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Can you type abstractions?

Magic Poriferan

^He pronks, too!
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
14,081
MBTI Type
Yin
Enneagram
One
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
A fun little Enneagram pastime that I have often done and seen done is to try typing abstract entities. Typically these are things that would involve multitudes of people.
For instance, the Republican party is 6/5, and classical Japanese culture is 1/9.

I attempted doing this with the MBTI and found it very difficult. It just doesn't seem to work.
So let's have some other people try it.
Do you find it just as hard to type abstract things with the MBTI?
If so, what does that say about the difference between these two typing systems?
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
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Jul 1, 2007
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8,828
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4w5
Hmm... I can, sort of (although it's mostly guessing). It's seems that it's probably harder than with Enneagram. I think it's that type tends to point to more specific tendencies than you can notice in an entities actions. I think it's used more pointedly on average.
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
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abstractions


yeah, i can!
 

wildcat

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INTP
A fun little Enneagram pastime that I have often done and seen done is to try typing abstract entities. Typically these are things that would involve multitudes of people.
For instance, the Republican party is 6/5, and classical Japanese culture is 1/9.

I attempted doing this with the MBTI and found it very difficult. It just doesn't seem to work.
So let's have some other people try it.
Do you find it just as hard to type abstract things with the MBTI?
If so, what does that say about the difference between these two typing systems?
Yes and only.
 

Ezra

Luctor et emergo
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
534
MBTI Type
ENTJ
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Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
It's a more complex theory, so it will naturally get more difficult to type with it. The Enneagram is quite simple: there are nine types; nine different motivations and ways of thinking. MBTT has sixteen possibilities, as opposed to nine (if you exclude the wings and subtypes from the Enneagram). It's harder to type through functions. Motivations are much easier.
 

Magic Poriferan

^He pronks, too!
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Yin
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sx/sp
It's a more complex theory, so it will naturally get more difficult to type with it. The Enneagram is quite simple: there are nine types; nine different motivations and ways of thinking. MBTT has sixteen possibilities, as opposed to nine (if you exclude the wings and subtypes from the Enneagram). It's harder to type through functions. Motivations are much easier.

Well, I can even do it with the full Enneagram details.
I think it might be because the Enneagram is so much about motives and opinions, whereas the MBTI is a very mechanical view on psychology that can't necessarily be applied to a non-human abstraction.

And sassy... Bother you though it may, the Republican party is totally 6/5.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
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If you did not see this thread from the "enneagram masters" yet, you might find it interesting.

It includes this breakdown:
The Personality Types (Styles) of Contemporary Countries
England: Types One, Five, and Six
United States: Types Three, Six, and Seven
France: Types Three, Four, and Seven
China: Types Three, Eight, and Nine
Japan: Types Six, Four, and Five
Germany: Types Six, Five, and Eight
Russia: Types Six, Eight, and Four
Italy: Types Eight, Two, and Seven
 

Ezra

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the Republican party is totally 6/5.

ISTJ too.

The Personality Types (Styles) of Contemporary Countries
England: Types One, Five, and Six
United States: Types Three, Six, and Seven
France: Types Three, Four, and Seven
China: Types Three, Eight, and Nine
Japan: Types Six, Four, and Five
Germany: Types Six, Five, and Eight
Russia: Types Six, Eight, and Four
Italy: Types Eight, Two, and Seven

I agree with most of those, but it needs to include Spain as a Six, Eight, and Three country. Japan is way off. Eight, One and Five, not Six, Four and Five. I'd also say Australia is a Six, Seven and Three country.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
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Messages
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It's a more complex theory, so it will naturally get more difficult to type with it. The Enneagram is quite simple: there are nine types; nine different motivations and ways of thinking. MBTT has sixteen possibilities, as opposed to nine (if you exclude the wings and subtypes from the Enneagram). It's harder to type through functions. Motivations are much easier.


That's what I was thinking too.

The U.S. is very much a three, eight, and one culture. Three because we are obsessed with beauty and success, eight because we like to use force to get what we want (and think we're the shit), and one because we have pretentions to superior judgment and goodness. I'd also throw all the other types in there, for one reason or another, but I see those three types as dominating. I'd give twos a shout too, because of all the Jeudo-Christian beliefs of being self-sacrifical and good and blah blah.. blah.

How about typing religions? I think most mainstream ones would have one tendencies, as well as two tendencies.
 

Zergling

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I don't see anything wrong or hard about typing abstractions, as long as the abstractions have some qualities that can be associated with MBTI (or enneagram).
 

The Ü™

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That's what I was thinking too.

The U.S. is very much a three, eight, and one culture. Three because we are obsessed with beauty and success, eight because we like to use force to get what we want (and think we're the shit), and one because we have pretentions to superior judgment and goodness. I'd also throw all the other types in there, for one reason or another, but I see those three types as dominating. I'd give twos a shout too, because of all the Jeudo-Christian beliefs of being self-sacrifical and good and blah blah.. blah.

How about typing religions? I think most mainstream ones would have one tendencies, as well as two tendencies.

The U.S. is definitely a 3 because of its motivation of being the best. 3's can seem like 8's in their behavior, but their reasons for their behavior are entirely different. I'd say the East Coast is more 3 and the West Coast is more 7.

America's fear is not of being controlled, like the 8, because America tends to think it's better than everyone else, more like the 3. 8 is more antisocial, 3 is more narcissistic, which definitely fits America's profile. And certain American religious sects (or organized religion, in general) are type 1, but the country itself is definitely not.

As for other English-speaking countries:

Canada: 9
England: 1
Australia: 7

Those are my broadly estimated guesses, anyway...
 

DaRick

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I've decided to type the countries I'll comment on:

The U.S. is definitely a 3 because of its motivation of being the best. 3's can seem like 8's in their behavior, but their reasons for their behavior are entirely different. I'd say the East Coast is more 3 and the West Coast is more 7.

America's fear is not of being controlled, like the 8, because America tends to think it's better than everyone else, more like the 3. 8 is more antisocial, 3 is more narcissistic, which definitely fits America's profile. And certain American religious sects (or organized religion, in general) are type 1, but the country itself is definitely not.

As for other English-speaking countries:

Canada: 9
England: 1
Australia: 7

Those are my broadly estimated guesses, anyway...

Yes, a seven sounds about right, on average. Australia is the land, as a Men at Work song told the world, where "men plunder". Australia values doers, 'macho-men', bravery and determination, athleticism (do you see my problems? :( ) and so forth. As a MBTI type, I would say that the stereotypical Australian male would probably be an ESTP and the stereotypical Australian female would probably be an ESFJ. I'll say this, Australia is a land of Extraverts and Sensates.
 

The Ü™

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Scotland: 6 or 7 maybe?
Ireland: 6 or 9 (shut up, that wasn't an innuendo)

(Although, of course, I should have typed in UK instead of England up above.)
 

The Grey Badger

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Scotland: 6 or 7 maybe?
Ireland: 6 or 9 (shut up, that wasn't an innuendo)

(Although, of course, I should have typed in UK instead of England up above.)

It wasn't an innuendo?

"Bring me my whiskey, mother .... England's forever, but Scotland's depraved.":party2: :party2: :party2:
 

marm

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I can't see why you shouldn't be able to type abstractions since functions are themselves abstractions. I own a book that is about type in organizations. I haven't looked at the book recently, and so I don't remember how it applies typology to group dynamics. Anyways, countries and companies are just groups of people and so no more abstract than people.

Amazon.com: The Character of Organizations, Updated Edition: Using Personality Type in Organization Development: Books: William Bridges

I don't spend much time thinking about how to type things other than humans, but its an interesting idea. Typology is about how the human mind relates to the world. Jung himself wrote a lot about philosophy when talking about typology and so does Beebe. I was reading that(maybe in Beebe's book) that Eastern morality is based more on the S/N dichotomy and Western morality is based more on the T/F dichotomy.
 

silkbite

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Typing abstractions is amazingly fun.
I'm currently working out an essay in my head about how Japanese culture is comprised of a wacky ENTP/ISFJ duality - it has both the out-there, off-the-wall ,exploratory sensibilities of ENTP (as well as a propensity towards innovation and invention in a technological, information-based way), and the focus on duty , tradition, tranquility, politeness, hospitality, respect, etc. of ISFJ.
 
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