Steve and Susan came over last night and I hooked them up to the electrodes to administer the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. If you know me, you know this is a perennial obsession of mine. The Myers-Briggs is to me, what astrology is to hippies. Some people say this leads to pigeon-holing everyone you know, and reducing their distinct personalities to a few, general descriptives types, but I have an argument against this notion that consists of the following:
First of all, this is for educational purposes only. The test is a conceptualized sorting of personality characteristics used solely for the purposes of investigating and delving into how you and others think, perceive the world and each other, and how you relate to the world based on this perception. It is not deterministic. It is only a model to describe perceptions and behavior. After all, what is personality but the way you perceive situations and yourself and how you behave in situations according to these perceptions. I actually believe it is somewhat possible to change your personality because it is a way of seeing and behaving. Once you are aware of how you see things it may be possible to then change your perceptions.
I think you make a good point about the usefulness of the Myers-Briggs test. The point isn’t necessarily discovering your true identity or gaining some amazing insight into yourself. The value of personality tests (and, in my opinion, astrology as well) is that it gives you an occasion to think critically about the way you view the world, the differences between your view and that of others, and how those differences (or similarities for that matter) affect your interactions with people.
I know it sounds dumb but I have really gotten some of the same insight from astrology. This is due to the (perhaps totally random) fact that I am a cancer with cancer rising who has a totally typical cancer personality.
The only thing I worry about with personality tests is that they might limit people’s perception of themselves or make them fatalistic about their flaws/challenges. I’ve read a bit about narrative therapy, which is based on the idea that we all have an ongoing version of our life stories that we carry around in our head, a combination of our unique perspective and messages that have been foisted on us by a hegemonic cultural system. Sometimes these stories cause problems and need to be changed. I’ve read amazing case histories where people who were profoundly schizophrenic were able to be independent, functional people because they learned to see themselves that way. A bad “life story” can have just as strong an effect, negatively.
But it’s like you always point out: when you’re a good fit with your Myers-Briggs type, you read the description and it sounds flattering, because by definition if it’s your personality type, it represents things that you value. Which could be a really good, empowering thing to think about.