What is the point of the MBTI?

[Dufresne]

Just so you don't get the wrong impression, I think the MBTI is awesome and enormously useful, but just to play devil's advocate, one could argue this:

You take a test with no right or wrong answers and get a result based on your answers. If you already know enough about yourself to answer those questions accurately, then what other information can you get from the test?

 

[Langrenus]

One possible answer: an appreciation of how your interactions with others will be perceived differently according to variations in their type.

Of course, your DA argument could still apply here.

 

[Park]

You take a test with no right or wrong answers and get a result based on your answers. If you already know enough about yourself to answer those questions accurately, then what other information can you get from the test?

Lots of things. What Langrenus mentioned and for some of the rare types, I think it's nice to know that there are others who's minds works in a similar frameset. I found that putting names and definitions on the different function was a nice experience as well.

 

[Nighthawk]

For me, MBTI was valuable in hammering home the point that I shouldn't try to be somebody I am not. It gave me "permission" to be who I am. I learned, through much pain and suffering, that I do not fit well into an SJ or SP oriented career or lifestyle. Only since learning MBTI do I now understand why. It has helped guide me toward a profession and lifestyle in which I am happier ... while at the same time helping me understand possible weaknesses and work on them.

 

[rivercrow]

Type dynamics: changes that happen as you age and (hopefully) mature. For example, why your ISFJ spouse suddenly gets fixed on philosophy at age 40.

Better understanding of stressers and how you might react to temporary and chronic stress. (And how others might, so you can better work with them.)

Better appreciation for your unexpected strengths and awareness of unexpected weaknesses. For example, as an INTP, have you developed Feeling-function skills or Extraverted Thinking skills--these are skills that would not be expected in a typical INTP. Or, as an INTP, are your Introverted Thinking skills of logical analysis unexpectedly weak?

Better ability to communicate to different audiences. Are you engaging and interesting to people who are not like you? (Great thing about INXXs--most everyone isn't like us, so we get a lot of opportunities to practice )

Better appreciation of how others view things. Honestly, I am amazed that my ISFJ husband can be in the moment and aware of details without the symbolism that my iNtuiting perception snags. He always notices things like if the milk is going sour. I don't.

Humility and wonder at it all. Type, the diversity of humanity, the flexibility of the mind, the Type/MBTI system itself. For when you Ti/Ne off, anyway.

 

[rivercrow]

Oh--and you get to meet some very interesting people who are Type geeks....

 

[PuddleRiver]

For me, MBTI was valuable in hammering home the point that I shouldn't try to be somebody I am not. It gave me "permission" to be who I am. I learned, through much pain and suffering, that I do not fit well into an SJ or SP oriented career or lifestyle. Only since learning MBTI do I now understand why. It has helped guide me toward a profession and lifestyle in which I am happier ... while at the same time helping me understand possible weaknesses and work on them.

Exactly. I don't try so hard to 'fix' myself anymore. It's not meant to be an excuse, mind you, but I am more accepting of myself than I used to be. Being old probably helps too. lol. I found I didn't care as much about 'fitting in' anymore.

 

[niffer]

There are a lot of interesting things that are pointless.

 

[Totenkindly]

There are a lot of interesting things that are pointless.

<GASP> How dare you -- I should slap you with an infraction for that!

--

Nightwing and RC covered most of the bases.

There was the "personal validation" issue for me... I no longer had to feel bad about who and what I was in regards to personality... and it also gave me freedom to give OTHERs flexibility.

There's also the idea of taking some common qualities and projecting the probable ramifications of them (i.e., when you have a certain combination of functions, here is how they tend to interact and play out and create a particular type of personality... so "personality modeling" I guess). The framework was just really useful in understanding behavior and motivation.

 

[Xander]

To better understand the route of all argument
"Why don't you think like me?"

 

[raincrow007]

Nightwing and RC covered most of the bases.

Psst. Nighthawk.

 

[Alesia]

For me, MBTI was valuable in hammering home the point that I shouldn't try to be somebody I am not. It gave me "permission" to be who I am. I learned, through much pain and suffering, that I do not fit well into an SJ or SP oriented career or lifestyle. Only since learning MBTI do I now understand why. It has helped guide me toward a profession and lifestyle in which I am happier ... while at the same time helping me understand possible weaknesses and work on them.

I couldn't have said this any better. I was desperatley trying to be the business women ESTJ before finding out about my type. I was depressed and miserable, and in a ESTJ job that couldn't be any more wrong for me. MBTI showed me that I was not "weird". That there were in fact other people out there like me. I was just a type of a smaller percentage.

Now I have guided my life toward activities that will put me in touch with other NFs and NTs, and am pursuing a whole different career that I am hoping will be more satisfying to me. In short, it changed my life.

 

[Totenkindly]

Psst. Nighthawk.

Oh fudge. Too many comic books. Sigh.

 

[rivercrow]

Psst. Nighthawk.

Nightrain...riverhawk...riverrain...SQUAWK!

 

[Alienclock]

Yes, validation, helps me to understand others, and most of all, I am so amazed at the difference in communication. Yes, very very amazed at the difference in communications styles. Now I understand better why my boyfriend, an intj, is always saying things are pointless. - and I do believe the av geek he may be, he would be truly tortured if he had to be a camera man for the jerry springer show, except for the boobs. He says he doesn't see the point of that show.

I have not yet figured out how I am supposed to develop my weaker functions however, and I am not sure why I would want to.

 

[KMCE]

To me the point of MBTI is to understand the people important to me. Some of them are too different from me and I would like to understand the reasons why, from the psychology point of view.

But I've to say MBTI is not very 'user-friendly'. It does not provide a reliable method to tell a person's type in a short time. It ignores age difference. It limits itself to 16 types and does not consider intra-type variations. It does not provide solid suggestions on how to use this theory to deal with people. It ignores all visible signs that might indicate a person's personality (body language, occupation, hobby, qualification, appearance, etc).

It's like, you have to mind-read a person to know his/her type, and I'm no mind-reader. I sort of see the potential in it and I'm still trying to figure out how to apply the theory effectively on real people.