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What to trust, what to deem as bullshit

Kensei

New member
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
282
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
7w8
Instinctual Variant
sx
I decided to take all four free personality tests for some apparent reason and these are my results
Human metrics:ENFP
Keirsey temperment sorter:Artisan
Personality pathaways:ESTP
Cognitive functions test:ESFP
Which test is most accurate? Which one should I trust? Should I type myself as SP because that's what I turned out in most tests? Trust the cognitive functions test because it is the basis of the theory despite its proven exaggeration of accuracy? Or should I go with human metrics since it's the longest test? Any advice will help. I've always had trouble with my mbti type. Idk whether it's because of my Ne or that I do not fit the stereotype of any type. Any other topics you may want to bring up on this thread are also welcome.
 

Kas

Fabula rasa
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
2,554
You shouldn’t trust tests too much. It is very common that they type someone differently (I had the same problem, I was typed mainly as INFJ, sometimes INFP,INTP,ENFP).

They can only direct you, but won’t give you the answer. Now I think it’s more about how do you relate to the types, what your functions are too. But as your analysis and not only test.
 

Yama

Permabanned
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
7,684
MBTI Type
ESFJ
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
The tests are really only good as a starting point to narrow down the choices. I think the best way is to self-type based on the cognitive functions, but of course in order to do this you first need to be comfortable with your understanding of each of the functions.
 

Kensei

New member
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
282
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
7w8
Instinctual Variant
sx
Lol I have no understanding of the functions tbh. Sometimes I just find myself making up my own definitions of the functions so that they make sense, but I end up switching my type again in the end. Do you think you can help me detect the functions in myself?
The tests are really only good as a starting point to narrow down the choices. I think the best way is to self-type based on the cognitive functions, but of course in order to do this you first need to be comfortable with your understanding of each of the functions.
 

reckful

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
656
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5
Last month I gave you a link to the official MBTI, which is the only MBTI-related test with a respectable body of research/support behind it. But your OP gives us the results from four tests with essentially no studies that back their reliability or validity, and doesn't give us your results on the official MBTI.

At the same time, you say you're looking for a test you can "trust."

What am I missing? It's certainly possible to mistype on the official MBTI, but it's the trustworthiest test available, and not by a small margin.

Also: You say the cognitive functions are "the basis of the theory," but as further explained in this post and the posts it links to, the modern MBTI is really centered around the dichotomies rather than the functions. Decades of research led Myers to conclude that the dichotomies were the essential components of Jungian/MBTI type, and that dichotomy combinations were also associated with many noteworthy aspects of personality — but also that there was nothing particularly special about the combinations that are purportedly associated with the eight faux-Jungian functions that people like Linda Berens love to talk about.

The Harold Grant function stack — the one that says INFP=Fi-Ne-Si-Te — is inconsistent with both Jung and Myers, has never been endorsed by the official MBTI folks, and has no respectable body of evidence behind it. And I think James Reynierse is correct to have concluded that the functions themselves are a "category mistake" that have no validity other than the piggybacked validity they end up with when, e.g., an "Si" description is put together that describes stuff that's characteristic of SJs, and is then found to apply reasonably well to people who purportedly "use Si" as their dominant or auxiliary function (because, duh, they're SJs). And again, in case you're interested, there's a lot more about all that in my second linked post (and the posts it links to).
 

Pionart

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
4,039
MBTI Type
NiFe
Last month I gave you a link to the official MBTI, which is the only MBTI-related test with a respectable body of research/support behind it. But your OP gives us the results from four tests with essentially no studies that back their reliability or validity, and doesn't give us your results on the official MBTI.

At the same time, you say you're looking for a test you can "trust."

What am I missing? It's certainly possible to mistype on the official MBTI, but it's the trustworthiest test available, and not by a small margin.

I just took this test, and I scored INFJ (I'm an ISTJ - ISTx by dichotomies and Si dominant by functions). What I did get from this test, is I quite clearly align with J types.

I thought the "which word from each pair appeals to you most?" questions were kinda vague as to what exactly I was meant to be basing my decision on. Was it meant to be a word which fit how I act, or just which idea I liked the best? (I took the right test, yeah?)
 

reckful

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
656
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5
I just took this test, and I scored INFJ (I'm an ISTJ - ISTx by dichotomies and Si dominant by functions). What I did get from this test, is I quite clearly align with J types.

I thought the "which word from each pair appeals to you most?" questions were kinda vague as to what exactly I was meant to be basing my decision on. Was it meant to be a word which fit how I act, or just which idea I liked the best? (I took the right test, yeah?)

FWIW, I'd say your posts in this thread sound a lot more consistent with INF than IST.

As far as how to answer MBTI questions goes... The items on the official MBTI are selected based on their proven statistical tendency (based on thousands of tests) to separate, e.g., S's from N's when the test-taker is forced to choose one response or the other. And that's not to say that any particular item is likely to be chosen by anything like 90% or more of the appropriate type. The MBTI Manual expressly acknowledges that, in many cases, both sides of a particular item are likely to have some appeal to any particular test-taker, and also that, in many cases, the alternative choices don't exactly make sense in terms of a logical opposition. As the Manual explains:

MBTI Manual said:
In writing items, every effort was made to make the responses appeal to the appropriate types, for example, to make the perceptive response to a JP item as attractive to P people as the judging response is to J people. The result is that responses may be psychologically rather than logically opposed, a fact that annoys many thinking types. Item content is less important than that the words and form of the sentence should serve as a "stimulus to evoke a type response."

I often describe the MBTI preferences — at least in terms of many of their aspects — as "temperament tugs." In cases where you're conflicted and one side of the conflict is more the "gut level" or "natural inclination" you and the other side is a more rational/calculating side of you that, to some degree, wants to rein in (or thinks you should rein in) your more natural inclinations for the sake of external results or for any other reason, your MBTI preference is more likely to correspond to the "natural inclination." In describing the right frame of mind for taking the official MBTI, the MBTI Manual explains:

MBTI Manual said:
Some people have trouble finding the correct frame of mind for answering the MBTI. When reporting the results to some people, they say they reported their "work self," "school self," "ideal self," or some other self they now consider atypical. The frame of reference desired in respondents is what has been termed the "shoes-off self." The "shoes-off self" fosters an attitude in which one functions naturally, smoothly, and effortlessly, and in which one is not going "against one's grain." The function of the MBTI is to provide the first step toward understanding one's natural preferences.
 

Cellmold

Wake, See, Sing, Dance
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
6,266
I just took this test, and I scored INFJ (I'm an ISTJ - ISTx by dichotomies and Si dominant by functions). What I did get from this test, is I quite clearly align with J types.

I thought the "which word from each pair appeals to you most?" questions were kinda vague as to what exactly I was meant to be basing my decision on. Was it meant to be a word which fit how I act, or just which idea I liked the best? (I took the right test, yeah?)

I got INTP. :doh:

And yeah I didn't get the word association either.
 

Pionart

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
4,039
MBTI Type
NiFe
FWIW, I'd say your posts in this thread sound a lot more consistent with INF than IST.

Interesting. Could you give a general reason as to why you think INF seems to fit?

I've read so many conflicting things and changed my type so many times and pondered in many useless directions on the subject, so I feel that I've become unable to type myself. However, I have asked 3 people I know IRL about my type, 1 of which knows a lot more about type than I do, and the responses they gave were: ISTJ, ISTX, ISTX.

However:
As far as how to answer MBTI questions goes... The items on the official MBTI are selected based on their proven statistical tendency (based on thousands of tests) to separate, e.g., S's from N's when the test-taker is forced to choose one response or the other. And that's not to say that any particular item is likely to be chosen by anything like 90% or more of the appropriate type. The MBTI Manual expressly acknowledges that, in many cases, both sides of a particular item are likely to have some appeal to any particular test-taker, and also that, in many cases, the alternative choices don't exactly make sense in terms of a logical opposition. As the Manual explains:

I often describe the MBTI preferences — at least in terms of many of their aspects — as "temperament tugs." In cases where you're conflicted and one side of the conflict is more the "gut level" or "natural inclination" you and the other side is a more rational/calculating side of you that, to some degree, wants to rein in (or thinks you should rein in) your more natural inclinations for the sake of external results or for any other reason, your MBTI preference is more likely to correspond to the "natural inclination." In describing the right frame of mind for taking the official MBTI, the MBTI Manual explains:

I actually switched between "mulling it over" and going with my "gut reaction" halfway through the first list of appeal questions, and when I switched into gut reaction mode, I went straight for the N/F options.


Why would it be, that I seem to be INF, yet people who know me the best in real life think I'm an IST?

(not that you would know the answer, but you may have some insight here?)
 

reckful

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
656
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5
Interesting. Could you give a general reason as to why you think INF seems to fit?
...
Why would it be, that I seem to be INF, yet people who know me the best in real life think I'm an IST?

(not that you would know the answer, but you may have some insight here?)

I can't really speak to why several people you know think you're an IST, but I'd note that it's pretty common, in my experience, for N's at MBTI forums to get told they're S's by people who arrive at their conclusions by way of the kind of bad function-based analysis that I rant about in some of the posts I've already linked you to.

The rest of this post has sources of more reckful characterizations of N, F, IN, NF, etc. that could help clarify why I think INF's a better match for you than IST — but please note that I'm a hardcore T myself, and you should only look at any of this stuff to the extent that you're motivated to do it for your own selfish reasons.

If you're interested in reading an "introduction to S & N" I put together a while back (with quotes from Myers and Keirsey), it's in the first spoiler in this post.

You can find quite a bit of input from me on T/F in this post and this post.

There's a metric ass ton of J/P input from me in the spoiler in this PerC post.

A-a-and if you're truly a glutton for punishment, I did long, multi-post type-me analyses of two TC INFs in the following threads, and they've got quite a lot of additional discussion by me of what I think INs and NFs and INFs and INFJs and etc. tend to be like.


Finally, in case they're useful to you, I've put online profile roundups for the eight introverted types in the spoiler below.

 
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