Mind Maverick
ENTP 8w7 845 Sp/Sx
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2018
- Messages
- 4,770
TYPOLOGY RANT
Why do people who are first getting into typology treat it as though it can answer all of their interpersonal questions and problems? It's often just MIScategorization when connections are made due to the approach that many people take. For example, when I was more into typology and didn't know that I have disorders, I thought that my manic episodes were E9 to E3 "integration." I thought my chameleon tendencies and lack of knowing who I am, which are actually borderline symptoms, was E9. I thought that my low assertiveness was also E9, but in reality it was probably the abuse that made me more timid, afraid to proceed forward in things with confidence (after constant "you're doing X, Y, Z wrong"), and sensitive to yelling (which is probably a little bit of PTSD). It's the fact that I feel things too intensely (thanks to emotional dysregulation) that causes me to be conflict avoidant. In all fairness though, that part is still pretty E9 in the sense that I hate feeling things and don't want anything disturbing my equilibrium, but I avoid things because I know I'm hypersensitive as though I have open emotional nerve endings, and I used to numb out to things as a part of trying to maintain both equilibrium and self-control because everything was too intense. If friends had never suggested that I might have some sort of disorders I might never have found out that my lack of sense of self is abnormal (beyond just "unhealthy E9") and actually part of "identity disturbance," which was theory, but is now supported by empirical data...unlike typology. It's a part of a disorder that is actually backed by neurological scans...unlike typology. I don't have a problem with entertaining the notion that the ways I navigate my disorders are a part of personality type, and that if I was an 8 core I might have become more sadistic and defensive instead of timid and hesitant, but there's really no sure way of knowing that and all I can do is entertain open-ended possibilities, considering some more probable than others, but still indefinite nevertheless. I don't have a problem with other people theorizing new things or entertaining those possibilities. Personally, it's not my cup of tea because I like actually being able to arrive to conclusions eventually and I am not in a position to be able to research these things using empirical data, therefore it seems like a waste of my time. What I do have a problem with is people treating typology like it's some kind of behavioral analysis Bible. Typology cannot explain why your love interest didn't return your text message, you need to either communicate or analyze words and actions to understand that, and even then there's sometimes just not enough there to be able to determine it. Typology can't explain why your neighbor sits on his balcony naked and drives ATVs, or why Billie Bob likes blue and orange. Typology probably can't explain what caused Johnny/Sue, who you think is XXXX type, to break up with you. In short: typology cannot explain everything about human beings, and when you think it can it only means you're delusional from twisting facts to fit theories. Sometimes those "revolutionary insights" people obsess over typology for are not actually accurate at all. If they're so revolutionary, why are they so easily debatable? Correlation does not equate to causation and unsupported connections cannot be trusted.
The reasons why are vital pieces of introspection, and when you first attribute things to typology it often causes you to miss the real reasons because you stop digging deeper, thinking you already have the answers. It automatically closes the mind to alternate possibilities and therefore those possibilities are never even considered, they're just completely overlooked. If you just simply analyze yourself or others in raw form, without first assuming the information's root cause, you can arrive to more accurate conclusions. Seeking to understand people, yourself, or other human information through the lenses of typology, is flawed. It is not some gateway to enlightenment. Sift through other possibilities first, and if things are not better explained by other things, and you want to theorize that it's part of a personality type, I see nothing wrong with that...but typology is not some kind of ultimate guide to yourself, others, and relationships. It is merely nomothetic theory, it falls short of solid scientific standards...so why do so many people place important things such as the future of their relationships or who they will date in the hands of it? Do people really not have healthier criteria to base these decisions on?
