Call me now, mon!

OK, so normally I classify the Myers-Briggs test in the same category as I do psychics. Like a good “psychic”, the test sorts people into very broad categories that have lots of personality traits that most people exhibit at one point or another in their lives, allowing test takers to feel that the test really “knows” them. (I remember once watching a show on a psychic debunker. He had a set script that contained general phrases like “you often allow people to take advantage of your good nature” or “you are a caring person.” Many/most of the people he talked to were convinced that he really was psychic, some even after being let in on the joke.) Unfortunately, in the business world the test can also be used to stereotype or pigeonhole people, something I think is a very bad idea.

Nonetheless, the test is fun and so I took it, and when I found out that I am supposedly a “Mastermind” (INTJ), well that was just too cool not to comment on. I mean, who doesn’t like being told that they are “rather rare” and a “natural leader?” Even being told that I can be “quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas” sounds kind of cool. Of course, other descriptions are a little more evenhanded.

Now, where did I put that number for Miss Cleo…?

4 thoughts on “Call me now, mon!

    1. paulvick

      Well, when I was a teenager, I think I tested as a ENTP, so go figure… This is part of the reason why I distrust tests like these – I think I have the capability to be both extroverted and introverted. At different points in my life and different situations, I’ve been more strongly on one side of the line or another.

      It’s also been interesting reading the other entries on the web, because even though "everyone’s" an ENTJ, people are reporting wildly different percentages. (I think my own J was like 1%. What does that mean? Am I a J or P?) Does a 1%/8%/50%/80% ENTJ really fall into the same broad category as a 50%/80%/1%/8% ENTJ?

      Reply
      1. Lucas Fletcher

        Yeah, one would think that it would be a continuum. And I thought so too, until I made it a hobby of mine to type people (chicks dig it if you can guess their type, and then if they think they’re type is something else, explain to them how in a few instants you know them better than they know themselves 🙂 My experience indicates it is sort of a winner-takes-all. Kind of like software. ENTJ is very different from an ENTP because the former is extroverted thinking while the latter is introverted thinking, and vice versa for intuition. Even though you’re not a chick I would stake my life on you being an ENTJ.

        Reply

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