to be a Myers-Briggs evangelist?

[summerbreezer]

Just done the test here:

www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

And read about my personality type:

www.personalitypage.com/

I am completely blown away by the accuracy of it. It explains why I get on with some people, and why I conflict with others.

Anyone else done this?

comfortable with the way I meant.

Sounds like you are using it really positively, Wine

Thing is, summerbreezer I've never heard of it being used negatively.

Never seen it used to single people out, get rid of people, recruit people (or choose not to recruit people)... And I've worked for two national companies who've used it a lot.

So like you, I'm at a bit of a loss as to why people would try to do down people who have found it useful.

There isn't a "best one" to be.

Employers don't use it to choose employees, they use it to understand employees.

It can be a useful tool, to anticipate how someone will react to events, news, situations. But it's only a tool, it's not a crystal ball.

Hard core ISTJ

"There seem to be two personality types on this thread. Those that think personality tests are a good idea and ignore evidence to the contrary. And another one."

I rest my case!

I was liberated years ago by understanding myself as an intravert ISFJ. A few weeks ago DH and I worked out the DC for a laugh: for DS we got ISTP - quiet, geeky but secretly a bit of a thrill seeker. We tested it by suggesting he did a few adventurous things on holiday, which he loved . His extravert brother rubs him up the wrong way though, by constantly wanting to be played with!

I have heard of similar types of things being used in work situations (not my firm) as in " only extraverts are allowed to talk to clients " What a load of crap. It's about preferences, as someone said upthread, people can change, some things are quite a weak preference (I'm borderline J and P).

There are so many infjs on this thread. They only make up 4% of the population. I'm a caregiver and nurturer, can't remember letters. For someone so shy, I have a fair few extrovert motivations. Wish I was less shy.

So an employee completes it and the employer can use it to understand them a bit better?I can see why thats a good thing,now i can see that it coule be a good tool.i didnt understand why it would be useful to myself personally but it was interesting to have a go but as someone said before you are telling yourself about yourself really if its just for your reference.

In our place everyone in the team did it and shared the results. The idea was having discovered their type you could tailor your behaviour towards them to get the best out of them.

Very keen on psychometric testing my organisation was. It had some tripe about 'completers' and lots of green / red / blue triangle shite too.

Employers might as well use star signs to understand their employees better.
Or better yet, they could just be decent employers who understand their employees by talking to them instead of using half-baked psychometrics that they don't understand.

Infp here, whatever that means

ma - second link, click on the shakespeare icon at the top. See whether you think it is accurate or not

I have to say, I dont have the faith

Ive been asked to do this by several employers/advisers over my career and always get a different answer eg have come up as INTJ, ENTP amongst other things in previous tests, and always been a bit quiet on the ' this is you, know yourself, isnt it amazing' part of it.
Kind of like the learning styles stuff - Im analytical/self critical/introspective enough to know what works for me already without it coming as a stunning revelation, and once you have this apparent info what do you do with it? and should you accept it uncritically

Today, doing your quiz I get INFJ which on reading I feel pretty lukewarm about - its a bit horoscopy

Am I uniquely unstable, or just a havering all rounder?

I'm an INFJ too, apparently. Quite spot-on!

Didactylos - Many people are all rounders/mix of both, at least in one area if not more. I am an extreme introvert but the other three are so borderline for me that it depends on the day. That's why it's good to find ones that have percentages - which is what most professional/University guinea pig ones have - then if you see something near 50% you know it isn't as important compared to something 90%. It certainly isn't the be all and end all and most online ones do seem like guesswork horoscopes.

I dont think its something id personally use at work,i can imagine a few raised eyebrows or looks over glasses!

Would people know you were using it, though? I have a fair idea what type my boss is, and I use that to frame questions or requests in a certain way, or to anticipate his reaction to a situation or problem. Likewise, if one of my staff was an introvert, but had to make a public presentation, I would be expecting to provide a bit more hand-holding or training on that side. I wouldn't be "You're an I type so I won't let you do this".

How old do DC have to be before you can see what they are? DS is 4 and I don't know how much of his personality is him being 4 and how much is just him.

All in fun though :) I wouldn't make any serious decisions based on it, but I love things like this.

ENFP here. Very interesting. Some of it seemed very accurate, but I also read some similar types (ESFP, ENTP etc) and some of them seemed to be very like me as well so if several of the types seem very accurate, including the ones I wasn't, am wondering just how accurate it actually is!

Honestly,it's unscientific bollocks. You might as well read their horoscope!

So how would you use it without them knowing,just out of interest?

I don't mind. I sometimes read his horoscope too

It seems to work because the test is all "In this situation, would you react in X or Y way?" and then at the end "In this situation, your personality type reacts like X!" - well yes, I've just told you that!

However it is useful to me. I am quite often clashing with DS at the moment so it would be useful to say ah, he doesn't respond well to being shown a logical way to fix his problem, he just wants a cuddle (or whatever). Obviously if I tried it and it made things worse I'd just go back to the way I was before.

It's definitely not scientific. However, it's quite pragmatic, ie it can help individuals and teams work more effectively when used well. Specifically, it can prompt people to reflect on how they tend to see the world, and it can help them to be more accepting of others who see the world differently. It can make Es more willing to shut up and give Is some space, for example. It can make Ts more willing to acknowledge that the logical answer may not by itself be enough. It can make Ns grateful to Ss for catching minor slipups, and it can make Js more tolerant of Ps getting distracted.

NEO PI-R is a much more rigorous scientific instrument. But I'd shudder at the idea of using it in a workplace:

• it's much more complex
• the personality facet descriptors use highly emotive language ("tendermindedness"; "competence"; "hostility" etc, which would set up terrible dynamics on a team.

The critical thing for MBTI is to keep it as a means to an end and not an end in itself.

I liked it because it woke me up to the fact that different people work best in different ways and that having a different pattern of optimum working doesn't actually make someone is less effective over all, even if it makes them less effective in some situations than others.

In particular, I am most productive when doing, talking, sharing ideas. I genuinely didn't get that there are people out there who are more productive when being quiet by themselves....in face I was extremely suspicious of them

But MB is total bollocks other than as a wake up call that people are different...