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Discussion on: Discuss: What is your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

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ardennl profile image
Arden de Raaij • Edited

ENFJ-A. It sounds about right when I read the description... but I also tend to think that with my horoscope. Of course my horoscope doesn't come with a questionnaire. Are there any people here that used MBTI to decide / confirm what they want to do or what they're good at? Or at the other hand, are there companies that use this to see if people are in the right place?

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dmfay profile image
Dian Fay • Edited

The last company I worked for wanted everybody to take it before an annual offsite one time and printed the four-letter code on everyone's nametag. When pressed on its complete lack of methodological rigor they fell back on calling it a conversation starter, as here. I've only heard of people taking it more seriously secondhand.

I've taken it three times over the years and gotten three different results for my trouble. Say what you will about astrology, at least the zodiac stays the same (Ophiuchus schmophiuchus).

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ardennl profile image
Arden de Raaij

Ah so my initial idea that this is a pseudo-science that is hard to take serious, was right on the mark..no matter how badly I want to be in that 3% with Obama and Oprah 💁‍♀️.

Back to the horoscopes: It's going to be an interesting week with multiple days and you will experience emotions. Also, something with money.

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dmfay profile image
Dian Fay

It's a good time for new ventures and making decisions, but also for staying the course. Don't be surprised if you receive unexpected news.

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stephanie profile image
Stephanie Handsteiner • Edited

Yeah, those texts are (just like horoscopes) written in a way, that you'll go “Wow, that's totally me!“, that's called the Barnum effect. ;) Sneaky edit: The criticism section of the MBTI article is even linked under 'See also'.

Also there's the thing with self-questionnaires not being objective. Self-bias, people tend to fill out online questionnaires in a way they get their desired result.

Like I said in my other comment, I took this test a few years ago in school and I used the remainder of the lesson to research this a bit. Turns out everyone and their mother wants to be an INFJ, probably because of the very first sentence in the text. Who doesn't want to be in the 1% of the world (together with Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Goethe and Morgan Freeman)?

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ardennl profile image
Arden de Raaij

Very insightful! I guess I did actually learn something today :D. I tried to do some very unbiased googling as well and it seems that most people agree that MBTI is something that should've been gone already, but it just refuses to die. I'm thinking that a lot of people actually like the results and it's very much catering to the ego (as far as I can see there is no wrong in this test).