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WHat got you interested in MBTI?

sade

New member
Joined
Aug 23, 2008
Messages
761
I'd been interested in psychology, different personalities and so on for a long time, but the initial thing that drove me to MBTI was the drive to understand myself and others better. Also I needed some sort of justification for being, well, 'like this'. It had never really satisfied me that I'd gotten strange or rare results from personality tests. It never explained anything of complete personality aka how it manifested in a person's mind, behavior.. I'd always felt that there was something wrong with me and I've been told that many times. Too complex, untraditional, and the thing that I didn't 'work' the way others did. The fact that I couldn't settle for what I supposed to settle for. The drive for understanding, meaning, something more, I wanted justification that that was normal and acceptable. The fact that I can't settle for an okay job, an average place in society and family somewhere in the future and keep repeating what's been repeated for years. That'd kill me. I was always the odd one in the family, the one who thought too much or in a wrong way.

I think the temperament model was what effected me the most and drove towards MBTI. I always longed to be understood.

I still get nagged at a lot at home, partly because I tend to destruy their thought of security with travelling and etc. That place will never change and they're happy like that, but at least I know how to answer to them now.

Rant over and out. I always do get carried away..
 

Eryndil

New member
Joined
Oct 4, 2008
Messages
42
MBTI Type
INTx
I've always been interested in what makes people the way they are. Then, about 18 months ago, I was randomly surfing the net and found a personality test - it turned out to be for enneagrams but I found the results intriguing and that lead me into further research.

MBTI interests me for two reasons - 1. after so many years, I have discovered that I am not the only person 'like this' and that it really is OK to be different and 2. the theory is fascinating and worthy of further research. So I guess my reasons are both practical and intellectual, which is probably to be expected of an INTx!
 

gomi

New member
Joined
Sep 22, 2008
Messages
13
MBTI Type
INTP
I was introduced to MBTI at the Advanced Military Source Operations Course (AMSOC) and again at the Dept of Defense Strategic Debriefing Course (DSDC). Both courses open with an overview of MBTI as a tool that can be used for approaching/assessing sources/subjects, however neither seem to delve deeply enough into it to really round it out as the 'tool for your toolbox' they said it is. I found myself deeply interested in it, as most everything regardling INTPs applied to me and my experiences. I wanted to see how far I could take it beyond what the instructors presented, delving into the psyches/habits/drives of others. It's still a work in progress.
 

Sinister Scribe

New member
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
62
MBTI Type
INTx
Enneagram
5
I enjoy writing and examining various personality types and traits has helped me develop some of my characters better.

Oddly enough, many of my prominent characters seem to be NTs of various types.
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
It might have been Keirsey's site I was introduced to after a friend e-mailed me a custom test in 1997. I found it alarmingly accurate, and eventually useful for situations like hearing "So I'm talking to my XXXX friend...."

And feeling that I know the stranger a bit before the end of the sentence. If there's another way to describe someone so quickly and effortlessly, I am unaware of it.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
I got into because of always feeling odd, out of step, wrong, and not being able to communicate with people in ways that go smoothly. Now I understand a lot better why I rub to raw with some people and I am not so sure that it's always the horrible thing I thought it was before. It is sort of funny, but finding out what people don't like about me I am like "that's what you don't like? Out of all the things that are wrong with me, you pick that? Well, pffft!"

Also it help me to understand my own lack of clarity at times and how I've tried to run from what I am.

The need for it as a tool is waning now, but I stay here because I like the mix of people.

It is a good tool for self-discovery if not taken too extremes or too seriously but I see it also has a potiential for making society a nightmare of control where people are boxed and catagorized. I don't like to see workplaces and such using it, especially if mandatory or peer pressure. It should only be used by individuals in private searching for self knowledge.
 

swordpath

New member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
10,547
MBTI Type
ISTx
Enneagram
5w6
It was totally random for me. I think I was bored one day and wanted to find a "introverts" message board to see what people were talking about (Yeah, random...). I stumbled on INTPc or whatever that place was and registered and thought I was one of them because I figured it was just general for "introverts" (n00b alert). They told me I probably wasn't an INTP (lol) and sent me here, then I actually found out what the hell MBTI was. Now I'm constantly trying to type people I know/meet. It's actually to the point of annoyance. This place has ruined my life.

I just haven't decided to leave yet... There's some cool people here. :nice:
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
6,743
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx
Now I'm constantly trying to type people I know/meet. It's actually to the point of annoyance. This place has ruined my life.

I can relate. I already knew I sucked before I read this stuff. Now that I know WHY I suck, it's like I'm trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I just haven't decided to leave yet... There's some cool people here. :nice:

True.
 

Giggly

No moss growing on me
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
9,661
MBTI Type
iSFj
Enneagram
2
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
It was one of the few times I was really bored, so I took a personality test. :D

I sometimes imagine how things would be different if I hadn't. :huh:
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I found out about it when assigned a presentation on it for a former job.

I'm here because I like the forum and I see possibilities for using the theory to better understand my own impulses as well as the bizarre thinking patterns of others.

And because I'm often procrastinating/bored, and this site works well for that.
 

Into It

New member
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
664
MBTI Type
ENFP
i was reading cimmaron's sig and it basically says that he/she's here so he/she can communicate with other types better. that's a big gap from why i'm here. sure, i like the practicality of MBTI and i was drawn by its accuracy, but to be honest, i'm just here cos i'm obsessed with the theory and want to exchange ideas for the sake of it.

why are you here?

That I was typed an ENTP and read a long article on ENTP and ADD shortly after.

It took me a while to find out I was an ENFP instead. I behave a lot like an NT at times.
 

Salomé

meh
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
10,527
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
An ENFJ.

I was out at a pub with some work colleagues, we got talking about human potential and what it is that we are all looking for. We talked about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The ENFJ thought Love was the answer to everything. I disagreed. Eventually all the other S people melted away and we didn't even notice.

I came home believing I'd met my soulmate.

I started researching some of the topics we'd discussed. I found Kiersey's site. I bought Please Understand Me II. I read about Rationals.
I cried.
I've been hooked ever since.
 

ArbiterDewey

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
310
MBTI Type
ISTJ
I don't remember exactly how I found out about it, but I think I came across one test and had read my type description, then ISTP. It was close, but not accurate. I showed it to my friends, Meta/Hexis/Evan/etc. We've been hooked ever since. I love how occasionally a conversation can lead to the statement, "pfft...typical NF..." lol I do remember being the first of us to stumble on it.
 

locke

New member
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
103
MBTI Type
INFJ
I've had an obsession with the letters M, B, T and I all my life. I'd see them in dreams, I'd see them in my soup. One day while investigating the Internets I decided I'd plug them into a search engine. These crazy personality theories came up and intrigued me.
 
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