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Your theory on MBTI obsession

GZA

Resident Snot-Nose
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
1,771
MBTI Type
infp
I found it interesting because it explained a lot of the behaviour in people I didn't understand, and some of my own behaviour I didn't understand. It seemed very, very useful in understanding people when I first really got into it, but eventually I saw that it could be just as limiting as it is useful, and now I see it as mostly arbitrary. The types and functions can apply to everyone at different times and all sort of melt into eachother I'm mostly here to discuss other psychology and general stuff these days.
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
6,743
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx
Why are people (here, or elsewhere) so into MBTI? What need does it fill?

I think it makes me feel like I'm more in tune with people, and myself. I can recognize patterns in other people and feel like I can understand them a bit better, and communicate with them better. I also feel like I have embraced my own personality more, because I don't feel like I'm just a weirdo....I feel like I'm a classified weirdo. :D
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
It is the master key to reading, understanding, and perceiving everyone. But other then that, I cannot explain it..
 

animenagai

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
1,569
MBTI Type
NeFi
Enneagram
4w3
just because it's interesting i guess. i find it very helpful too in understanding people, particularly new people that i meet.
 

TickTock

Mud and rain and chaos...
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
948
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3
I agree what some of the guys have said. I use it as a good starting point to understanding people, but I am not limited by it. Before I used it I found it difficult to tie down a persons personality. In that way it is very useful and I'm glad to have found it.
 

mollyowens

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
27
MBTI Type
ENTP
I like anything that attempts to distill the chaos of human behavior and interaction into a simple theory!
;)
 

bluebell

New member
Joined
Apr 30, 2007
Messages
1,485
MBTI Type
INTP
That seems to be one of the big themes, but do you really think this theory is well-equipped to offer explanations? MBTI doesn't really tell why why the preferences are there. It actually doesn't tell you anything since it's just a classification system.

It's missing the 'why', sure. But the classification system is still useful for me. I'm kinda clueless with socialising and people skills - you probably couldn't really tell IRL if you met me now, but I have to really concentrate and work hard at it.

Before I learnt about MBTI, I assumed that everyone had the same base personality and just varied on degrees of neuroticism, mental health etc (with multiple axes of those). People were always really confusing to me, probably because my first rough assumption of their personalities were that they were the same as me on the inside. Result: continuous frustration and misunderstanding. Then I tried to change how I acted (in hindsight, I was trying to become an ESFJ, although I didn't know it was called that at the time). Result: internal frustration and mental exhaustion.

MBTI as a classification system has been really useful for me. The 16 types aren't the be-all and end-all of personality. But it's a useful first approximation of personality - a rough broad-brush impression of what makes people tick underneath. It's more accurate than assuming everyone is just like me.

And I've (mostly) stopped beating myself up for not being like most people I meet.
 

nomadic

mountain surfing
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
1,709
MBTI Type
enfp
Why are people (here, or elsewhere) so into MBTI? What need does it fill?

I think two main reasons.

1) socialize, relieve stress

2) mbti seems to be a philosophy on human behavior that makes sense and gives people a point of reference when it comes to trying to figure out themselves or others and something that happened to them.
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
19,129
MBTI Type
ESTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I like anything that attempts to distill the chaos of human behavior and interaction into a simple theory!
;)

w00t! Exactly! My feeling was very similar: "OMG, everybody's behavior is based on a definite classification! People's methods of thought actually fit into neat little boxes! I'm not alone in my weird/obnoxious quirks!"

Plus, you get to know everyone you know all over again. You learn things that you never thought possible. I still remember sending the test to a bunch of people after I took it and thinking they'd all have the same type as me, because I thought everyone thought the same way!

It's pretty much life-changing. That's why I'm nerdy about it, at least.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
I got into MBTI stuff to understand myself better.

I stay here because I like most of the people and it's stimulating.
 

entropie

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
16,767
MBTI Type
entp
Enneagram
783
I got into MBTI stuff to understand myself better.

I stay here because I like most of the people and it's stimulating.

/seconded , hot avatar by the way :)
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
My best friend gave me a test in 1997, and I've been one of its most glorious devotees ever since. I could have developed a similar system by the time I was 50, but thanks to MBTI, I don't have to.
 

entropie

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
16,767
MBTI Type
entp
Enneagram
783
My best friend gave me a test in 1997, and I've been one of its most glorious devotees ever since. I could have developed a similar system by the time I was 50, but thanks to MBTI, I don't have to.

In envy your capability to make life easy :D
 

mlittrell

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
1,387
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
9w1
I'm obsessed lol. First reason, I love people and love to understand and help them out whenever I can, and whoever it is. I actually don't have a second reason.
 

mippus

you are right
Joined
Jan 15, 2008
Messages
906
MBTI Type
Intp
Enneagram
5w6
It helps me understand and accept human diversity.
But of course it all started out of narcisism :)
And it is a system, and I adore systems...
And it is a language that allows discussion of human patterns and behaviour...
And...
 

Bufo

New member
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
122
MBTI Type
onto
Enneagram
5w4
I came here mainly to have a systematic understanding of myself, and to some degree, of other people. Frequently I come across words and sentences that trigger and catalyze my thinking.

And of course, here you can socialize without compromising your peace and observe a lot without much involvement.
 

Nocapszy

no clinkz 'til brooklyn
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
4,517
MBTI Type
ENTP
Why are people (here, or elsewhere) so into MBTI? What need does it fill?

It's just like math -- it lets us think we understand something. Whether we actually do or not is actually beside the point.

Introverted Thinking systems such as this invariably set out to spite the world in its very solution to the world's problems.



Among other reasons... it inevitably boils down to over-simplified knowledge. It doesn't have to, but it always does because no one will do the work.
Same as when a bridge collapses 'cause the engineer didn't put in the time.
 

Nocapszy

no clinkz 'til brooklyn
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
4,517
MBTI Type
ENTP
Additionally it should be noted that the ultimate masochist the one who tortures his own psychology with what stuff reason is made of.
Typology lends itself well to those people.
 

Xander

Lex Parsimoniae
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
4,463
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
9w8
I first took to the MBTI system because it made it possible for me to explain myself with greater precision to my father. Well actually once he'd tested me he kinda found that things fell into place and he understood a little better, which was nice if a little overdue.

After that point I've seen him progress from a gruff and abrasive ENTJ into someone who actually negotiates people with skill and finesse. Gone are the points when people are declared as stupid, unless he truely does think they're being stupid. As for myself after resuming my interest in the MBTI, shortly after joining INTPc, I've noted that I handle things with a little more confidence. I can now dissassemble things with new tools and pose new models for consideration. It makes predictive analysis a whole lot more fun and increasingly more accurate. Not because I use the system to predict so much as I now have better, more accurately defined labels under which to group certain responses. This gives me a better background pattern to work with.

Basically looking into MBTI re wrote my intuitive matrix so that now I have clearer definitions to compare things to. I've stopped grouping certain traits together having now actually looked at people not as certainties but as accumulations of preferences.
 

Moiety

New member
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
5,996
MBTI Type
ISFJ
I took the test, the first time, so I could have a means to rationalize my awesomeness, seeing as how other people who talked me about it, had already posted their results. I always like the these sort of tests.

In a way it did help me understand myself better and let me tell you that I'm always very skeptic when it comes to this whole psychological mumbo jumbo.


I'm not even close to being obsessed but I must say that it helps me see something special in every individual too.


When I came here I was going through a very rough time, and since then the biggest of all my problems lately, was solved. Not by me though, it was a matter of luck. In a lot of ways I was making the problem bigger than it was in my mind. It all faded away eventually as I was starting to learn how to cope with it and I learned alot about myself through the whole process. How did MBTI help....well not directly but it helped spur my soul searching journey.
 
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