MBTI = joke?

[A-I]

Facts to back up my conclusion, mostly from wikipidea which as we all know, is the truth.

"The MBTI instrument is called"

^ Instrument? What?

"The original developers of the personality inventory were Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter"

^ I was believing this whole charade / guessing-game, until I saw the words 'develop' followed by a female name. And to top it off, some included offspring of the same gender. Doesn't make any sense.

"lacks convincing validity data."

^ That part doesn't even need any explanation.

"is designed to implement a theory; therefore the theory must be understood to understand the MBTI."

^ More contradictions. One must not understand the world is round to know the world is round.

"From a theoretical perspective, noted psychologist H.J. Eysenck calls the MBTI a moderately successful quantification of Jung's original principles as outlined in Psychological Types.[24] However, both models remain theory, with no controlled scientific studies supporting either Jung's original concept of type or the Myers-Briggs variation."

^ Another quote that describes this "system" very well.

"MBTI IS SUCH A JOKE. FUCK." - Ghandi and Freddie Foxx

^ I have to agree with those 2 statements at the time they were made.

"The current North American English version of the MBTI Step I includes 93 forced-choice questions (there are 88 in the European English version)"

^ Forced-choice? Who else does that shit. Scientologists, really bad shrinks like Briggs, Elton John and maybe even war-criminals.

"The results of the assessment should not be used to "label, evaluate, or limit the respondent in any way.""

^ Moderately successful, indeed.

"Some researchers have interpreted the reliability of the test as being low."

^ I don't think the same applies for DISC. At least DISC doesn't try to be something else than what it is.

"being so vague and general as to allow any kind of behavior to fit any personality type. "

Tom Cruise wants your soul.

Discuss

 

[Oaky]

Oh, I get it. This thread is a joke.

 

[A-I]

No, this thread is quite serious.

 

[Bubbleboy]

Typical INFP post. The system has proved you wrong, and your feelings betray you. Obi-Wan has not taught you well.

 

[Snuggletron]

mbti is a joke.

 

[A-I]

Yes Adoamros.

 

[neptunesnet]

Ha, the Mods are so going to delete this.

 

[simulatedworld]

Yup, it sure is. You should vacate the forum immediately so that you don't waste any more of your time.

 

[A-I]

Nah, there's no reason to delete this thread. For anyone who is going to say I'm wrong, I'd like to ask ya', are you an expert on this subject? A psychologist perhaps? Is your opinion completely unbiased?

 

[Fluffywolf]

MBTI is a reverse engineered idea based on behavioural patterns. It is not factual knowledge, there are not just 16 different kinds of people only. Not every INFP is exactly the same as the other INFP.

It's merely a categorial system that attempts to recognize and place people in boxes created through imagination and subjective innovation.

In no way is MBTI factual, nor are the cognative functions little parts in our brain. Every cognative function is merely a preference in behavioural patterns and usage of memory and emotions. They are all purely thought up and nothing is actually physical.

When you look into someones brain, you will NOT find labels with the names of cognative functions NOR any percentages how much each function is used.

MBTI is and ALWAYS will be flawed.

YOU, SIR, ARE ABSOLUTELY 100% RIGHT!

Congratulations on winning the obvious award.

 

[simulatedworld]

Nah, there's no reason to delete this thread. For anyone who is going to say I'm wrong, I'd like to ask ya', are you an expert on this subject? A psychologist perhaps? Is your opinion completely unbiased?

No one's opinion is completely unbiased.

Just a hint though: Most people here don't actually use MBTI in its original form; we just borrow its labels.

For instance, the MBTI "test" is vaguely helpful at best because personality type is too abstract a concept to be tested empirically.

I see personality types as "genres" of people that can't be tested or proven any more than genres of music.

So it's not a testable fact that I'm an ENTP or that you're an INFP; these are just arbitrary labels that we've chosen to categorize behavioral tendencies. None of us are objectively correct about any of these type labels.

Note that the forum used to be called "MBTI Central" and now it's called "Typology Central." MBTI is considered as an influence here, but it's pretty widely understood that it's a flawed system and not very many people actually believe in it dogmatically.

Most of the typology that goes on here is based on Jungian functions, not MBTI tests. The best such a "test" can do is give you a rough idea of what label may happen to fit closest to your psychological profile--but again, there's no objective certainty.

 

[neptunesnet]

You should vacate the forum immediately so that you don't waste any more of your time.

Agh.

Down, boy.

*dog bark*

 

[Fluffywolf]

I see personality types as "genres" of people that can't be tested or proven any more than genres of music.

Good analogy. I agree, it's pretty much the same. It has names, because we gave it names. It means something because we give it meaning. We enjoy and indulge in it because we are capable of sampling what our mind is like and helps us find and deal with shortcomings and improve.

 

[A-I]

So most of you would agree this is more like a self-help program then?

 

[simulatedworld]

So most of you would agree this is more like a self-help program then?

Hmm, no, not quite...more just an arbitrary thought exercise.

Think of it as philosophy instead of science. It's certainly not science and nobody really thinks it is--it's just one possible way of looking at things and organizing information about people.

 

[Oaky]

Oh shit, he was serious.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Oh shit, he was serious.

I suppose the joke is on him.

Like Sim said though, MBTI is not something you should take too serious. It's just to keep the mind busy, and it seems to fit pretty well in practice. Thus the creation of MBTI is not entirely useless. But it is most assuredly not absolute science.

Find whatever meaning you want in it.

 

[A-I]

So MBTI is in fact not a personality assessment. It has nothing to do with science. It is purely for the purpose of philosophy. It has absolutely nothing to do with character traits, qualities, tempermental study, behaviourism, social patterns or anything of that nature. It can't explain all the hostility and ego-improvement on the internet shining through this thread either.

Oh okay. Thank you for entertaining the idea of this humble thread.

 

[Oaky]

I suppose the joke is on him.

Like Sim said though, MBTI is not something you should take too serious. It's just to keep the mind busy, and it seems to fit pretty well in practice. Thus the creation of MBTI is not entirely useless. But it is most assuredly not absolute science.

Find whatever meaning you want in it.

It is fitting yourself in a psychometric profile in order to understand the ways in which you and other people think. It's not necessarily a joke though. But if it was so inaccurate it would not have such credit. MBTI was researched for years on end so it's level of accuracy is not that of a simple flick. To end the research with 'it's a joke' or 'it is quite inaccurate' counts for it being made and processed for almost nothing.

 

[A-I]

And this thought scares you?