re: Why the Myers-Briggs Test is Totally Meaningless (MBTI)

[xchhhhhhhh]

"When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddently know what you are hoping for." - Unknown

[SeaOdeEEE]

Thank you, ive studied MBTI and cognitive functions and quite enjoy what it taught me about myself. Vox's video seemed to be glossing over the study completely.

I don't think MBTI is an all knowing science, but I see it as a tool that can help lead to personal development.

[abeautifulmachine]

I think the only real flaw in the test is that it's almost impossible to be honest with yourself. I don't even mean people purposefully lie just that they have a bias view or just aren't seeing their personality objectively. For example the test asks a lot about whether or not you area organized person and if you like to plan things out, many people probably think they are organized and will only think about instances that support that thought about themselves even if they have every intention of trying to answer honestly. I typically get INTP when I take the test and I think it suits me quite well but sometimes I do question that result and take the test again and get ENTP I try to answer honestly and think about every question carefully but it still happens.

However this is not meant to "debunk" the test I actually think it in itself is very useful an well made it's just the people taking it that are the problem really nothing against them but that's just how it works.

[VickiBrownatcfcl]

Note also that the Big Five measures _traits_.
The MBTI measures _Type_.

Type is not just a collection of traits.

[BayuAkbarK]

MBTI result will be meaningless if it only used to justify your certain behavior.
-INTP

[JohnCena-yumj]

why isnt anyone talking about functions? it always sounds like ppl can only be "feelers" or "thinkers" but thats not the case with functions

[atomnous]

I feel that cognitive function is a really hard subject and Jung made a quantum leap on it. So, the model he inspired was very structured and simple yet complex, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is some error here and there about the definition, grouping, naming, or the amount of functions, or other contributing factors. And now people who are interested have to deal with the mess of testing the right model

[whitenoise]

MBTI is either free or cheap... that's why "experts" don't like it. You don't have to pay $100/hr or pay for a prescription. MBTI is a guide, a way of providing some insight towards oneself.

I took the test and read about my type... and yes, it did help. For once in my life, I felt understood.

[vlrdpplvr]

i took the test on every possible site i could find with completely different questions and i got INFP every time so..

[elenakusevska]

Mbti is fun. And I enjoy it very much. Just like I occasionally enjoy horoscopes even though I'm a scientist :) But there is little scientific grounding for mbti. Clinical psychologists do use personality tests. They use the big 5. Research psychologists almost exclusively use the big 5. You can't publish a paper in a peer review journal using mbti measurements as your source of data. Workplace success, performance, etc. have been found to correlate very well with certain big 5 measures. But not with mbti measures. Mbti functions are just a philosophical construct that is the consequence of faulty logic. They have no meaning whatsoever. Are not related to what the questions in the test are designed to measure. People are encouraged to "explore" the types and decide which one they belong to rather than just relying on the test score. Which is obscene for a psychological test. Imagine if people were encouraged to "explore" the IQ scale for example and decide where they fit, regardless of their actual iq score. MBTI fails on every possible criterion for a good test. It is furthermore based on false dichotomies. It takes data that is distributed on a curve with most people falling around the middle, and rounds it to a 0-1 integer. It is not derived from a modern theory of personality or a thorough search of personality concepts or anything related to brain anatomynor physiology. It is based on an outdated theory of personality from a hundred years ago. I like jung very much and I enjoy reading his work. But I would highly reccomend that people read it as some kind of philosophical or literary work. It is not sience.

[FlutistPride]

I have found that people who say that MBTI is useless do not know what it is about. It is a thought process-based tool first and foremost. All resulting behaviors are secondary.
Want to know about emotional responses? Study temperaments.Want to know about base motivations? Study enneagram.Want a dynamic system about life paths? Study Ten Terrains.Want a comprehensive analysis of your default personas? Study the Arno Profile System.Want to prove that you are superior to others? I cannot help you there.

[jessstuart]

One of the problems with the MBTI tests is that they are largely self assessments. Can you really trust someone to objectively evaluate their own personality? I think the results of these tests say more about the personality type someone sees as most desirable and wishes they were, than objectively measuring which type best describes them. I don't know if you can write questions that will "trick" the person into revealing their personality type without them being aware of what the test's author is attempting to discern.

[wkrapek]

INTJ. Nailed me. Like most INTJ’s I thought I was mentally ill for years. The test even nails the way people *react* to me.

[johnknight]

I've often wanted to write an article about this entitled 'The Baby in the Bathwater'. (If anyone wants to steal that idea and write it instead, go ahead.)
I have my own issues with the Big Five system, and I'm not alone, as it has more recently been found to lack cross-cultural validity, with its measurements only working for major industrialised nations. I also strongly dislike that it appears to favour extroversion, and view introversion in a negative light, and I'm not sure neuroticism should even be a scale, especially when it's plainly obvious which questions will amp up the neuroticism score.
That said, I would never want to get rid of the Big Five test. Many of these tests ask essentially the same questions and use the same sliding scales, so I'd like to make one big test that spits out scores in multiple formats. These tests clearly measure different things, so why not let them compliment each other?

[e.l.]

I'm not even that passionate about the MBTI subject, but after the video by Vox had me waste several minutes of my life with their fallacies (not to mention questionable claims, as you have exposed), I felt inclined to waste some more time writing a point-by-point rundown on their stupidity. Thankfully, you have provided just that, and also a much better use of my time with your video. My mind is at peace again. :)

[siamkarl]

I have been using MBTI for decades in work as well as personally and it's been very helpful indeed. However, one big caveat seems to involve accuracy across cultures, e.g., in some cultures almost everyone tests out to be the same type. I assume this distortion was a function of questions asked, nuanced wording and translation, and a culture's bias toward group-think and group behaviour (much of Asia). However new versions of the test may have solved these issues, I don't know.

[canconfirm]

You've struck the nail on it's head Michael. Props to your research team.

If anyone had doubts about the legitimacy of MBTI, I suggest they glance over Jungian functions.

It's truly unfortunate that a system that's helped so many people rediscover themselves, gets a bad rep in 2016.

[lindateuling]

The Myers Briggs test has its place and I found it to be very useful. As a matter of fact it does help us look at ourselves objectively. It's a good tool for self understanding but it was never intended to be a box that you stick yourself into. Knowing my own personality type has helped me hope with life better and find ways to handle things that fit my personality in my way of doing things.

[Thomasw]

Tom Wilson
infp island "Ourselves" is the operative word in your post. The MBTI provides a reliable epistemological structure for personal development, especially when employed in conjunction with the Keirsey Temperament construct.

The MBTI and Keirsey are complimentary models, the MBTI being a model of differentiation and the Keirsey is a model of integration. This is to say, MBTI takes the functions apart to differentiate their role in creating the personal reality while Keirsey demonstrates how the functions in operation tend to affect our personal unconscious method of acquiring and manipulating data to create information and create the gestalt of our personal realty.

In contrast, the Big 5 model seems to have become a format for acquiring the personality profile preferred by corporate HR, whose primary role is to ensure a compliant and docile work force for the CEO.

In choosing between the MBTI/Keirsey Temperaments and The Big 5, the choice comes down to a decision to Be All You Can Be or to be Dilbert. estp.

[aaroncarsonart]

I have found MTBI to be a very reliable and helpful tool in understanding interpersonal dynamics between my friends, family and myself. It takes some reading and study to understand why each personality type is described as such, though, and how where each person falls on the four spectrums helps to define the whole personality. When I first learned about it, I was quick to dismiss it as another internet personality test until i learned of it's rigorous scientific origins.

I agree that the Vox video's claims were a quite small pot of evidence vs the heaps of study and evidence gathered that is consistently applied to the MTBI to make it more accurate. This one is worth the time to learn about, it's study has enriched my life.