I’m an individual and am deeply suspicious of personality tests like Myers Briggs that place you in type buckets.
However, I saw a post by Prudent Musings (which by the way is an excellent blog) and thought I’d have another go.
The Myers Briggs system classifies people in terms of the following pairs:
- Extroverted-Introverted
- INtuitive-Sensing
- Thinking-Feeling
- Judging-Perceiving
So for example I am an INTP, though this has changed over the years which is interesting.
The thing about being placed in a bucket is that when you read the descriptions of what people in the bucket are like, you realise that you’re not weird, that there are others like you, and discover things about yourself that were perhaps not immediately apparent. So in my case, some of the descriptions from here are very enlightening:
INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to almost anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP’s conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one’s conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.
Thanks for bearing with me, I’m getting to my point. This last type characteristic says much about my perspective on the truth. I have difficulty stating with conviction that I have THE TRUTH, whereas others of you don’t seem to have any difficulty in this matter. I’ve always thought my faith was faulty in some respect since it lacked that 100% conviction. Perhaps, though, I’m just being what God made me to be.
If you fancy doing a test yourself, this one is free, though I’d advise that you read some type descriptions as well since tests are fallible. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to let us know what type you are.
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