Cultural archetypes, stereotypes and modal types

[Haight]

Ah, that's interesting.

So as Jack stated (in different words, of course), other tests could be better utilized and more accurate for job placement testing and employee hiring purposes, but MBTI is quicker and cheaper.

Given the short term thinking of corporate America in general, that makes a lot of sense to me.

[edcoaching]

Originally Posted by Haight

Ah, that's interesting.

So as Jack stated (in different words, of course), other tests could be better utilized and more accurate for job placement testing and employee hiring purposes, but MBTI is quicker and cheaper.

Given the short term thinking of corporate America in general, that makes a lot of sense to me.

Unfortunately it also leads to bad hiring decisions since again the MBTI says nothing about skills. The type association didn't give the MBTI to candidates it was interviewing for exec director. Instead we looked for evidence of administrative skills--training, past experiences, interview questions. The person we hired went through the 4-day MBTI training after he was hired and decided he's ESTJ but we could have hired other types with teh same skill sets...

[Haight]

Yes, the failure of this thinking is self-evident.

But you'd have to hope that they (employers) are at least calculating this margin for error into their hiring practices and have concluded that it's acceptable - possibly based on lack of alternative information for whatever reason/s.

[Jack Flak]

Originally Posted by Haight

But you'd have to hope that they (employers) are at least calculating this margin for error into their hiring practices and have concluded that it's acceptable - possibly based on lack of alternative information for whatever reason/s.

Met many employers? That's a very unsafe bet.

[edcoaching]

Originally Posted by Haight

Yes, the failure of this thinking is self-evident.

But you'd have to hope that they (employers) are at least calculating this margin for error into their hiring practices and have concluded that it's acceptable - possibly based on lack of alternative information for whatever reason/s.

Or that the type police find them and coerce them into changing their evil ways...

[edcoaching]

Originally Posted by Jack Flak

Re: edcoaching: I think some 16-type system, probably socionics since they've done the most interpersonal and group-dynamic research, is an excellent tool precisely for job placement. I would love to be singled out and placed in an appropriate job with appropriate co-workers. The typing should be done by an expert, not the subject.

Again, for the several'th time, I just don't think Official MBTI tests are the way to go here.

By the way, I've taken the quiz at socionics.com. is there another one? An INTP colleague and I were discussing how the average person might not handle the vocab well.

[Haight]

Originally Posted by Jack Flak

Met many employers? That's a very unsafe bet.

Right, but they're free to make that calculation.

[Jack Flak]

Originally Posted by edcoaching

By the way, I've taken the quiz at socionics.com. is there another one? An INTP colleague and I were discussing how the average person might not handle the vocab well.

Socionics folk don't really approve of tests, much like myself. They have tests, to cater to those who like tests. (I'm not sure what you mean by "vocab").

By the way, I consider their functional analysis theories to be just as questionable as MBTI's. Since Keirsey doesn't use functions, I gravitate toward his work for the most part, but value socionics interpersonal research greatly.

[edcoaching]

Originally Posted by Jack Flak

Socionics folk don't really approve of tests, much like myself. They have tests, to cater to those who like tests. (I'm not sure what you mean by "vocab").

By the way, I consider their functional analysis theories to be just as questionable as MBTI's. Since Keirsey doesn't use functions, I gravitate toward his work for the most part, but value socionics interpersonal research greatly.

The quiz I took had you choose adjectives you'd use to describe yourself and adjectives you'd never use to describe yourself. I came out INFp but thought a lot of the adjectives were great for English majors like myself but...

Functional analyses as far as order of preferences?

Don't you think Kiersey's awfully behavior-oriented?

[Jack Flak]

Originally Posted by edcoaching

The quiz I took had you choose adjectives you'd use to describe yourself and adjectives you'd never use to describe yourself. I came out INFp but thought a lot of the adjectives were great for English majors like myself but...

Functional analyses as far as order of preferences?

Don't you think Kiersey's awfully behavior-oriented?

I've taken both types of Socionics test, and always came out INTp, so they apparently work for me (this type has been confirmed by relationship analysis on my part). It's common for INFJ to equal socionics INFp.

Personally, I think functional analysis is completely unnecessary, even though it may have merit. Primary functions are generally fairly obvious if you pick one definition of a function, and one way to split the populace into eight categories a la Jung--But they aren't as apparent/observable as ones type anyway. I see all functions but the first as potentially out of order, and when people contemplate them they base their conclusions on what their preconceived notions of function order are. I have been guilty of this myself, of course.

I think Keirsey's beautifully behavior-oriented.


Add: I'm MBTI INTP, and socionics INTp, and my respective primary functions should be Ti and Ni. But by most definitions, I have almost no use of Ni. I don't like functional analysis because of problems like this, and because I find it extraneous. Just like Keirsey.