Typology is Pointless

[Savage Idealist]

I'm not trolling, I'm being serious.

Anyway, I probably should have waited to make this thread when I had a credible argument ready to prove my point. I will be writing a more detialed and in-depth response in the near future.

 

[Stanton Moore]

^^Is it really worth the effort?
Typology is like Old Navy: everything comes in S, M, L, XL. Those are your choices. Everyone fits in those, more or less, right?
Whereas reality requires a taylor.

 

[Viridian]

>Er, didn't you renounce from typology before?

you mean me? that thread of mine, about how typology has become a problem (meanign "a challenge", a struggle for solution/clarity) of my soul was misunderstood by most people, because they can't relate to it. it's wasn't a "critique" of typology at all and certainly not a renounciation, if thats a word. i was just illustrating how typology has a different meaning and mechanism/function in one's live, when seen through the soul (the entire intelligence, including the right brain if you want) instead of just through the rational mind. i'm typologies biggest fan and all of my posts are love letters (including those in this thread)

or you probably didn't mean me. well ..

No, I was talking to SI.

 

[mujigay]

Typology is the emo kid's horoscope. Maybe not particularly useful or accurate, but somewhat entertaining.

 

[highlander]

Anyone else think that MBTI, JCF, enneagram, Socionics, and all that inbetween is a complete bunch of bull shit?

I don't think it's bullshit. I'd say the following:
- MBTI - useful for self awareness and development. useful to understand how people may be different than you and to learn to appreciate others for who they are and not expect them to think like you. can be useful in understanding how conflict occurs. dangerous to guess what people are, but some partial guesses are useful in understanding people
- Enneagram - very useful for self development; not sure how worthwhile it is for understanding others (yet)
- Socionics - unnecessarily confuses things but there is some useful stuff on how relationships may develop
- JCF - is that Jamaica Constabulary Force or Jewish Community Federation?

 

[Frank]

It has its uses. It's definitely not the "holy grail" of knowledge.

 

[Such Irony]

Anyone else think that MBTI, JCF, enneagram, Socionics, and all that inbetween is a complete bunch of bull shit?

There is no scientific proof that these theories are valid. Yet, they do a good job of explaining some of the key differences in personality between people and in the case of the enneagram, your underlying motives.

What's bullshit is when people make overgeneralizations based on the theories, such as INTPs are nerds who are good at math and science; 8's are obnoxious loudmouths, EIEs are drama queens; etc. There are over 7 billion people in the world, of course there is going to alot of variation between people of the same type.

 

[Little_Sticks]

I thought so, and then I finally came to understand the philosophical nature of Jung's functions and that he was explaining them in terms of an ego and its opposing dual nature in the unconscious. He symbolized a complete philosophy of thinking about reality into axiomatically related mindsets of Jungian functions. His explanations never used absolutes in the way we question here, but instead explained how a type of thinking would manifest philosophically and how the dual parts of it would affect and interact it. I have almost no doubt that he was trying to resolve conflicts between people that he saw to have philosophical origins.

The reason why the systems based on it have problems is because they attempt to take this abstract philosophy of types and make it into something concrete, something absolute. And these absolutes don't hold for everyone in a given type of thinking, so there is disagreement and frustration, and annoyance that everyone pretends to know something they have no proof of. And nor do people always fit well into one mindset of thinking. Types do change for maybe even un-explainable reasons or depending on influences of different situations, independent of persona.

 

[Vizzy]

Anyone else think that MBTI, JCF, enneagram, Socionics, and all that inbetween is a complete bunch of bull shit?

What sort of "point" do you want typology to have?
That it's unproven or impractical means nothing to me. It's a bloody interesting way to spend my time and make sense of people. That's, for me, the point. It's all like a game to me and I enjoy playing along.

 

[chris1207]

It's pointless because, while you see the pretty N in it all, they aren't the kind of studies that are going to lead you to self-actualization, being the sensor that you are. You should be out and about playing sports or musical instruments or some other activity that involves physical dynamism (Se) and looking for underlying patterns (Ni). That would be far more useful. I highly doubt you'll find much that your Ni will comprehend here. Ha! and with Fi you probably just go "Don't like that description..." "OOO... I like that one", with no real direction guiding your understanding (Te).

And no, I didn't read the rest of this topic. My Ni just doesn't care.

 

[Tigerlily]

Typology is the emo kid's horoscope. Maybe not particularly useful or accurate, but somewhat entertaining.

This.

It has its uses. It's definitely not the "holy grail" of knowledge.

And sort of this.

There was a time when I delved deeply into MBTI but now, not so much. I think it's naive to put people in boxes and assume they're all the same. Still, you'll have a hard time convincing most people here of that. lol

 

[Glycerine]

It's fun.... nothing more. All of it is akin to astrology. I looked up MBTI and enneagram in the academic databases and most of the research was from the 80s and 90s.... very few in the 2000s. LOL The big thing in personality theory is the big 5/OCEAN....not SLOAN (that's the pop psychology version of it).

EDIT: i find it helpful in my own personal application of reframing my weaknesses but I would resent it and screw with the results if a job required it.

 

[wolfy]

I think it's useful in that it gives us a common language to express ourselves and self reflect.

 

[lunalum]

^Yes The language part! That is what keeps me sticking around here. It's really about it being a language. It's really hard to find common languages out there in the world but on here there is always at least one. Maybe it's not a language that works for everyone but I still doubt there's really no point.

 

[Edgar]

It has its uses. It's definitely not the "holy grail" of knowledge.

I've attended music school, film school, military school, and law school. And typology is by far the most useful thing I've learned.

But like the state i am in said, its useless if you suck at it.

 

[Savage Idealist]

Changed my mind, I'm just mildly skeptical of it now; I acknowledge it's pros and it's cons.

God for bid I ever fully doubt the type system.

 

[Ponyboy]

I think its useful in understanding more about ourselves (or at least knowing that there are others out there sorta similar). I would never pretend to know enough about it to tell someone else that they typed themselves incorrectly.

 

[wolfy]

It's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[INTP]

Jungs typology along with other aspects of analytical psychology for the win

 

[King sns]

It's the best thing since sliced bread.

This always makes me wonder who originally thought of sliced bread and what an amazing day it must have been. I picture like 20 people in the room and the guy handing over the first package of sliced bread and everyone cheering, some crying.