Quote:
Originally Posted by Edahn
Second, trying to squeeze a personality pattern (for lack of better term) like shyness into an MBTI framework is a bad idea. Why? Because MBTI isn't equipped to handle things like shyness, first off. It's equipped to break people up along 4 dimension, none of which include shyness. Second, MBTI is not an investigative tool or a theory of mind. It's a descriptive tool, and it's power to create deductions is zero. It's a machine: you feed it some input, it adds it up and generate a composite sketch using that input. It adds nothing that you haven't already told it.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by placebo
I think you might be able to see if someone is shy by measuring neuroticism. This is something MBTI doesn't measure, while a test like Big-5 does. I think in terms of talking about people and what the amount of self-consciousness they seem to exhibit would be an indicator of shyness in extroverts. Are they worried about what people will think about them, even if they want to really get to know them? An introvert who isn't shy wouldn't really worry too much in comparison. I think. ... In anycase, MBTI really isn't something that measures shyness, but I think something like the Big-5 might help more, just because of the neuroticism factor. Most people are probably shy in some situations and to some extent, so unless they are obviously shy or obviously simply introverted, it's kinda hard to tell?
|
Good points.
Introversion will often lead to shyness, but not always. This is probably why FIRO (co-owned with MBTI by CPP, Inc) is often used together with MBTI.
I would also say that Neuroticism would correspond to any low expressed or wanted score. Low E/W scores both indicate some sort of movement "away" from people. (As in Horney's Coping Strategy scales). Either from
fear or
distrust. And that would be associated with Neurotic behavior. In FIRO, people with low expressive scores fear rejection. People with low wanted scores distrust others, and in a way "do not like" people (hence, the task-focus).
There's an updated version of MBTI called the Type Differentiation Indicator which adds a Comfort-Discomfort scale, which roughly corresponds to Neuroticism. Also, Step II, or the Expanded Analysis Report (
MBTI Step II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) breaks the original four scales down into subscales. So in Extraversion/Introversion, you can be Initiating-Receiving, Expressive-Contained, Gregarious-Intimate, Active-Reflective, Enthusiastic-Quiet. Some of these would cover what we would call "shyness".