ENTPs are more powerful on the internet.. that's worth something... right?
Hey, I didn't win this National Trolling Championship '09 trophy for nothin'!
I'm not sure how trust worthy the mbti is in general. I score ENTJ, ESTJ, INTJ, ENTP. There is a newer theory on this called cognitive styles. However in my experience ENTP's and ENTJ's are quite different. An ENTJ's power would probably be their pragmatic approach, and ability to sacrifice anything including their own souls to make their plans reality. Performance wise Im gonna have to go with an ENTJ. ENTP's on the other hand atleast seem to have better man skills. Their a little better at improvising and just running with it if you know what i mean. Ive met more than a few ENTJ's who seemed a bit uptight. And ENTP's seem to lack this weakness. Ive also noticed other ENTJs who seem to be more controlling and manipulative than me. Ive always enjoyed doing things on my own, without help from others. And a few ENTJs i know dont mind being dependent on others.
I'll define a of types strengths (I think that should be the term not power)
ENTJ- Task oriented/Performance machine/perfectionism/bulldozer/future oriented
ENTP- More people oriented improviser/future oriented/arrogant/dynamic
ESTJ- People/control oriented/Get shit done/here and now oriented/normal
INTJ- Mastermind for a reason, Best plans, Incredible insight, less desire to control others
Their all powerful in different ways, although I believe mbti is rather momentary and people switch around quite a bit
Well you're absolutely right that the tests are crap. Myers and Briggs tried to take complex Jungian ideas and simplify them into a 20-minute questionnaire. Unfortunately, Jung's cognitive functions are not really something that can be accurately tested, so it's impossible to take a test that can tell you your type. The only way you can find that out is by studying and reading about the functions.
You also make a good point that various types are powerful in different ways. When it comes to exerting the most wide-reaching socioeconomic, governmental or corporate control over others, though, I'm afraid we have to give the trophy to the ENTJs (with INTJs a close second.)
It's actually a myth that INTJs are less interested in controlling people--they're just really good at getting you to do what they want without you figuring out they're doing it.
You're also correct that there is a good amount of personal variation within each type. Two people of the same type can show vastly different characteristics depending on present conditions, past experiences and lots of other variables...but what unites them is their similar preferences for cognitive perspectives. The same cognitive preferences can lead to very different lifestyles, but there will be common threads in terms of the most basic conceptualizations of the self and its relationship to the external world.
I don't think people change type very often, though--they certainly do operate from different functional perspectives at different times, but in most cases Jung's models allow for this to happen without changing type.
If you want to get out of the kiddie pool you should move beyond MBTI and look at Jung
