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[MBTI General] I think I disagree with the Typology Central test

Desert_Dweller

New member
Joined
Sep 6, 2020
Messages
8
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
Hey y'all
While I have ENFP listed on my profile provisionally, I'm really not sure what my MBTI is. I've taken the Typology Central Personality test, and I got ENFJ. However, on the first test I took, from 16personalities, I got ENFP, and the openpsychometrics test gave me ESFP. While I'm not sure about N versus S, I definitely think that I'm more of a P than a J. While I do plan ahead, it is a learned, adaptive behavior. Left to my own devices, I would plan major decisions no more than a few days in advance and make small decisions (like going out for pizza) spontaneously. I often find myself complaining about having to arrange things in advance because things change and I like to keep my options open in keeping with being Enneatype 7, and I'm often annoyed by people whose rigid structures don't allow for spontaneity. Do you think its "valid" to determine mbti by what "sounds most like me", or should I trust the test?

Thanks,
Desert_Dweller
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Well, the test is just trying to get at your type through generalized questions -- not just direct questions about each function pairing but also sometimes pushing and prodding indirectly as well as accumulating responses.

The thing is, what you are describing is pretty clearly a P bent (not J). One failing with MBTI -- or maybe "complication" -- is that it is trying to derive instinctive function bent but often by adulthood we've had to develop various strategies in order to function and be successful. I'm the same way, in the sense that maybe my thinking is structured but I've very open-ended and not closure oriented, really... but I've had to become more closure-oriented simply to function at work and in life, there are many things to decide and you can't waste a ton of energy over every decision that needs to be made. I am also in a leadership role and have to make a number of decisions daily. But that doesn't mean my natural tendency is not to be open; this is just something I had to learn to do to function in my current roles.

IOW, if most tests and your personal understanding of the J/P angle is telling you one thing, I would likely trust it. I think the J/P pair is one of the most likely to be muddied by the needs of life. Sometimes this happens with I/E too, if you're not an extreme... some degree of social ability is required in life, generally, depending on one's work. But it depends on how good the test questions are.
 
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