• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Myers Briggs Personality Tests. Or any other Similar Test. Valid?

One has to wonder if there are more I types on here than E types.

I'd guarantee it. I did a poll in TNZ a while back, and we had a full 25% just identifying as INTJ. 41 out of 55 respondents were of "I" types--almost 75%.

Granted, that's a sample from TNZ, but I wouldn't imagine the numbers on the rest of the board to be that different.
 
Someone hasn't since the film "Blade Runner" (Haven't read the book on which the film is based "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" so I can't say if it's in the book or not).

But I suggest you watch the film. It is generally considered a Classic.
 
Someone hasn't since the film "Blade Runner" (Haven't read the book on which the film is based "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" so I can't say if it's in the book or not).

But I suggest you watch the film. It is generally considered a Classic.

Someone hasn't what?

ETA: Plus: Not all versions of BR are considered worthwhile even! -but the general work is a classic masterpiece.
 
just took a short one on-line about an hour ago. I'm IFSJ and much of it fits. Other parts, like the financial, not so well on a recurring basis.

Interesting and worth studying on a bit more. It did match me up with teaching (after 25 years, it's nice to know) but no ideas as to what I might consider for my next gig.
 
Someone hasn't since the film "Blade Runner" (Haven't read the book on which the film is based "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" so I can't say if it's in the book or not).

But I suggest you watch the film. It is generally considered a Classic.

Someone hasn't what?

ETA: Plus: Not all versions of BR are considered worthwhile even! -but the general work is a classic masterpiece.

Been a few years since I last watched the film, but I can almost picture the opening seqenuce withe the Vanqelis music playing.
 
I did a poll in TNZ a while back, and we had a full 25% just identifying as INTJ. 41 out of 55 respondents were of "I" types--almost 75%.

Granted, that's a sample from TNZ, but I wouldn't imagine the numbers on the rest of the board to be that different.
Try doing it in the Science and Technology forum. :devil:
 
Regarding the relative proportions online, I think it's probably fair to say that in the early days of internet interaction, introverted personalities enjoyed the opportunity for expression it offered in relatively greater proportions than extroverts. While this is still probably the case in terms of time spent online, I'd suggest that extroverts are now common enough online in terms of numbers of numbers of users.

This board skews very, very heavily towards introverted types (we've had loads of polls in various subforums over the years). That, IMO, is easily explicable by the relatively more old-fashioned format of this board (in terms of anonymity and delayed responses) and of course, its main subject matter. It's interesting to note in this regard that the very name of the board hearkens back to a very old - by net standards - communication system (the BBS of the title). Apart from the technically-oriented boards out there, a Star Trek internet message board is highly likely to attract an inordinate number of INTJ users, even in comparison to the (already high, I'm sure) percentage of Star Trek viewers who are introverted types of one flavour or another.

One other thing worth making explicit, which has already been hinted at by several posters, is that no personality type is "better" than any other. Each type can flourish, but their naturally optimal circumstances vary. Equally, each type can learn to perform tasks more naturally suited to other personality types. Being both comfortable with your personality and knowing when to play to its strengths AND when to deploy learned strategies based on other personality types enables a better quality of life than just relying on your natural predisposition alone. Personality classificatory systems like MBTI (or indeed, any psychological conceptual model, or more controversially, any belief system whatsover) are tools and enabling mechanism, not rigid absolute frameworks.

Of course, being INTJ, I would view life like that, wouldn't I... ;)
 
Someone hasn't since the film "Blade Runner" (Haven't read the book on which the film is based "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" so I can't say if it's in the book or not).

But I suggest you watch the film. It is generally considered a Classic.

Someone hasn't what?

ETA: Plus: Not all versions of BR are considered worthwhile even! -but the general work is a classic masterpiece.

Been a few years since I last watched the film, but I can almost picture the opening seqenuce withe the Vanqelis music playing.

Cool - but do you also almost picture the voice-over in ancient detective-film style?
 
I'd like to know from others with more experience with these types of tests their overall validity and whether one should be wary of reading too deep into them.

Yes, you should be careful. Choosing A over B in response to closed questioning doesn't mean you 'are' anything.

More importantly, perhaps, smart arses like myself who have broken the Myers Briggs test can make themselves appear to be whatever they wish.

The information the test returns must be taken with a grain of salt - or at least, viewed in conjunction with the rest of the information gathered during the interview.

I can fake an ENJT on the test but it's much harder to fake that in real life.
 
Regarding the relative proportions online, I think it's probably fair to say that in the early days of internet interaction, introverted personalities enjoyed the opportunity for expression it offered in relatively greater proportions than extroverts. While this is still probably the case in terms of time spent online, I'd suggest that extroverts are now common enough online in terms of numbers of numbers of users.

This board skews very, very heavily towards introverted types (we've had loads of polls in various subforums over the years). That, IMO, is easily explicable by the relatively more old-fashioned format of this board (in terms of anonymity and delayed responses) and of course, its main subject matter. It's interesting to note in this regard that the very name of the board hearkens back to a very old - by net standards - communication system (the BBS of the title). Apart from the technically-oriented boards out there, a Star Trek internet message board is highly likely to attract an inordinate number of INTJ users, even in comparison to the (already high, I'm sure) percentage of Star Trek viewers who are introverted types of one flavour or another.

I agree with all of that, and extroverts are more visible online in my estimation than they were 10+ years ago. Some of that is also because we have a whole generation where socializing online is a norm as opposed to my generation where it was a weird and possibly suspicious thing to be doing LOL.

I also have long thought that introverts really LIKE taking personality tests. I remember when they were all the rage, "what kind of super hero are you" etc.. Introverts seem capable of navel gazing no matter how silly.

Anyway.. my first online communities were MBTI topic based, still have a big book collection on the topic. INFJ here.
 
I've taken various online MBTIs before, I don't think it's been entirely consistent, I think I've seen ISTP, INTP, and INTJ before. Reading the descriptions I'd have to say P sounds as bit more like me. S vs N seems like a tossup.

In general I'd say the test is more entertainment than something useful.
 
I use the Voight-Kampff test when hiring. ;)

Never heard of that - is it similar to the reflex-arc response test?

It's an empathy test: Capillary dilation of the so-called blush response; Fluctuation of the pupil; Involuntary dilation of the iris... Voight-Kampff for short.

That was a gag on my part, within the book, when Deckard gets taken to the police station full of androids, they have never heard of the Voight-kampff test and instead use the reflex-arc response test using 'Boneli gear' to work out who is human and who is an android.
 
Regarding the relative proportions online, I think it's probably fair to say that in the early days of internet interaction, introverted personalities enjoyed the opportunity for expression it offered in relatively greater proportions than extroverts. While this is still probably the case in terms of time spent online, I'd suggest that extroverts are now common enough online in terms of numbers of numbers of users.

This board skews very, very heavily towards introverted types (we've had loads of polls in various subforums over the years). That, IMO, is easily explicable by the relatively more old-fashioned format of this board (in terms of anonymity and delayed responses) and of course, its main subject matter. It's interesting to note in this regard that the very name of the board hearkens back to a very old - by net standards - communication system (the BBS of the title). Apart from the technically-oriented boards out there, a Star Trek internet message board is highly likely to attract an inordinate number of INTJ users, even in comparison to the (already high, I'm sure) percentage of Star Trek viewers who are introverted types of one flavour or another.

I agree with all of that, and extroverts are more visible online in my estimation than they were 10+ years ago. Some of that is also because we have a whole generation where socializing online is a norm as opposed to my generation where it was a weird and possibly suspicious thing to be doing LOL.

I also have long thought that introverts really LIKE taking personality tests. I remember when they were all the rage, "what kind of super hero are you" etc.. Introverts seem capable of navel gazing no matter how silly.

Anyway.. my first online communities were MBTI topic based, still have a big book collection on the topic. INFJ here.

I would tend do agree as well, in the earlier days of the internet perhaps it appealed more to the Introverted types.

And yes I have taken many of those silly personality tests. Well it's a bit of harmless fun.
 
Of course, being INTJ, I would view life like that, wouldn't I... ;)

See? They're everywhere!

Also that explains so much about you. :p

Yeah, I'm very intensely INTJ. Well, not so much so on the J-P spectrum, but definitely very strongly on the other dimensions.

The information the test returns must be taken with a grain of salt - or at least, viewed in conjunction with the rest of the information gathered during the interview.

Using MBTI in interview settings is one of the situations I alluded to earlier where the test is being employed in situations for which it is not explicitly intended, potentially invalidating the results. A psychometric test is very difficult to design, and is usually only useful if used in situations for which it is designed; MBTI is defintely not designed as a hiring tool.

Just because many companies use it in those settings, doesn't mean they are correct to do so. It's very poor practice.

Introverts seem capable of navel gazing no matter how silly.

There's a great quote by the philosopher Schiller (an arch introvert), writing to his friend, the poet Goethe (an extrovert), which beautifully demonstrates the difference between the two types:

You have a kingdom to rule, and I only a somewhat numerous family of ideas which I would like to expand into a little universe.
Paraphrasing myself from writings elsewhere: both introverts and extroverts in purest/extreme form are autocrats, but the nature of their desired tyranny varies. Introverts want to manifest their inner world into external meaning; extroverts wish to totally consume and internalise the outside world.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top