I find most âexposesâ of this type have a great big agenda. Sometimes itâs a Scientologist trying to show how bad psychologists are; sometimes itâs just somebody who didnât like something a psychologist said.
People have been grousing about the MBTI for decades. Itâs easy to overstate the result as some kind of horoscope. But on the other hand, it measures very directly the way you describe yourself - and that might be worth a look.
THANK YOU. I have been saying this for years, and am continually astonished by how many smart people present this information like anyone agrees it means anything.
I personally treat this thing as a horoscope, interesting to think about and a good way to take some time and evaluate yourself, but ultimately itâs not good to take it too seriously.
At work Iâve found it to be a good conversation starter. As a guide for dealing with others it may be about as useful as a horoscope but at least itâs a reminder that not everyone processes information or responds to things in the same way. Thatâs one of those staggeringly obvious things that seems to be easily forgotten.
As far as expense there seem to be a billion free versions so if your company is paying for it theyâre doing it wrong.
Funny, when I took it I just got an F.
Iâm surprised by how frequently people insist Myers Briggs is a horoscope, because when I come up with letters for friends/coworkers/family the descriptions are consistently accurate. And if I make up letters, itâs consistently nothing like them.
If you know somebody well you know if theyâre introverted or extroverted, you know if they seem more driven by thoughts or feelings, etc. The test itself certainly may have accuracy issues, but you can use the types without it, and more times then not I find myself saying âyes, so and so is definitely like that.â
Us virgos reckon astrology is a crock of shit.
People have been griping about it for decades because itâs been hugely overrated pseudoscience for decades.
As far as it telling you how you see yourself goes, Iâve never been exactly sure what good itâs supposed to do anyone to know that they were, like, totally correct about what they thought about themselves.
The biggest arseholes in the world probably think they are awesome with people; all the MBTI does is provide positive feedback to people that the way they perceive themselves is completely correct, and in doing so reduces the perceived need for honest, critical self-analysis. You think youâre awesome but everyone around you secretly wishes you would stop being an arsehole? Thatâs OK, youâre [insert arbitrary four-letter archetype here] so you canât help it.
Of course, thatâs exactly what an ENTP would say, as one of the trainers coordinating one of the tests replied when I tried to point out that we were wasting our time and that self-perception is not the same thing as realityâŚ
You sound angry.
For the record, I donât think âawesomeâ is one of the scales, but if it was, I would have maxed it out.
Just angry that Iâve wasted three full work days of my life on it and confused that people have any faith in it at all.
âAwesomeâ wasnât on your axes? You must have been taking the older version of the test. In my most recent testing, I changed from ENTP to AAAAA: So awesome they had to add another letter.
At my new job, they wasted an entire day to this crap. Everyone bought it hook, line, and sinker. So much stupid.
Iâve done so many of these stupid things.
Myers-Briggs, Strength Deployment Inventory, Margerison-McCannâŚ
Dear God, I understand the entertainment value of these sort of things, but companies are spending money on them??
I guess thatâs the joy of being an employee working for a company that has grown beyond âwhat do we have to do tomorrow to stay in businessâ.
When I was younger and dumber it seemed okay but as I got into the corporate world with âteam buildingâ and I was paying more attention to things it really seemed arbitrary and totally dumb. I did some poking around and found out that follow up testing when done will have wildly different results from the initial test.
4 color testing was equally dumb though it was fun reacting to classification of intellectual snob for the group I was in as âyou say that like it is a bad thingâ
We did a version called DiSC in my new hire on boarding. I work for the Feds, and they spent $65 for each new hire, 98 in this batch. Thatâs $65+ 3 hours of pay ranging from 20-30 an hour. EACH! They plan to do this for every batch of new hires because they have a contract with the DiSC assessment company.
The waste of funds drives me up a wall.
Voight-Kampff?
What I donât get is: once youâve been given your ABCD-designation,
what do you (or your employer) actually do with it?
