to Wayne of the Many Faces: “Better than Astrology, not as good as genetics.” And I think this assessment pretty much sums up my attitude. As a model, it is fairly useful but by no means perfect. It provides a useful and accessible vocabulary for discussing human personality and group dynamics and so far seems to help me get a better understanding of myself and the people around me. Until someone convinces me its bollocks or a better model comes along, the MBTI model is likely to remain an important tool in my effort to make sense of humans. 

And, so concludes the preamble for the great Myers-Briggs showdown!? What might this be, you ask?

It springs from the well of pure good-natured silliness. PPBP and I have a long-standing feud over which of us is more introverted and a week or so ago she challenged me to a MBTI-off to settle (for the time being) which of us is more Introverted. If you are thinking right now that neither of us possibly could be introverted because we are doing this publicly, check out the Wikipedia entry for MBTI; introversion on this model does not mean what most people think it means. Then, Wayne of The Many Faces caught wind of the showdown and wanted to play along, in full knowledge that he is a big and unrepentant E.

So, this gave me the idea that I could make a game of this and invite any and all readers to post their results. I think it could be a lot of fun, a way to learn more about each other, and a convenient excuse to talk about personality and human nature.

Here is a link to the test we agreed to use. It is important to use the same test, although none of us are sure this is an especially good version of the test. If you know of a better and free test, please let us know. Take the test, post your results, and please add any reflections which spring up. If you don’t feel like taking the test and feel only like commenting, that’s totally cool as well. 

In a shameless and transparent attempt to create suspense, I won’t post my results right away. Wayne, I think, it is itching to post his and is often happy to get the ball rolling.

Hope you guys can find the time to play along.  

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