Battle of the introverts

[andrewducker]

When I first met Jane I told her that I was introverted. And about two weeks later she laughed at me, pointing out how many friends I have, and how much I socialise.

Last night, when I couldn't sleep at 5am, I did a Myers-Briggs test* (to check that I was still INTP - I still am). And then this morning I got her to do it too.

Turns out that I'm 61% introvert/39% extrovert. And she's 94% introvert/6% extrovert. So to her, I look all the same as those extroverted people who leave the house, and talk to other people. And to me she looks like a tiny dot, fleeing into the introverted distance.

Preempting some of the comments - if you want to claim that MBTI is just a horoscope then you'll have to explain its correlation with the Big Five.

Comments

[marrog]

I'd agree with this. It seems to help folk to relate to one another and to themselves. It's talking about pretty basic personality traits that help you think about your own personality when you read about them, and it focuses on the practical applications of the outcomes - that is, to help you work and play well with others with different personalities from you. Hard to see what's wrong with that.

[mountainkiss]

I think that's exactly right. The problems come, as always, when people misuse it: equating the questionnaire automatically with type rather than allowing people's understanding of themselves to have validity, or saying "all INTPS are...", or drawing inference beyond what the theory would support. Et cetera.