Why do some people on this forum seem to dislike MBTI?

[simulatedworld]

Because it's oversimplified and grossly limited.

But we can still borrow some of its terms with limited use...as many people do here, even if they don't subscribe to MBTI itself.

 

[Mole]

Because it's oversimplified and grossly limited.

But we can still borrow some of its terms with limited use...as many people do here, even if they don't subscribe to MBTI itself.

Yes, this is true as the words, "extrovert", and, "introvert", have passed into our common language, just as the words, "conscious", and, "unconscious", are in common usage.

And just as children believe in Santa, so we believe in MBTI.

 

[proteanmix]

Here's my history into why my enthusiasm towards MBTI had dampened over the years. I don't dislike it per se--I'm all about separating the wheat from the chaff--but people's limited understanding and application of it has forever stained my perception of MBTI. I think MBTI is a good linguistic framework for discussing psychological brain nooks and crannies; it's not as sterile as most psychological language tends to be, hence why it's so popular.

I was introduced to Kiersey in 2005 by an INTP friend of mine. I've always been deeply interested in psychology and his temperament system was more dynamic and satisfying than what I was reading psychology textbooks. I've always enjoyed psychoanalysis more than clinical psychology and this was definitely up my alley.

After Kiersey I got a copy of Gifts Differing and then Lenore Thomson's Psychological Types and I completely ate it up. My friend at that point hadn't really read anything beyond Please Understand Me and when I get in information gathering mode I have to feed it so I went online looking for people who knew about it so I could blabber on and on. I was on various Yahoo groups and eventually found INTP Central and there began the downward spiral.

At first for me it wasn't about types, or sensors and intuitives, or Fi and Te. It was just information I was neutral towards and learning about. I hadn't made any judgments or critically analyzed anything. So I find INTP Central and I'm like whoa, these people are very very angry. It was like a boiling pot of battery acid. I don't know, what can I say...I like the smell of gasoline so I stuck around in lurker mode. I eventually realized I was one of the typologically hated people! It soured the whole thing for me; yeah I thought it was a very interesting theory but I hadn't taken it to heart that deeply.

I was also personally offended about things that were being said about Fe doms and would take nasty things people said personally and I felt like it was affecting my interactions with people IRL, so I had to put the brakes on that. I ended up shelving MBTI internet forums for about a year, but I still read about it from people like Linda Berens, John Beebe, and Jung himself. During this period I gained some book knowledge about MBTI and actually started critically analyzing MBTI so it ended up being a good thing I think because I depersonalized it and put it in some perspective.

Like many of the forum members here, I think I latched onto it so tightly at first because I was in my early to mid 20s and I was searching for a firmer sense of self, I was in college and being bombarded with new thoughts and things I hadn't ever knew before. Here came MBTI and basically told me what I was like and who I am, it was basically a form letter that I (mis)took as a map to my own psyche. In that sense, I'm grateful for MBTI because I'm pretty sure it kickstarted me onto something that I believe was bound to come eventually just not that early and I'm happy I got a headstart compared to a significant majority of my peers. I think for some people, especially teens that are introduced to MBTI, it's too early for them. To have this type of structured thought about people implanted in your brain isn't good at such a young age if there's nothing there to jolt them into thinking about this critically. There's no counterbalance of experience yet and if you this at 15 or 16, and latch onto it, by your mid- 20s this stuff gets cemented in your brain.

It's a programming script like any other script. While I don't think this is more (or less) dangerous than any other type of programming that's out there, I've just generally become wary of people in the MBTI universe that grip this shit a little too tightly (this as little baring on Real Life since virtually no one takes it seriously). And you can see it plenty when people say I could never date an XXXX or I don't like this function (hehe, I've done that), linking character traits to personality traits, making false and erroneous connections, psychoanalyzing themselves and others based on either four letters or eight functions, basically seeing your world through the lens of MBTI. It's so prevalent here and it's a complete loss of perspective. When people find it more relevant to give someone's type (which could be completely wrong) as a means of relating than any more salient information I just shake my head. I shake my head because I was there at one point...trying to type every single person I came into contact with based on passing statements and fleeting behaviors. When I realized I was too busy trying to discern someone's type instead of getting to know then, I knew I was in too deep and thankfully had the sense to un-immerse myself. Which is funny because now, if someone casually mentions MBTI to me (it's happened a handful of times with my movie group) I'm been there, done that, got the vaccination.

And then the spiral begins anew because they happen to be really into it, and they also happen to be a member of this forum and come back with a story saying how they tried to talk to this person about MBTI and they completely blew it off and was uninterested so therefore they must be a sensor because all the intuitives they know instantly gorge themselves greedily upon the sweet nectar of MBTI...

La la la.

 

[Mole]

Growing Up Absurd

To have this type of structured thought about people implanted in your brain isn't good at such a young age if there's nothing there to jolt them into thinking about this critically. There's no counterbalance of experience yet and if you this at 15 or 16, and latch onto it, by your mid- 20s this stuff gets cemented in your brain.

It's a programming script like any other script.

Yes, nature has programmed us to believe whatever our parents tell us so that we will survive and reproduce.

Yes, if we thought critically about what our parents told us, such as stay away from the road or fast flowing streams or the fire, we wouldn't survive.

However having survived we are now in a position to think critically about what they taught us. In other words we are now in a position to think critically about our beliefs.

Ha! But to think critically about our beliefs quite often causes us cognitive dissonance. And cognitive dissonance is emotionally painful.

And feeling the pain, we look around for someone to blame. And guess what - it is those critical thinkers who are to blame for my pain. So all I have to do it get rid of the critical thinkers and I will get rid of my pain.

If only I can find friends who believe the same things as me, my life will be OK.

And if we find such friends, we are in Wonderland with Peter Pan, the little boy who wouldn't grow up.

And tragically we remain children all our lives - becoming more and more absurd without knowing it.

 

[sofmarhof]

I mean, some people, my dad for example, would discount this on the basis that it's unscientific, and not give it any further attention. I agree, it is completely unscientific. You can't evaluate it in an empirical way and decide that it's true or not true. But, if you don't care whether it's true or not, and use it as a lens to look at your life, it tells you a lot. I don't think of MBTI as a set of facts, just a framework from which you can examine other facts.

 

[Mole]

I don't think of MBTI as a set of facts, just a framework from which you can examine other facts.

Yes, MBTI is like a religious belief in that it is not a fact but is way of looking at life.

And while it is important to have a religious belief to start with, it is also important to learn to think critically about our religious beliefs.

And we call that faith and reason.

 

[sofmarhof]

Religious people insist that their beliefs are true. I do not.

 

[Thisica]

Mr. Carroll actually uses his brain. How refreshing.

This gives me more reason to distrust what Jung said. But unfortunately, a lot of modern psychology research uses poor methodology No wonder some people think that psychology isn't a science.

 

[fripping]

*

Because they're probably tired of it.

 

[erm]

Yeah pretty much that. I'm tired of it and have yet to see a use for it in however many years.

I'm on the forum because it's a good forum. Good people, well moderated. I just ignore the typology stuff, occasionally reading some out of curiosity.

 

[You]

They're hipsters.

 

[Mole]

This gives me more reason to distrust what Jung said. But unfortunately, a lot of modern psychology research uses poor methodology No wonder some people think that psychology isn't a science.

Yes, Psychology has no Periodic Table like Chemistry; Psychology has no general theory like Quantum Mechanics and Relativity in Physics; Psychology has no Natural Selection as in Biology.

Yes, Psychology is not a fully fledged science, rather Psychology is a proto science.

Psychology pretends it is a science with some of the trappings of a science, but it lacks the underpinnings we find in an actual science.

And we don't know whether Psychology will become a fully fledged science in the light of new discoveries in Psychology, or whether Psychology will become an art form.

The word, Psychology, is taken from the ancient Greek word, Psyche, meaning soul. So I guess Psychology will take its place among the art forms or as a form of religion.