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Stop Making MBTI Larger than it is.

mockingbird

New member
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
249
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
9w1
Those threads have nothing to do with the big picture.
It's the big picture that's the problem.

OK. Yeah, I can see that. If anything those threads can be veiwed as a satire of what often goes on here (speaking of satire, I love your quote, btw;)).

I mainly just wanted to make sure no one was taking my silliness seriously. Don't want to be veiwed as adding to a problem.

I still enjoy this forum though, and I've actually learned a lot and had some fun along the way. Annoyances aside, it's still a decent forum, IMO.
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
scoutwitheyechart_qjpreviewth.jpg

I thought ENTJ was the dog pulling that cart and ENTP the cat lazing around the couch?
 
G

Glycerine

Guest
The religion comment was right on. The forum is bad, but it's even worse in chat. Certain members will type and retype others every other sentence...kind of like:

Oh, you sound more like a INTJ, not an INFJ....

thirty seconds later:

Yeah, that's actually very common with ISFJ's, maybe you're not an INTJ....

seriously, it keeps going and going and going and then I have to close vent so I don't become vomitious.
haha, I thought most of the people on Vent were kidding. I kid 90% of the time on there.
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
Whether or not we use MBTI as much as we used to is irrelevant, SimulatedWorld.

Like I said, we make it larger than life.

If you, of all people, can't agree with me, then I'll be amazed.
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
The religion comment was right on. The forum is bad, but it's even worse in chat. Certain members will type and retype others every other sentence...kind of like:

Oh, you sound more like a INTJ, not an INFJ....

thirty seconds later:

Yeah, that's actually very common with ISFJ's, maybe you're not an INTJ....

seriously, it keeps going and going and going and then I have to close vent so I don't become vomitious.

Best example I can think of.

On a general note, I have nothing against MBTI. I love MBTI. I wish my perspective of it wasn't so flawed. I miss the days when it was all just one big idea. But now that it's worked its way into our judgments and even our daily observations, it sucks.

I will never criticize MBTI. I criticize those who use MBTI too much.
 

wildcat

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
3,622
MBTI Type
INTP
Physical bodies(objects) can change shape and size.

Conceptual objects cannot.

However, conceptual objects have no size, no shape, no structure to begin with and, therefore, we cannot apply phsyical attributes, such as shape, size or structure to conceptual objects, except in a purely representational way(ie; Time is linear, Personality is divided into 16 types, Earth is large.)

shove it. raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawr.
Conceptual objects indeed do have a shape and relative size. Here the linear is bypassed as much as it is possible in a single representation. Abstract does not mean there is no shape.
This gives the idea of the exact shape of the simultaneous dichotomy processes of the MBTI. No dichotomy takes place irrespective of any other dichotomy.


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simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Whether or not we use MBTI as much as we used to is irrelevant, SimulatedWorld.

Like I said, we make it larger than life.

If you, of all people, can't agree with me, then I'll be amazed.

Well, I was just correcting your terminology, I guess.

I think the whole point of typology is to always be refining it so that it comes closer and closer to actually reflecting reality. Sticking to just MBTI is pretty limiting in that regard, but not many people really actually do that. That's all I'm saying. MBTI is one influence from which we've drawn some terms and certain ideas, but you'll find that there a million different variants of interpretation and no real definitive answers on any of them...hence the reason the forum has been renamed "typology central" from "MBTI central."

Such is the nature of any inherently subjective and unquantifiable field. You'll find the empiricists (mostly xxTJs) obsessing over empirical evidence but they're wasting their time and missing the point. Typology = philosophy; if you're not ready to discuss the application of these topics without empirical evidence then you don't understand the point.

Anyway, though, I guess your point is that people try to overextend typology beyond its actual uses. I don't think that's true--I think what you see as "people overextending MBTI" is actually people forging through inventing their own theory of personal dynamics and motivations, which extends far beyond MBTI's simple point by point categorization. Just because they've borrowed some MBTI terms doesn't mean they're sticking purely to MBTI.
 

wildcat

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
3,622
MBTI Type
INTP
Well, I was just correcting your terminology, I guess.

I think the whole point of typology is to always be refining it so that it comes closer and closer to actually reflecting reality. Sticking to just MBTI is pretty limiting in that regard, but not many people really actually do that. That's all I'm saying. MBTI is one influence from which we've drawn some terms and certain ideas, but you'll find that there a million different variants of interpretation and no real definitive answers on any of them...hence the reason the forum has been renamed "typology central" from "MBTI central."

Such is the nature of any inherently subjective and unquantifiable field. You'll find the empiricists (mostly xxTJs) obsessing over empirical evidence but they're wasting their time and missing the point. Typology = philosophy; if you're not ready to discuss the application of these topics without empirical evidence then you don't understand the point.

Anyway, though, I guess your point is that people try to overextend typology beyond its actual uses. I don't think that's true--I think what you see as "people overextending MBTI" is actually people forging through inventing their own theory of personal dynamics and motivations, which extends far beyond MBTI's simple point by point categorization. Just because they've borrowed some MBTI terms doesn't mean they're sticking purely to MBTI.
If you learn something of the moon do you stick to the moon?
Is the moon there by itself, separated from everything?
And if so, how long do you think moon would stay there?

I tell you what.
It is about the natural laws of mathematics. In the case of the moon, and in the case of mbti, and in the case of everything else.
Spefically, it is about the axis. Moon or not, the axis is there.

If we discuss the mbti, we discuss the axis. If we do discuss the axis, we may not discuss specifically the mbti. We still discuss it, because it is a phenomenon of the axis.
So are you. Everything hangs with everything.
Colours blend with colours. Include the colours and the blends in one bucket, and you have white.
Include only the colours, all you have is muddy brown.
Do not leave out the blend.
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
If you learn something of the moon do you stick to the moon?
Is the moon there by itself, separated from everything?
And if so, how long do you think moon would stay there?

I tell you what.
It is about the natural laws of mathematics. In the case of the moon, and in the case of mbti, and in the case of everything else.
Spefically, it is about the axis. Moon or not, the axis is there.

If we discuss the mbti, we discuss the axis. If we do discuss the axis, we may not discuss specifically the mbti. We still discuss it, because it is a phenomenon of the axis.
So are you. Everything hangs with everything.
Colours blend with colours. Include the colours and the blends in one bucket, and you have white.
Include only the colours, all you have is muddy brown.
Do not leave out the blend.

Hey this is pretty brilliant. Good job.
 

LEGERdeMAIN

New member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
2,516
MBTI is an tool created by amateur psychologists to determine the suitability of women for jobs left vacant by WW2 drafts, etc. This is important to point out because even highly educated psychologists, philosophers and scientists usually don't have the foresight to create systems that change when it becomes clear they are incompatible with new applications(fake superscript 1), resulting in closed, fixed systems that are (currently) used for generalization and speculation or, historically, for their intended purpose but aren't responsive or comprehensive enough to be applied to the transient interests of this forum(fake superscript 2).

Having typed all of that, I think MBTI would be more useful if it were expanded beyond the tiny slice of Jung's theories it was derived from. I have some ideas about MBTI modification that I've been developing, hopefully I'll finish before I get permanently banned for harassing people in the less serious forums.

Also, I'd like to point out that taking the MBTI Instrument or other online MBTI-inspired tests shouldn't be the only tool used to "discover" your type, studying(not just reading) Jung's work would help people understand the appropriate application of MBTI and, just as importantly, its limitations.

Sup 1: The bulk of Aristotle's theories,
Sup 2: http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/mbti-tm-enneagram-other-personality-matrices/23267-do-certain-type-people-like-horror-movies.html......oh shit...zeitgeist. I like to relate it to search engines:

If you search for balloon or zeitgeist, you'll come up with thousands of articles on that kid-that-was(n't)-in-the-balloon hoax and thousands of articles on a movie and it may take quite a few pages to find an article on something unrelated to the balloon hoax kid or to the film industry. In five-ten years(assuming we are still using the internet with the same old software and hardware, boxes of electricity), those same keywords will produce much different results. so, transient interests.
 

LEGERdeMAIN

New member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
2,516
If you learn something of the moon do you stick to the moon?
Is the moon there by itself, separated from everything?
And if so, how long do you think moon would stay there?

I tell you what.
It is about the natural laws of mathematics. In the case of the moon, and in the case of mbti, and in the case of everything else.
Spefically, it is about the axis. Moon or not, the axis is there.

If we discuss the mbti, we discuss the axis. If we do discuss the axis, we may not discuss specifically the mbti. We still discuss it, because it is a phenomenon of the axis.
So are you. Everything hangs with everything.
Colours blend with colours. Include the colours and the blends in one bucket, and you have white.
Include only the colours, all you have is muddy brown.
Do not leave out the blend.

Hippy Peyote Shaman much?
 

INTJMom

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,413
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w4
Let me put my opinion as concrete as I can.

Well, I think that people are taking the descriptions of Typology too specific and serious. I don't think you can really type by face (or elbow or bewbz :D), I don't think there is a specific type that is best in bed, and I don't think that we need to pin down every characteristic, both concrete and abstract, with a Typology trait or Function. I think that all of these things are crossing the line to taking MBTI a little too far.

But on the other hand, I'm NOT saying don't do these things. They make the forum fun. Those are the sort of things that bring me back everyday- go look, I post a lot in those kinds of threads. All I'm saying is that I feel that we need to have the awareness of how and what we make MBTI to be. Our perspective of Typology probably changed after we became involved with this forum- I know mine did. I blow MBTI way out of proportion, and use it too much, think about too much, analyze it too much, and link it to too many things. But I'm trying to take a step back, look at the larger picture, and hopefully begin to realize that we can't rely so heavily on Myers Briggs.

Is that fair to say?
So just because YOU are doing it too much, it means we ALL have to curtail our usage?
Why don't you just be aware of your own needs and change yourself?

I don't believe I use MBTI too much, or inappropriately.
Rather I use it to a helpful amount that has enhanced my life and the lives of people around me.
I was socially handicapped before MBTI came along.
For me, it has evened the playing field.
If you are an F, maybe you didn't have that problem.

Once again, let me explain myself.

This was all sparked, because people link MBTI traits to every known personality trait and every physical and mental characteristics that it is too much. It doesn't give any other factors a chance at influence.
People who do that misunderstand the boundaries of MBTI.

Plus, is it so wrong of me to say that people do take it too seriously? How can you tell me that that is not legit.
It would be more accurate to say that SOME people take it too seriously...
or maybe even more accurate to say that SOME people are ignorant of how to properly apply MBTI to real life.
But hopefully they will learn.
Hopefully that's one of the reasons why they're here.

If one sees MBTI as a tool... a power tool...
one could say that it does seem dangerous in some people's hands.
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
I was attempting to make a really concrete and simple point.

I understand all of the analysis, because that's how I immediately think about things, but for this thread, try to see it as simple as I do.

I'm stating my opinion. I was backing it up with examples. And I have talked briefly about how it is bad.

And no, INTJMom, this isn't because I see things this way. When I said that I think about it too much, I was completely Bullshitting so that people wouldn't think that I wasn't taking any of the blame for myself.

I think anyone who cannot see where I'm coming from is kind of in the shadows on this one.
 
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