Mefites and their MBTIs November 17, 2015 3:12 PM Subscribe

I recently re-took the Myers-Briggs test, that old staple of knowing-thyself-through-answering-questions, and was thinking it might be fun to get some aggregate stats from Mefites. (INFPs, represent!)
If you’re interested and can remember what you got waaaaaay back whenever you last took the MBTI, please put your type into this anonymous Google Form.
If you don’t know what your type is and want to play along, you can take a free variant of the instrument here.
(To be clear, THIS ISN’T SCIENCE, and isn’t meant as a peer pressure thing. This is some fun wasting time by making a graph.)
posted by Going To Maine to MetaFilter-Related at 3:12 PM (297 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite

This sounds like something an extrovert would do
posted by shakespeherian at 3:19 PM on November 17, 2015 [17 favorites]

im like half candor and half dauntless i guess
posted by poffin boffin at 3:19 PM on November 17, 2015 [11 favorites]

Turns out same as Goku.
posted by selfnoise at 3:20 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I always tell people I am an STFU.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:22 PM on November 17, 2015 [30 favorites]

I took the test at your link - it did not take 15 minutes, probably took 5 - and received two types: "ENFP: The Champion" and "ENTP: The Visionary", but they kind of don't sound like me so I wonder if I filled out the various radio button questions accurately. At any rate: fun!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 3:26 PM on November 17, 2015

Every time I take one of these I get something different, and if you actually look at the breakdown I'm only ever like 52% of anything. I've always assumed that the tests are super mega bullshit, actually until I came to metafilter and some people define themselves as suuuuuper [whatever] which I guess means they get consistent results when they take it.

Anyway, as a person who likes looking at silly graphs of things I would like to participate. Can you please add an option for "it's always something different?"
posted by phunniemee at 3:26 PM on November 17, 2015 [10 favorites]

I don't take it very seriously, but I get the same result every time and am solidly in each category.

And sure, when I read the description it sounds like me, but it still feels kinda horoscope-y in that I could probably feel that way about other categories.
posted by thefoxgod at 3:28 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

are you INTJoking?
posted by mullacc at 3:28 PM on November 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I think what you might find out is which type likes to answer surveys.
posted by lollusc at 3:32 PM on November 17, 2015 [15 favorites]

Only one in the first 16 responses is Sensing rather than Intuitive. And nearly half are *NFPs.
I've seen from experience that *NFPs tend to cluster together and I'm willing to bet that the trend holds.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 3:37 PM on November 17, 2015

DIVERGENT
posted by shakespeherian at 3:38 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

We did Myers Briggs at a professional development thing at work a while ago. (So, a roomful of academics). Every single person came out as INTJ or INTP.

The funny thing was the facilitators were contractors from the business world and their plan for the day involved breaking us into mixed groups so we could practice working with people of wildly different types.

Instead my colleagues chose to spend the time presenting arguments for why Myers Briggs was problematic, and pointing out the statistical and logical flaws in the facilitators slides.

The university didn't run that event again.
posted by lollusc at 3:40 PM on November 17, 2015 [128 favorites]

I'm an INTJ, but my sockpuppet is an ENFP and has a much more rockin' social life than I do.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 3:43 PM on November 17, 2015 [16 favorites]

I'm completely an INFP! But I always find MBTIs to be fun to talk about, if for the irony of someone knowing they're an INTJ and still not believing into MBTI. (oh you!!)
posted by yueliang at 3:45 PM on November 17, 2015

I took it in high school for the swim team (?) and, while it seemed sort of surface-y and not all that interesting, I am, in fact, an INTP.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 3:46 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Amused to see my type is Field Marshal and also that I am the only of my kind thus far in the MeFi ranks who has checked in.
posted by bearwife at 3:51 PM on November 17, 2015

DIVERGENT

I'm cool with this as long as I don't have to inject anything into my neck please thanks
posted by phunniemee at 3:51 PM on November 17, 2015

Someone at my (academic) workplace brought up Myers Briggs the other day, and I think they didn't anticipate the flood of responses- exactly the same as lollusc (although I'm not sure we ever discussed what anyone got- we never got any farther than "those inventories are really problematic")

I of course am an INTJ who strongly does not believe in MBTI. And I'm kind of ok with that. Oh, and I swim like one too (I guess? my high school swim team sure didn't make us take the MBTI..)

I don't have a sockpuppet, but if I did, they'd be an ENTJ. Sorry, some things I can't fake.
posted by nat at 3:51 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Similar to edeezy, I'm ***P.
posted by chazlarson at 3:51 PM on November 17, 2015

your form doesn't have a way to specify more than one, but the free test you linked to gave 4 for me (I--J) (incidentally, i think that's fair enough and while i'm happy with the I i wish i could shift a little more towards P and be I---).
posted by andrewcooke at 3:51 PM on November 17, 2015

ENTJ 4 lyfe!
posted by sara is disenchanted at 3:52 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I consistently show up as totally N and P, but flip between E/I and T/F depending on...hmm, I don't know what.
posted by tangerine at 3:53 PM on November 17, 2015

ENTJ 4 lyfe!

Greetings, fellow Fieldmarshal!
posted by bearwife at 3:53 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am very introverted and very intuitive and the other letters are apparently very much up for debate. INFJ doesn't really fit me, but INFP, INTJ and INTP all fall into that horoscope-y "that kinda sounds like me if you squint right and ignore that one bit" realm.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:54 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm also a solo representative of my type. As usual.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:55 PM on November 17, 2015

Previously (sort of)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:01 PM on November 17, 2015

for a bunch of introverts you people sure do post a lot
posted by escabeche at 4:05 PM on November 17, 2015 [40 favorites]

some kind of Barbarian/Cleric combo

pretty sure this means the test just outed you as a powergamer
posted by mstokes650 at 4:09 PM on November 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

"I consistently show up as totally N and P, but flip between E/I and T/F depending on...hmm, I don't know what."

I'm completely in agreement with all the arguments that this personality typing is problematic. In fact, the only one that's much supported by actual science is the Big Five and it's pretty questionable -- I've read some strong, credible criticism of it.

Nevertheless, I've always found MBTI to be interesting in a way that, say, astrology certainly isn't because while the MBTI has many problems, it's not completely random and stupid. I'm an IN[F/T]P, and my results on MBTI tests have been extremely stable over my lifetime -- I'm very solidly an I and N, and consistently though not extremely P. And while as a young adult I usually scored as a T, over the years my scored moved more toward F and these days I'm always right in the middle. Which makes sense because I've cultivated within myself a balance between analytical and emotive patterns of thought. It's much related to how I've cultivated a balance between abstract, structural reasoning and personal, anecdotal reasoning.

But also I tend to find that I usually perceive a noticeable difference, even a conflict, between myself and people who are strongly S or J. Especially J, but also S, and the two together very much so.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:14 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'm always in the middle of a few results so I have to pick the one I feel best describes me. (INTJ). I wish there was some sort of personality level that accounts for when you're smack in the middle of a couple, because that seems like a personality type of it's own right? Like you're balanced between intuitive and sensitive and balanced between feeling and thinking therefore part of your personality is seeing each side of things, right?

Anyway, holla to the introverts!
posted by Crystalinne at 4:16 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Interesting facts about the ISTP:

On personality trait measures, score as Critical, Detached, Guarded, Independent, and Resourceful
Commonly found in populations of male college scholarship athletes
More likely than other types to suffer cardiac problems
Lowest ranked of all types in using social coping resources
One of four types least satisfied with their marriage or intimate relationship
Among types least likely to complete college
Personal values include Autonomy; at work, value Stability, Security, Independence, and Achievement
Commonly found in skilled trades, technical fields, agriculture, law enforcement, and military occupations

posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:17 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

0% surprised that I'm in the ~~majority~~ plurality as an INTJ. Also glad that this thread finally gave me a use for the thing, even if that use is just saying hello to other people on MeFi.
posted by capricorn at 4:19 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

And I just took the test linked in the post and got INP along "Your score was right on the borderline for the Thinking vs. Feeling dimension. We can't say for sure what your style is for this dimension of personality." So, yeah, my score is very stable. I was actually wondering about it with this test just now. But, nope. Same score.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:20 PM on November 17, 2015

No wonder society is falling to pieces. All of the INTJ Masterminds are apparently on MetaFilter.

where most likely they can be found on MeTa arguing about the direction of the site, amirite
posted by barchan at 4:22 PM on November 17, 2015 [10 favorites]

I'm either INFJ, INTJ, ISFJ or ISTJ. I like to solve puzzles, but I'll cry if you cry.
posted by kimberussell at 4:26 PM on November 17, 2015 [13 favorites]

the test says i'm either The Champion or The Healer which i gather is some kind of Barbarian/Cleric combo

You're lucky: I'm just a Bard, (which completely explains my lackluster BAB, HD and spell progression).
posted by mordax at 4:29 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Pretty much always ENFJ, which I guess is fine because I'm a teacher.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:29 PM on November 17, 2015

I'm an ENTJ, which apparently means that I'm "best characterized by [my] charisma, [my] ability to grasp complex situations and to think flexibly and creatively, [my] keen and active intelligence, and [my] overwhelming desire to crush the world beneath [my] boot."

Sounds about right.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:33 PM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'm an INTJ, although at certain periods of my life I tested as ENTJ.

I'm not sure what it means to "not believe in Meyers-Briggs" though. I think it's an interesting tool, although the applications are a bit limited.
posted by Karaage at 4:35 PM on November 17, 2015

which i gather is some kind of Barbarian/Cleric combo

So.. Barberic, then.
posted by curious nu at 4:38 PM on November 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

I am a typical mefite, it turns out.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 4:38 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"some kind of Barbarian/Cleric combo"

The idea of correlating MBTI types with RPG classes is one of those things that people come up with over and over again. I just googled for this, and found a lot of discussion board links, and one interesting blog post.

My first thought was that my RPG tendencies make some sense in light of my MBTI scores. I'm almost always going to choose either a healer or a magic-wielder first. I like helping people when I group. But I don't often group because I'm an introvert.

And it appears I've just decided to spend part of the evening playing GW2.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:44 PM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Why is it that every time I see percentages for this test, INTJ is always ~2% in the population but a huge number of reported results in whatever community is hosting it? I ask, of course, as an INTJ.
posted by Phyltre at 4:44 PM on November 17, 2015 [8 favorites]

Where are some reliable statistics for the score distribution in the general population?
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:45 PM on November 17, 2015

just saw the survey results
INTJ IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE RAREST
::rends garments::

yes i know that means rarest among the general populace, not mefi.

okay now i'm overanalyzing my own comments in ofitself as "too intj" which is exactly an INTJ thing

I'M LOSING IT
posted by Karaage at 4:46 PM on November 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

It gave me 7 possible answers so I'll tell you this much - I'm not the type that chooses between 7 possible answers.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 4:48 PM on November 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

Heres to my INT* swimmers! Rock on!

Although I am also an INTJ and the only part that hasn't become fluid over the years is the J. It also means I am predominantly red on the color one. (Technically red over yellow, but the yellow was kinda lost in a sea of red red red.)
posted by susiswimmer at 4:50 PM on November 17, 2015

literally any test anyone has ever posted or taken on mefi has given the same exact results for every single one of us here and that result is:

nerrrrds
posted by poffin boffin at 4:50 PM on November 17, 2015 [30 favorites]

Darn tootin! Proud of it!
posted by susiswimmer at 4:51 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Strong N, weak E, Strong R, Strong R, Weak R, Strong D, Super-Strong S!
posted by michaelh at 4:51 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Taurus.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:58 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

It gave me 7 possible answers so I'll tell you this much - I'm not the type that chooses between 7 possible answers.

what? how? this is just not possible. surely? it's going to be 2^n where n is the number of undecided letters.
posted by andrewcooke at 4:59 PM on November 17, 2015

After answering the 44 questions, the test thing linked in the first post gave me a list of 16 different 'possible personality types' I might be, which, yeah, seems pretty much spot on.

Large, multitudes, etc.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:00 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

what? how? this is just not possible. surely? it's going to be 2^n where n is the number of undecided letters.

You're right it may just have been 5
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:12 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I managed to get all sixteen, which was unsurprising considering how many answers I had to click right in the middle. None of them seemed particularly opposing in my case.

I think this test does not work for me.
posted by solarion at 5:14 PM on November 17, 2015

Bertram R. Forer (24 October 1914 – 6 April 2000) was an American psychologist best known for describing the Forer effect, sometimes referred to as subjective validation.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:23 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I do sort of like how they publish an archetype associated with each of the 16 results ("INTP is the Architect!"), but I wish they would do additional ones for when you score in the middle of the scale for whatever specific factor, which seems to be a pretty frequent result. Like, how about *NFJ? INT*? They would only need 4 more archetypes; that seems like the kind of thing that a psychology test provider could handle.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 5:26 PM on November 17, 2015

I filled out a survey a little bit ago, then I wanted to see what the results looked like again... But I can't see a way to access the results without taking the survey again! Is there a link I missed or something?
posted by meese at 5:26 PM on November 17, 2015

I'm pretty much always an ENTP, which I think is generally rare (in general and in the Metafilter population).
posted by peacheater at 5:26 PM on November 17, 2015

84 responses so far.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:28 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Surely somebody has analyzed M-B types in relation to social networks?
posted by one_bean at 5:31 PM on November 17, 2015

Also note that there are 16 boxes; if they were exactly equally distributed, only 6.25% of the population would get each result and so they would all seem "rare" if one were inclined to look at it that way.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 5:31 PM on November 17, 2015

One thing I've always wanted to do with this test is to set something up so that people can answer it as their evaluations of other people they know well -- friends and family, I think. Maybe coworkers.

We're not that good at evaluating ourselves about some of these things. It's also true that we're not that good at evaluating other people at some of these things. But I think it would be more meaningful to see both the result when you answer for yourself, and the composite result of other people's view of yourself. At the very least, the differences would be instructive even if the specific reliability of the test is questionable.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:31 PM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

There's always the Johari window, which is a bit vaguer. There's an online tool here, but it would probably be a hilariously bad idea to try it in a venue like Metatalk.
posted by rollick at 5:41 PM on November 17, 2015

the best part of this thread is liz saying she's half candor
posted by shakespeherian at 5:43 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

"Also note that there are 16 boxes; if they were exactly equally distributed, only 6.25% of the population would get each result and so they would all seem "rare" if one were inclined to look at it that way."

I asked earlier about the distribution, but then I followed the Wikipedia link that Going To Maine helpfully included in the post. I didn't check the citation, but I'll assume that it's reliable. Here's a less precise, quick grouping of the results reported there:

2%: INFJ
4%: INTJ ENFJ ENTJ ENTP INTP ESTP INFP ISTP
7%: ESFP ISFP ENFP
10%: ESTJ ESFJ ISFJ ISTJ

Within that list, the types are overall ordered from least frequent to most. ISTJ is an outlier and that grouping is deceptive -- it's really between 11 and 14 percent of the population, so notably more frequent than the rest. And INFJ is notably less frequent than the rest.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:50 PM on November 17, 2015

I find this test perplexing, because it's just completely porous. Whatever I see myself as, is what the results end up showing me. If I rate myself highly on the creative scale, then the test results tell me I'm creative. Same with whether I'm "quiet" or not, organized or not, etc. And it's all with the implicit "compared to other people" but we can never really know other people, so we're just going on a hunch of what we consider ourselves to be. Usually the questions just leave me with a bunch of qualifications and further questions and so I'm never sure that what I'm answering is the right way of looking at things. But it doesn't matter because I'm never surprised, since I say things and then the quiz results agree with how I see myself! (tl;dr: INFJ or INFP)
posted by naju at 5:56 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

"But it doesn't matter because I'm never surprised, since I say things and then the quiz results agree with how I see myself!"

Right. That's why I'd really like to see a version of this oriented around how other people see someone.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:00 PM on November 17, 2015

Yeah, I got Champion and Healer as well, the test couldn't decide whether I was an introvert or an extrovert. Fair enough, I can't either.
posted by drinkyclown at 6:07 PM on November 17, 2015

I don't know how to answer the questions. I'm agreeable by, like, world standards, but hypercritical by midwestern standards. I'm shy on the inside, but people tell me I'm gregarious on the outside. I FEEL like a sensitive flower but people tell me I come off like one tough-ass bitch. I both trust AND question traditional values! SO CONFUSED.

Having to choose between Practical and Intellectual just about shut down my brain.

And after all that, all it told me is that I'm Judgey, and I ALREADY KNEW THAT ABOUT MYSELF. Oh well.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:14 PM on November 17, 2015 [11 favorites]

Well, I'm apparently on the borderline between Extrovert and Introvert, AND between Feeler and Thinker. So, can I make 4 entries to the form?
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:14 PM on November 17, 2015

the best part of this thread is liz saying she's half candor

first of all how dare you
posted by poffin boffin at 6:15 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

i actually read that as half condor and was intrigued

(and actually pondered for a good minute if one would call condors extroverts or introverts)
posted by barchan at 6:28 PM on November 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

I have stolen 0 dollars worth of merchandise from my previous employers, and I would immediately report a coworker who did so!
posted by Hypatia at 6:30 PM on November 17, 2015 [11 favorites]

and actually pondered for a good minute if one would call condors extroverts or introverts

That's such a Condor thing to say!

Raven 4 life, yo!
posted by leotrotsky at 6:44 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty much always an ENTP, which I think is generally rare (in general and in the Metafilter population).

Greetings, fellow visionary! (Although I was always an ENFP when I was younger so the F/P depends on my mood when I'm taking the test)
posted by triggerfinger at 6:49 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Anyway, as a person who likes looking at silly graphs of things I would like to participate. Can you please add an option for "it's always something different?"

Added! Probably too late in the game, but added.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:49 PM on November 17, 2015

Wow. I don't remember the result I used to get (somewhat reliably, too), but I guess things have changed for me. The only solid result I got was extravert, with the rest of them as a tossup. I guess I really can be everything to everyone. Except for quiet and keeping to myself.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:52 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, I’ve swapped out the radio buttons for check boxes, so hopefully that’ll help any other late game contributors who get multiple categories.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:01 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm a Scorpio.

Scorpios don't believe in astrology.
posted by el io at 7:17 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Greg Nog: "i'm either The Champion or The Healer which i gather is some kind of Barbarian/Cleric combo"

Surely Cavalier/Cleric.

I'm I[N/S]T[J/P] Or Mastermind/Architect/inspector/Craftsman. But I don't see the ISTJ as me according to the writeups so that first bit should probably be I[N/S]TP. The rest of them could totally be me.
posted by Mitheral at 7:20 PM on November 17, 2015

I asked earlier about the distribution, but then I followed the Wikipedia link that Going To Maine helpfully included in the post. I didn't check the citation, but I'll assume that it's reliable.

There is also a breakdown of estimates for the US populuation on the Myers-Briggs site. To simplify by omitting the error:

ISFJ | 13.8%
ESFJ | 12.3%
ISTJ | 11.6%
ISFP |  8.8%
ESTJ |  8.7%
ESFP |  8.5%
ENFP |  8.1%
ISTP |  5.4%
INFP |  4.4%
ESTP |  4.3%
INTP |  3.3%
ENTP |  3.2%
ENFJ |  2.5%
INTJ |  2.1%
ENTJ |  1.8%
INFJ |  1.5%

Per Category:

I | 50.7%
E | 49.3%

S | 73.3%
N | 26.7%

F | 59.8%
T | 40.2%

J | 54.1%
P | 45.9%

posted by Going To Maine at 7:22 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Mastermind/Architect/inspector/Craftsman

are you sure you're not a house
posted by barchan at 7:24 PM on November 17, 2015 [31 favorites]

I broke it? The only thing it could decide was that I'm intuitive. Everything else was up for grabs.

So, the options the test suggested that I could pick between include all of the following:
ENFJ
ENFP
ENTJ
ENTP
INFJ
INFP
INTJ
INTP

I'm just going to back away slowly from the survey, I think.
posted by librarylis at 7:29 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Huh. I appear to be the only ESFJ to raise my hand so far. I know this is all horoscope voodoo nonsense, but I will say that I have tested consistently as an ESFJ for at least eight years, across many iterations of the test. So my self concept is stable, at least.
posted by merriment at 7:32 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thread pony request: please give us a link to the survey results. Don't want to have to re-input my type to see.

Thanks! Salutes from
Fieldmarshal bearwife
posted by bearwife at 7:43 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Since we all get fake titles and I didn't get one, I'm promoting myself to Queen. No, Tsarina. No, Empress.

No, wait, I've got it -- I'm promoting myself to Beyoncé. It is now a title. And, like Highlander, than can be only one, so SUCK IT MBTI LOSERS who didn't think of it first!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:48 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Pssst bearwife you can already click the results if you want.

I am another INTJ who isn't entirely sure how useful this test is... but yeah, I've consistently scored as an INTJ on every iteration I've seen since I was about thirteen. (From eleven to thirteen I scored as an INTP. Apparently I got judgier when I hit puberty.)
posted by sciatrix at 8:25 PM on November 17, 2015

I took the test multiple times in my corporate days and vacillated between ENTP and INTP. Also my title is Chief Of Waffles.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:28 PM on November 17, 2015

....I think I actually broke the test. There were three categories where it said "you're right on the border and we can't tell what you are."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 PM on November 17, 2015

I always give up when it makes me choose between things like "factual" and "imaginative." I mean, yes?
posted by wintersweet at 8:36 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I always give up when it makes me choose between things like "factual" and "imaginative." I mean, yes?

For that, I’d put yourself in the middle of the scale. Nothing wrong with the middle.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:42 PM on November 17, 2015

My result, IN something something, whatever, I took it a few hours ago, actually gave my current job as a recommended career. NAILED IT.

In a previous thread we categorized ourselves as donuts; I remain a lone timbit in the wind.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 8:45 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I got E/I N F J/P! That's a new one. I've never scored not a hard I before. (I think I'm less introverted than I believed myself to be from childhood through my early 30s--I suspect I'm a borderline introvert with social anxiety and the "highly sensitive person" thing.) This gives me ENFJ, ENFP, INFJ, and INFP.

ENFJ is "The Teacher." ha.

Anyway, though Myers-Briggs doesn't have much science going for it, it was a MBTI in a book that helped me realize that I'm not comfortable sticking around in jobs that don't reflect a higher cause. That was an important thing for me to understand at that point in my life, regardless of whether it came from an MBTI or a fortune cookie or a Digimon dub, so...I'll always appreciate that.

P. S. Ravenclaw. And my sign? Ophiuchus, which means that instead of someone else making up my horoscope, I get to make it up.
posted by wintersweet at 8:50 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I first had mine done as part of a university class. After we got the results back, my professor looked at my cover sheet, shook her head, and said, "You are going to have a LOT of problems." I asked her what she meant, but she said she didn't have time to discuss it and walked away, tsk'ing and shaking her head.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:56 PM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Heh, I seem to be mellowing out over time: when I first took this test in high school or whatever I scored extreme INTJ, then I moved over to INFJ after college, now this go-round suggests that I see myself as both more extroverted and more sensing than I used to be. But you'll still have to pry that J out of my cold, judgmental hands.
posted by ferret branca at 9:00 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

(INFJ, have gotten the same on retest, no close contests in any category)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:03 PM on November 17, 2015

The thing is, it's not supposed to be a deep evaluation of your secret self. It's a way of categorizing people's tendencies and preferences for making decisions. As far as I've always understood, people's types can change as people's tendencies and preferences change, and those of you who don't have strong preferences and tendencies are generally considered more flexible and adaptable than those of us who are at extreme ends of the spectrum in any/all of the categories.

That said: Thank you! This is fun.
posted by jaguar at 9:04 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh, and consistent INFJ, waaaaaay strong in every category except F, which can flex into T if I'm in situations where I consider feelings secondary to logic (which, for me, is pretty much just office settings).
posted by jaguar at 9:05 PM on November 17, 2015

Thread pony request: please give us a link to the survey results. Don't want to have to re-input my type to see.

I can’t feel how to do this. I turned on the “let people see results” option, but I’ve no idea what to do next. As such, I’ve gone and made an imgur account just for this graph. My data! It leaks.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:39 PM on November 17, 2015

The main way I differentiate S and N in my head is that iNtuitive people like to overthink a plate of beans, so your graph amuses me.
posted by jaguar at 9:49 PM on November 17, 2015

INFP always, always, always.
posted by mochapickle at 9:52 PM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

OK, not a social psychologist, but I thought some of the axes in Myers-Briggs actually did end up correlating with things in more scientifically-accepted personality tests, like the ones designed to measure Big 5/OCEAN traits - it's more just that there's not much support for binning the results into 16 discrete types as opposed to continua, and MB doesn't do as good a job at explaining the variance in personality traits as Big 5. I think.

(high neuroticism in the hoooooooouse)

(ok fine ⁱ/_enfp)
posted by en forme de poire at 10:01 PM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I suspect part of my love of the MBTI comes from my introduction to it pointing out that each aspect was a spectrum, not a binary.
posted by jaguar at 10:04 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Where are my other INFPs?? These other types need hugs and healing too!

I typed as an ENFP, and then Susan Cain had her TED talk and I realized that I was overcoming my natural tendencies. Happy infp forever!
posted by yueliang at 10:05 PM on November 17, 2015

*/*/*/*. I'm anything! I'm everything! I'm nothing?
In other words, I'm totally down for "break down the problematic assumptions", here.
posted by CrystalDave at 10:15 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

MBTI-skeptic INTP here.

But I think it would be more meaningful to see both the result when you answer for yourself, and the composite result of other people's view of yourself.

I've taken a Big 5 test where, for every question, you are asked to answer twice: once about yourself, and once about someone else. So it wasn't comparing "how I think of myself" and "how I think other people think of me", but "how I think of myself" and "how I think of that other person". They said this was motivated by the idea that having another person as a sort of frame of reference helps people think about themselves more accurately.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:19 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'd like this test much more if it addressed context (both across time & situation/life domain). Like "at work, I [ … ]"; "at home, [ ]"; or even "from ages x to x, at school [or even, "in English class, with Ms. Beauregard], I" but that would be a non-Jungian way of looking at things and also a completely different test.

(INTP when a teen, INFP & sometimes ENFP since then. Always on the border for extraversion & introversion [on this and all tests, including psychometrically valid ones], very close to the border on T/F. Usually 100% on N and on P (which I think, as a construct, must line up nicely with low conscientiousness on the Big 5 (& probably ADHD in the DSM).
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:21 PM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

INFPs UNITE!!!!
posted by Ostara at 10:24 PM on November 17, 2015

I took one of these years ago on OKCupid, and it said I'm INTJ.

This test says I could be any of the 8 introverts.
posted by John Cohen at 10:26 PM on November 17, 2015

I'm **FJ, but the ENFJ rang most true.
posted by MadamM at 10:31 PM on November 17, 2015

Considering I've always scored INFP doing these, I guess there's no escape.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:34 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Huh. First year of college I was ENFP. End of college ENTP. Now at 33, with the linked test, I am borderline for each category!! Everything anything nothing!! I have a three year old son and I was talking recently to my sister about how after having a kid I feel more introverted and needing alone time to recover from the busy life of parenting a threenager. Or maybe I just blasted through the test without thoughtfully considering the choices I was making. Huh 'twas more fun than a buzzfeed quiz I guess.
posted by Swisstine at 10:59 PM on November 17, 2015

Yeah, I got borderline everything just like Swisstine. But, I think during college I took a free one and got INTJ. After college I took a paid one (called the Keirsey) and get ISTJ.

I also took the Johnson O'Connor and feels that's more accurate.
posted by FJT at 11:09 PM on November 17, 2015

INFP here! I used to be super into MBTI, but my new obsession is the Enneagram (I'm a 4) - can we poll that one next?
posted by naoko at 11:27 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

INFP checking in! I've been one my whole life, and I'm kind of an off the charts N, which means me and paperwork is a BLAST. I was raised with INTJs, which for an F is kind of it's own punishment (I'm a 4 Enneagram too, I think. SOmething something dramatic something something).
posted by Deoridhe at 11:43 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

A recent infographic from Career Assessment Site showed that the size of your salary might have a lot to do with your personality type. In terms of household income, ENTJs came out on top, while INFPs came in dead last

Hah! Suck it, law of averages! I am an INFP making an excellent living doing an INTJ job that is killing me from the inside, so who's laughing now!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:50 PM on November 17, 2015 [13 favorites]

In my experience, INs tend to cluster with their similar types which can lead to massively INTJ and INFP enclaves. And the J/P doesn't refer to judginess, but rather how attached you are to ending projects. If you like things wrapped up in a neat bow - J. If you like to have tons of things open at the same time (why no I'm not RPing, writing notes for work, halfway through a blog post, watching a new show, and typing here - why do you ask?) then you're a P. Blame Jung - he came up with the ideas (Though Myers and Briggs-Myers added J/P in based on some of his later writings).
posted by Deoridhe at 11:54 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

ENTJs came out on top, while INFPs came in dead last

So... I need an ENTJ sugar daddy, is what you're saying?
posted by Deoridhe at 11:57 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thanks, Going To Maine, I find these tests both fascinating and puzzling, and am enjoying reading people's thoughts and results here.

I always get either an INFJ or INFP result when taking this test, though I don't find these results fully compatible with my self-analysis. But this, for INFP is mostly true: "They are flexible and accommodating, and can often see many points of view." (am flexible and accommodating except when I'm 100% absolutely not; do nearly always see many points of view.)

From the "Interesting facts about the INFP" about half are not at all true of me:

Second highest of all types to report marital dissatisfaction
Among most likely to have suicidal thoughts in college
Tend to be more successful than the average in learning a foreign language
Among types most likely to be dissatisfied with their work

from INFJ, not true:

On personality trait scales, scored as ... Submissive ...
Among most likely to stay in college
Most likely of all types to cope with stress by seeing a therapist
Highest of all types in marital dissatisfaction
Personal values include Spirituality ...
Commonly found in careers in religion ...

Of all the types, though, these two do seem to come the closest, though there are some missing apposing and opposing elements that don't show up, and which are obvious to me when answering the questions. It's not infrequent that I'm two or more contradictory things at once (which I imagine is true of most of us), but the way that I will select to negotiate a situation points more strongly toward certain characteristics. My test values tend to reflect this, rarely showing as strong. I have only my INFJ percentages from an old email (and too lazy to take the test again to find out what I am today):

You have moderate preference of Introversion over Extraversion (33%)
You have moderate preference of Intuition over Sensing (38%)
You have slight preference of Feeling over Thinking (12%)
You have slight preference of Judging over Perceiving (11%)

So! I'm a WWINFJAOP, WishyWashyIntrovertedIntuitiveFeelingJudgingAndOrPerceiving type person.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:20 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wow. I'm a ***P. I've mostly been I*** in the past, but I always feel like the choices in a lot of these tests give me fits of "Those aren't opposites!"
Some forms of the test have "Would you rather" or "Do you usually" type questions with two choices, and I usually feel like I need to take a fifty-question test just to get the answer to each of those questions.
I only have immediate, obvious responses to about ten percent of the questions.
I think I must be True Neutral or something.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:27 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

***J here.

I've always been at least an "I"*** in the past though (I clearly need alone-time to rest and re-energise following a social event). Reading the wholistic descriptions, the INTJ fits me the best.

I have a tendency to rarely select the "Never" or "Always" side of survey scales, so that must be why I end up an amorphous blob of (mostly) nothing? On the other hand, I fear that maybe that is, indeed, what I am.
posted by Halo in reverse at 1:39 AM on November 18, 2015

INFPs came in dead last

Yeah… if we say this test speaks to something, which maybe it could, for some, I think that could have to do low J-ness/stick-to-it-iveness/maybe conscientiousness. Also I-ness. Both of those are liabilities in the working world, any world that cares about metrics and outcomes. (There's also idealism, resistance to authority and hoop-jumping [or inability to conform], interest in the arts; and lack of interest in money in the way :/)

People who feel like they're solid INFPs (or who might be described that way by others) would benefit from learning to be more J- and E-like, imo. (This is entirely, entirely projection, speaking as a sometime INFP. I, at least, really need to GTD, more than anything.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:55 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I took it in high school for the swim team (?) and, while it seemed sort of surface-y and not all that interesting, I am, in fact, an INTP.

They probably just wanted to make sure you weren't a SINK.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:08 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

This test says I could be any of the 8 introverts.

You must defeat the Eight Introverts to recover the crystals and restore order to the universe. This is an especially difficult task because they dislike dungeons and often stay home from epic battles. They prefer small, intimate battles with one or two warriors they know well.
posted by Metroid Baby at 3:31 AM on November 18, 2015 [26 favorites]

This one has me split between ENFP and ESFP, but I realized when taking the free MBTI at the link that my answers differ depending on whether I am thinking of how I am in work situations and how I am in my outside life. Like, at work I really prefer schedules and can be almost rigid about them, but at home, I'm very go-with-the-flow. Also, I am very outgoing and can talk with just about anyone, and am kind of revved up if I do something social in the evening, but I almost always need to run off afterwards or in the middle of things (conferences, all-day meetings) to decompress.
posted by Stewriffic at 4:01 AM on November 18, 2015

INFP here, well confirmed after many years, although as Cat Power sang: Backhand, role reversal

I can role-reverse but it always comes back to INFP.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:28 AM on November 18, 2015

I was INTP 5 years ago in college, with a high bias on I/N. Now I'm I(N/S)FP. I think MeFi contributed to a lot of changes.

I've been playing bards/healers since before this change, so it seems games are more perceptive.
posted by halifix at 4:41 AM on November 18, 2015

I liked how at the end it gave me a huge list of possibilities, and just suggested that I choose the one that seemed right.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:55 AM on November 18, 2015

I have always scored INTP or INTJ. I'm probably split between P/J depending on the day. (I marked INTP for today). Not surprised that there's a a fair amount of MeFis identifying as either.
posted by typecloud at 6:16 AM on November 18, 2015

After answering the 44 questions, the test thing linked in the first post gave me a list of 16 different 'possible personality types' I might be ...

You, too? I chose ROFL. I'm also a half-elven bard and a Samantha.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:27 AM on November 18, 2015

It really baffles me that Metafilter will gleefully and frequently gloat over how unscientific, stupid, horoscopy, not-real etc. the MBTI is, but will just as gleefully hop on board for things like misophonia that are not accepted in the DSM, have a handful of papers, and is still very much in process of being experimentally measured to determine whether it's part of a spectrum, a diagnosis unto itself, or just a sensitivity some people have more than others.

I'm not here to say that either one is real or not real, just that they exist in the same spectrum of "something not fully scientifically validated" and yet one is so thoroughly derided and one so thoroughly accepted.
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:40 AM on November 18, 2015

In conclusion, metafilter is a land of contrast.
posted by phunniemee at 6:46 AM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]

Mastermind here. In college I took the test and was an ENTJ, but ever since then, I'm pretty consistently an INTJ.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:07 AM on November 18, 2015

I'm whatever letters makes me glad I have never had to do this for a job or college course. Thankfully my swim team was just about swimming.

Anyway, I took the test because I like charts and graphs. I'm solidly INTP. I'll enter the results into the Google Form when I'm not at work.

To be clear, THIS ISN’T SCIENCE

After taking this it's clearly not the kind of science I learned or do at least, so it was funny to me that the title of the free test you linked to is "Free, Scientific Personality Test of Briggs Myers' 16 Types" They lost me somewhere after the word free. Maybe Scientific means science-y like lemon-y scent which contains no actual lemon.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 7:07 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Generally have received INTJ in the past & that's what I indicated on the survey, but the free test you linked to gave me 4 as well (I-T-). I'm not really surprised though; it's been a long time since I've taken the test & I was thinking that it was possible that I've changed.
For me, I think it's a fairly accurate reflection, even though it is horoscope-y.
posted by Laura in Canada at 7:11 AM on November 18, 2015

I'm definitely E**J. Probably ES*J. After that I either think about feeling or feel like thinking.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:17 AM on November 18, 2015

House Baratheon!
posted by bgal81 at 7:17 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm okay with the basic idea but I'm not sure why this old woman is making me put my hand in a box.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:19 AM on November 18, 2015 [17 favorites]

I'm a hardcore, take a beat, QRTZ. Take that all you EJ** whatevers!
posted by sammyo at 7:35 AM on November 18, 2015

INFP here! I used to be super into MBTI, but my new obsession is the Enneagram (I'm a 4) - can we poll that one next?

INFP
Enneagram 4 with a strong 5 wing
posted by belladonna at 7:58 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place.

Man, maybe this is just the absolute shitty last three years talking, but this might be one of those reasons why I used to fit much, much more strongly into this category than I do now. As I've gotten older, I've come to understand that nothing I do is really going to 'fix' the world, and that has definitely changed the answers I'd have given when I was younger.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:09 AM on November 18, 2015

ENFP! a.k.a. everybody hates us because we're the archetype of the Obnoxious Extrovert.
posted by divabat at 8:12 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm okay with the basic idea but I'm not sure why this old woman is making me put my hand in a box.

I appear to now be IXXX. So I am an Ixxxian. Which makes sense, as I do tend to like gadgets.

All the "WE CAN'T TELL WHAT YOU ARE" results are due to repeatedly looking at paired descriptors and immediately thinking, THESE AREN'T OPPOSED THINGS. "compassionate" vs "competent"? That's not an axis, that's just two things! Over and over again, so much more down the middle than I put in decades past.

I've told this story before, and will repeat it because I love it, and hope to have it one of the things that floats through my final moments on a peaceful deathbed n decades from now, and puts a peaceful content smile on my face over. We had to take a workplace softskills mandated kind of stripped-down Myers-Briggs that dropped a couple of the axes, lean and mean and repurposed to get dimwitted business deciders to pay for it again basically. Everyone goes round the circle of seating to reveal their results, and I just happen to be the last one up by random chance. So there's a dozen odd "I lean to Thinking" and "I seem to be the exception, leaning to Feeling" and so forth; I'd buried the needle on that hokum's particular T/F axis' T side, the chirpy perky HR/teacher gets to me. I look her calmly right in the eyes, a personal triumph of expressionless poker face during, and say "It says here that I'm 'dead inside.'" I will swear on my dying day that she got the Windows spinning-hourglass icon in her pupils, utterly frozen in THIS IS TOTALLY OFF THE SCRIPT I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO deer-in-headlights, starting to stagger through a "no no! what these represent are..." and then very sheepish visible recognition that I wasn't serious just as the room roared in laughter.
posted by Drastic at 8:18 AM on November 18, 2015 [12 favorites]

I always liked the introvert-extrovert / labile-stable chart from Red Mars.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:52 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

That compassionate/competent axis bugged me too. So anyone with compassion is inept? Did a Randian write this damn thing?

I get a different score every time, and today I'm right down the middle in all categories. Lizard people represent!
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:07 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

INTP. Never J. Judging makes me nervous. What if I'm...wrong?

I am apparently too old to be an Indigo Child .
posted by emjaybee at 9:19 AM on November 18, 2015

... an Indigo Child.

"If you possess 14 or more of these traits you are ~~an indigo~~ probably in rehab."

posted by octobersurprise at 9:58 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love this stuff. I don't even care how unscientific it is - these tests are just neat heuristics, not ultimate human categories. I've typed consistently as an INTP since I was in high school. It meant a lot to me for a little while, as it helped me make sense of some of the friction I've had interacting with people of different types. These days I only think about it when I meet strong S's and J's and have to remind myself that their way of seeing things is just as valid as mine.

The enneagram stuff is much more interesting to me these days, actually - I was a 5w4 in my adolescence and twenties, but I seem to have settled down as a solid 9w1 in my thirties. A friend got into the enneagram stuff for awhile, and he told me that the enneagram, at least, isn't really intended to make a lot of sense until your ~early 30s, as everyone is changing so quickly until then. The other interesting comment he made is that the MBTI is strictly intended to tell you about the way you process things, whereas the enneagram is more oriented towards your motivations and shortcomings.
posted by dialetheia at 10:01 AM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]

I always liked the introvert-extrovert / labile-stable chart from Red Mars.

Me too! It was broad enough it covered almost everyone but still distilled out the essential traits. . . but in a very neutral way that didn't make characteristics strengths or weaknesses, one of the reasons why tests like the MBTI seem so horoscopy. I often wonder if Robinson came up with that chart before he wrote the book and based each character's POV off it.

For those of you curious about it, an explanation and chart here.

(My favorite part of that whole sequence was when Duval realized that essentially he had reinvented the humors, because it was such an amusing reminder about how often in science the essentials have already been described and we spend a lot of time reinventing things.)
posted by barchan at 10:12 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Let me tell you about my mother...
posted by ennui.bz at 10:22 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I can tell people are judgmental just by looking at them.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:40 AM on November 18, 2015 [8 favorites]

Nefarious with Egg rising.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:43 AM on November 18, 2015

It meant a lot to me for a little while, as it helped me make sense of some of the friction I've had interacting with people of different types. These days I only think about it when I meet strong S's and J's and have to remind myself that their way of seeing things is just as valid as mine.

This post was actually helpful in making sense of my day yesterday, because I spent the entire workday internally yelling at my coworkers, "OMG JUST MAKE A FUCKING DECISION ALREADY! I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT IT IS! CHOOSE!"
posted by jaguar at 10:48 AM on November 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

ESnn

Per usual, I do not think enough, feel strongly, judge reliably, or perceive a difference in the last two letters. The first two are pretty reliable though.
posted by maryr at 10:57 AM on November 18, 2015

This post was actually helpful in making sense of my day yesterday, because I spent the entire workday internally yelling at my coworkers, "OMG JUST MAKE A FUCKING DECISION ALREADY! I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT IT IS! CHOOSE!"

Ha :) Ah, getting along at work. I had one coworker who was distressed unless she/we pinned down, confirmed, and recapped every detail of every plan and project. Boss and I were more gisty & found that back-and-forth mildly frustrating. Everyone else sort of just checked out for those discussions.

That P/J distinction is a bit of a mess, imo, because it does seem to touch on decision-making, but also just being untidy and crap at housework. (Like yes, the P force, for whatever it's worth, is strong in me, but my hesitation is mostly constrained to major life decisions; pretty good about settling on home decor and lunch. I think that's something else [the first]. Messy, yes, until I got myself kitted out with decent storage and made it a mission not to be.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:10 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

You must defeat the Eight Introverts to recover the crystals and restore order to the universe. This is an especially difficult task because they dislike dungeons and often stay home from epic battles. They prefer small, intimate battles with one or two warriors they know well.

At the end of the battle an Extrovert Judge is going to come by and take credit for restoring the Millenial Crystal though, so you really might as well not bother.
posted by maryr at 11:38 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

"so as the yellow thinker here, how would you define your thought process"

"I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away."
posted by octobersurprise at 12:18 PM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]

“So as the yellow thinker here, how would you define your thought process?”

Cowardice?
posted by Going To Maine at 12:25 PM on November 18, 2015

Yellow thinkers don't quite understand 'leg day'.
posted by maryr at 12:26 PM on November 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

you can take a free variant of the instrument here.

Hah, that was a new one. On EVERY SINGLE dimension it said, "your score was right on the borderline" and then listed both options.

Then at the end it listed literally every one of the sixteen types as "my possible personality types".

OK, then . . .
posted by flug at 12:36 PM on November 18, 2015

Yeah me too, this test had no idea what to do with me. I usually get INTP or J but this one thinks I could be a feeling extrovert. Which is also accurate. It's all accurate. I'm all of these things, all of the time. Except, apparently, for sensing. That's the one thing I can be relied on not to do.

Which reminds me was anyone else always really confused by the distinction between "sensing" and "intuition" because those words were always used as homonyms? I would always think of the one person I ever heard use the word "sensing" and it was Deanna Troi in the context of seeming to intuit someone else's feelings. It wasn't until very recently that I realized it refers to actually using your literal senses to get information. Which is what she was doing.
posted by bleep at 12:46 PM on November 18, 2015

Greg Nog: "and like the sixty people in the class more or less all broke down evenly by 33% each into red or blue or green and i was the only yellow"

I worked with a guy who was a facilitator for this test in a prior job, and whenever I said anything, he'd nod sagely and say, "That's a very Yellow thing to say," or "That's how I'd expect a Blue to approach it."

IT WAS NEVER THE SAME COLOR TWICE IN A ROW AND I DON'T KNOW IF HE WAS FUCKING WITH ME.

I think he was serious. But I couldn't tell.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:47 PM on November 18, 2015 [10 favorites]

It really baffles me that Metafilter will gleefully and frequently gloat over how unscientific, stupid, horoscopy, not-real etc. the MBTI is, but will just as gleefully hop on board for things like misophonia that are not accepted in the DSM,

yea, it's almost like we are a whole bunch of different people with varying opinions or something.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:50 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do things taste salty to you?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:06 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, that linked free version told me I was borderline S/N, which... no.

I like the four-question MBTI.
posted by jaguar at 1:17 PM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

I took the official MBTI for Kids(TM) when I was 10 or 11 and tested as a ESFP in a room full of INFPs....

Just ran through the free link and I'm **F*.

I'm just going to keep telling people I'm a Ravenpuff.
posted by invokeuse at 1:21 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like the four-question MBTI.

Ok, that one gave me ISFP, also known as "the Michael Jackson." It may not be accurate, but it's good to be the King of Pop. Tito! Bring me a tissue!
posted by octobersurprise at 1:24 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love it - even the 4-question version jaguar linked to claims I'm INTP, just like all the other half-dozen times I've fiddled with some version of the test. I understand MBTI is problematic; but hey, at least I'm consistent...
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:25 PM on November 18, 2015

Even on the 4 question test I can't quite nail down J/P, even though I'd like it settled. SO.
posted by maryr at 1:47 PM on November 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

[E/I]NTP. Since I was very young.

I like some people very much but most people very little, and ideas should be the center of attention rather than people
posted by a halcyon day at 1:47 PM on November 18, 2015

I dont know about this being scientific, but for me it has been consistent and identifiable.

Also I am not sure what a "scientific" personality test would look like ... Would it have scores? would it use more numbers? would it ask for confirmation from your spouse/friends/neighbours? Would it use my tax records? Would it use my criminal records?

Before we call a test scientific or non-scientific, can we figure out what IS a scientific personality test?
posted by TheLittlePrince at 1:50 PM on November 18, 2015

Oh hey! I used to be a I!N(ish)FP, but it looks like I've moved along the continuum to I!!!**J. INFPs, sorry I can't represent with you. Also I put the wrong thing in the form yesterday.
posted by moira at 1:52 PM on November 18, 2015

Before we call a test scientific or non-scientific, can we figure out what IS a scientific personality test?

"That was Tom Cruise, the actor."

"They said he was some kind of scientist."
posted by Sys Rq at 1:55 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Heh, yep. Even in the 4 question test, I'm an ESFJ. Fixed self concept is fixed.
posted by merriment at 2:01 PM on November 18, 2015

I was thinking there is definitely room for something like Myers-Briggs that had more room for nuance than just choosing on a scale of 1 to 5. Maybe if instead of short questions they gave you more context of the situation. .... Insert Blade Runner joke here. Okay, fine. But still, all of my answers can change based on context.
posted by bleep at 2:03 PM on November 18, 2015

I don’t know about this being scientific, but for me it has been consistent and identifiable.

I mostly put in the “not scientific” thing to keep folks from looking at the test and thinking it was laying some sort of absolute commands about the way they had to be. I was trying to lower the stakes. I think that “consistent” is maybe the best you can do for a good survey classification instrument.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:04 PM on November 18, 2015

**TP. Forever and always. And I write software for a living.
posted by fedward at 2:09 PM on November 18, 2015

>It really baffles me that Metafilter will gleefully and frequently gloat over how unscientific, stupid, horoscopy, not-real etc. the MBTI is, but will just as gleefully hop on board for things like misophonia that are not accepted in the DSM, have a handful of papers, and is still very much in process of being experimentally measured to determine whether it's part of a spectrum, a diagnosis unto itself, or just a sensitivity some people have more than others.

I'm not here to say that either one is real or not real, just that they exist in the same spectrum of "something not fully scientifically validated" and yet one is so thoroughly derided and one so thoroughly accepted.

I started to write a long comment pointing out all the ways in which I disagree with the premises of this comment, but I realized I was getting too worked up, so I took the dog for a walk, deleted what I'd written, and now all I'm going to say is this:

As a general thing, maybe think twice before you come into a lighthearted MeTa and drag in something that is completely unrelated, especially when that something is a topic which may personally affect other mefites. It might seem like no big deal to you, and I don't think this comment was necessarily written in bad faith, but as someone who does have extreme and very unpleasant reactions to certain sounds, in my personal experience, misophonia is not remotely "universally accepted." In fact, most people seem to think that I'm crazy or just outright lying when I say that the sound of styrofoam makes me feel like someone is stabbing me in the ear drums.

So yeah, the acceptance or nonacceptance of misophonia is a bit of sore spot for me, and seeing it get dragged in to this conversation soured me a little bit on this thread, which is too bad, since I came here really excited to chat about my Myers Brigg type with other mefites.
posted by litera scripta manet at 2:15 PM on November 18, 2015

Even on the 4 question test I can't quite nail down J/P

Well, that's to be expected. JP is pretty hard to get to from Somerville. I recommend switching trains downtown rather than trying to get to Sullivan Square.
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:47 PM on November 18, 2015 [6 favorites]

Okay, I went and read the other feel good MeTas and am in a much better mood now so...

I've taken more of these tests over the years than I could count, but most of the time I get INTJ. I think I've always gotten T and the J, although I'm closer to the middle of the spectrum on the I/E and S/N parts of the test, which was confirmed when I just took the test linked in the main post. According to that I'm a **TJ.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:03 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Here's a graph of the results as of about three hours ago when there were 274 responses, comparing the US distribution with MeFi's. As you can see, the biggest differences are that MeFi has far more INs and far fewer ESs compared to the US. The single biggest divergences are MeFi's very few ESFJs, where it's the second largest type in the US; and MeFI's many INTJs, where it's the third smallest type in the US.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:50 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

1. I saw someone quote a tweet a couple days ago that said "Everything I know about introverts I learned from introverts telling me what introverts are like."

2. A coworker was telling me that she'd recently taken the MBTI for the first time (and had never heard of it previously). Before she could finish I raised my hand and said "Yep, INTJ here." She exclaimed "Me too!" and went on to ask me if I knew that INTJs only make up 3% of the population. I was about to argue with her because it seems like pretty much everyone I know is an INTJ and then I went "Oh wait -- Metafilter."
posted by mudpuppie at 4:11 PM on November 18, 2015 [5 favorites]

Apparently I'm right on the edge for everything... I have 16 possible personality types.

I am legion.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:18 PM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Usually 100% on N and on P (which I think, as a construct, must line up nicely with low conscientiousness on the Big 5...)

Twinsiiiiiiies. I think N (vs. S) correlates with Openness as well.
posted by en forme de poire at 4:19 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got all sixteen on the first try. I win.
posted by effbot at 4:56 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

New graph
posted by Going To Maine at 6:14 PM on November 18, 2015

Actually, that graph omits the “?" column, which is a big deal. Use this slightly more recent one instead.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:27 PM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

I took the gigantic, hundreds of questions official Myers-Briggs test several years ago and come out INFP. I used to show up more as INTJ in the workplace. I especially find it interesting that in the DISC personality pattern I invariably show up as high D.
posted by Altomentis at 6:53 PM on November 18, 2015

That graph is like, "Here is why if you consider yourself an 'average' American citizen, you might find MetaFilter to be a confusing place."
posted by jaguar at 7:19 PM on November 18, 2015 [7 favorites]

I hadn't actually answered your survey before, but I went ahead and answered with the ? column. But that isn't really accurate for me, since I know the TP part has been very consistent, it's just the whole E/I N/S thing where the questions always seem like they're not even two ends of the same scale. Supportive vs logical? Introspective vs talkative? Might as well ask things like Golf _ _ _ _ _ Chocolate and Farce _ _ _ _ _ Math.
posted by fedward at 7:21 PM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Chocolate. Math. I mean, duh.

Yeah, another INTJ. So, so, so obviously, too.
posted by rokusan at 8:28 PM on November 18, 2015

I first had mine done as part of a university class.

Yeah we did the test in one of my first MBA classes.

When the prof asked us to say which type we got, I said, "The BEST type."

He confirmed, "ENTJ?" Because of course an ENTJ would say that. ;)
posted by Jacqueline at 9:05 PM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Having taken this many times, I reliably get INFP. Though I think once 12 or 13 years ago I got INTP.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:18 PM on November 18, 2015

The fun test I sort of like is the Luscher colour test (link from, I gather, 1998 or so). I think it was intended to be a test of personality; not sure about that (at all), but it's neat as a kind of mood ring. It's been weirdly on most times I've taken it. It shouldn't be, it's loaded up with odd assumptions. Forer effect, probably, or maybe a way of focusing attention on an itch you've been ignoring, same way that a horoscope your eye falls upon (because the paper on the subway's just open at that page, all right) might accidentally capture something relevant.
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:24 PM on November 18, 2015

so what are some good interventions to increase your Conscientiousness

asking for a friend

something like this, for Openness, would be ideal
posted by en forme de poire at 12:26 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

when is the part going to happen when everyone affixes their MBTI to their profiles and it becomes MeFiCupid?

also why are there so many INTJs AND INFPs???? I want to knoooow
posted by yueliang at 1:01 AM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

INFP/J here, the last few times I did the test I always got INFP. The J side is coming out more lately because work/parenthood. INFPs are supposedly quite rare so it's interesting (although not really surprising) to see so many on MeFi.

Interestingly my wife is an ESTJ, my exact opposite, but we get along with each other really well. This makes me not put too much value in these personality categorizations.
posted by destrius at 1:23 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

The last few times I've taken free versions of the test I end up too borderline to make an assessment. That should be a type. (Maybe an IMWW - I Am Wishy-Washy.)

The fun test I sort of like is the Luscher colour test

It's my understanding that this is a legitimate diagnostic tool? I had the book decades ago, and it came with a set of cards with very specific colors, and in the introduction it clearly states that it shouldn't be used as a parlor game. So of course, I used it as a parlor game at a little gathering, and it was awful. The test reveals negative thought processes and behaviors and everyone at my gathering felt pretty bad about themselves and everyone else. I think we only got through two people before everyone decided it was a bad idea.

(If I recall, this deals with current issues the person is having and is not an overall assessment, which I guess explains why the colors you choose in the moment can (and will) vary and still be revealing. Anyway, we all learned things we didn't really want to know, and I would approach this test with a bit of caution. I'm also not sure if it can be that accurate since you can't control for the colors displayed on any given monitor.The book is (or was) out of print and I ended up selling it on eBay for a decent amount. Good riddance!
posted by Room 641-A at 2:35 AM on November 19, 2015

"I'll tell you what he said: He asked me to forcibly insert the Lifeline Exercise Card into my anus!"
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:47 AM on November 19, 2015

So based on the linked test and blog post I am a four way multiclassed Paladin/Artificer/Druid/Mage Which I guess is some kind of wizard, leaning towards nature magic who fights for justice using a home made suit of armour?

(So *N*P, I don't know how to answer on the google docs)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:23 AM on November 19, 2015

so what are some good interventions to increase your Conscientiousness

asking for a friend

Aw, ha :) Wish I could tell you, wouldn't I like to know :/ If I figure it out, will pass it on, for sure :)

something like this, for Openness, would be ideal

Oh hey, that's interesting! Agreed. Unfortunately, I think the pharm solutions are in the other direction. It's worth trying if it's bad enough, though, imo (legally & after an assessment indicating that's a medically necessary treatment, of course). I have heart palpitations, so it's not a great option for me :/
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:21 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Took the test, I got all 16 types. Years ago I veered into ENTP and INTJ.
posted by jadepearl at 5:32 AM on November 19, 2015

It's my understanding that this is a legitimate diagnostic tool?

It was (might still be in some places? But same with the Rorschach, and I don't know who can be wholly confident in that approach). It's not been supported, or hasn't been since the 80s or so, afaik. I think the idea that there are universal and constrained subjective responses to particular colours that reflect stable personality traits or dimensions can't be but questionable, way too much room for various cultural and individual differences to influence things.

It is really neat, though, has been fairly right on for me, as I said. I wouldn't do it at a party, but I haven't found it a negative experience at all, more sort of helpful.
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:35 AM on November 19, 2015

Nobody serious buys it, no.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:38 AM on November 19, 2015

Yeah, it's more fun. (If you like that kind of fun.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:42 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just to get back to the “this isn’t science” tip…

That graph is like, “Here is why if you consider yourself an ‘average’ American citizen, you might find ~~MetaFilter~~ this MetaTalk thread to be a confusing place.”
posted by Going To Maine at 6:17 AM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

That graph is like, “Here is why if you consider yourself an ‘average’ American citizen, you might find MetaFilter this MetaTalk thread to be a confusing place.”

Also yes. I guess I was thinking of AskMe, and how answers tend to skew for human relations questions.

(Also what's the html for crossing out? I thought it was "strikethrough" but that's not showing up in preview.)
posted by jaguar at 6:44 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's just <s>.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's just <s>.

Wait, what?!

I've always written strike!

~~son. of. a. bitch.~~

SO MANY WASTED KEYSTROKES
posted by phunniemee at 6:53 AM on November 19, 2015 [8 favorites]

INFJ or INFP or ISFJ or ISFP

Which explains a lot...
posted by Thorzdad at 6:56 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

(Also what's the html for crossing out? I thought it was "strikethrough" but that's not showing up in preview.)

If you install Markdown for MeFi, you can also wrap your text in a double-tilde (~~)
posted by Going To Maine at 7:02 AM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

~~Thanks, all!~~
posted by jaguar at 7:12 AM on November 19, 2015

I am of the type that these kinds of tests (enneagram, DISC, etc.) are utter catnip to me. E (every so often and with no discernible pattern, I) NTP.
posted by skye.dancer at 9:14 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

For a while there, all the managers in my division here at Saltmine U were regularly given a battery of personality tests by HR's training department. I revealed myself to be a yellow director INTJ artist. Considering I'm an art director, that's pretty… uh… predictable.
posted by culfinglin at 10:28 AM on November 19, 2015

Did everyone else get 8 possibilities when they did this thing on the linked website?
posted by Hoopo at 11:24 AM on November 19, 2015

actually, that's response if you're MEEE - the personality type that doesn't bother to read the thread before asking questions. it's rare in the general population, but incredibly common here on mefi for some reason.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:44 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

ENFJ
ENFP
ENTJ
ENTP
INFJ
INFP
INTJ
INTP
E/INF/TJ/P?
My friend asked me to take another version of this just a few days ago, but that test was very click-baity with cool graphical representations and automatically narrowed the results, picking the best fit out of all the possibilities. I was INTP on that.
posted by carsonb at 11:59 AM on November 19, 2015

I've actually not seen very many versions of the MBTI that bother to refuse to pick a type when the score straddles between them -- I almost always score right in the middle of T/F but often a tick to one side or the other and almost always the test will just report the result as being which side of the line it was on. Well, when they report the numbers at all. So a lot of the people getting these intermediate results may be seeing that for the first time, even if they've pretty much scored that way on past MBTIs they've taken.

I think it's good that this test is reporting the results this way because one of the big ways that the MBTI usually fails in its sixteen personality types is that it doesn't account for the intermediate results and its archetypes are really assuming that everyone pretty much conforms to the archetypes. For those of us who score consistently at an extreme on one or more of the axes, that part or parts of the result is probably pretty accurate. But a lot of people are in the middle and/or their results on one or more axes changes over time or situationally. In those cases, the assigned one of the sixteen archetypes is not going to be that accurate. Reporting the intermediate results doesn't wholly alleviate these problems, but it does improve the situation.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:11 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

The ES**'s are even more under-represented on MeFi than it would appear because I'm 4 of them. (Since the test couldn't decide, I chose all 4 checkboxes.)
posted by maryr at 1:06 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've never scored as anything else than an INFP before. Now, for the first time, the test was undecided between INFP and INFJ - I guess all these productivity apps on my phone are finally paying off!
posted by Skybly at 1:23 PM on November 19, 2015

actually, that's response if you're MEEE - the personality type that doesn't bother to read the thread before asking questions

ugh. Fucking MeTa is the worst.
posted by Hoopo at 1:54 PM on November 19, 2015

Ivan Fyodorovich: "But a lot of people are in the middle and/or their results on one or more axes changes over time or situationally. In those cases, the assigned one of the sixteen archetypes is not going to be that accurate. Reporting the intermediate results doesn't wholly alleviate these problems, but it does improve the situation."

These test have always seemed like personality pigeonhole roulette to me. I never consistently get the same four letter code. None of the descriptions sound even vaguely close. This test gave probably the most accurate (or at least honest) answer yet:

???P
posted by double block and bleed at 4:32 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Obligatory Jungian noodling time - the basis of the Myers-Briggs inventory is the theories of Carl Jung, who was a student of Freud. He and Freud fell out over the essential nature of humans; Freud thought we were all masses of competing drives, and our best bet was to settle into a comfortable neuroticism. Jung believed that people were connected to each other, drew from a common well of images, and ultimately needed to individuate ourselves into a full-formed, functional person through identifying our essential nature and then learning to accept the things we didn't like about ourselves (commonly thought of as "the shadow").

Jung believed that there was thesis (what we wanted) and antithesis (what we did not want) and the solution was to try to know each as deeply as one could while one waited for a solution to emerge from our unconscious - something he called a synthesis (well, not really because he spoke German and those words aren't German, but close enough for the moment). As such, he's not really a fan of extremes - or, rather, he things each extreme has another opposite extreme and one needs to know and accept both.

To that end, he studied what made people people. I'll admit to being mostly a archetypaphile myself, but I mostly buy into the collective unconscious (especially more fundamental things, like shadows and personae) and I'm definitely a proponent of individuation.

The introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensor, and thinking/feeling pairs were all examples of these thesis/antithesis pairings, where they were on opposite ends of a spectrum. The goal through them via individuation was to aim for the middle - if not in actual nature than in valuing the positive aspects and accepting and being aware of the negative aspects of both.

This is a very long way of saying all you XXXJ people are much more highly evolved than the rest of us stuck-in-a-type peoples, at least according to Jung. ;)
posted by Deoridhe at 6:00 PM on November 19, 2015 [7 favorites]

When I first tested years and years ago, I consistently tested as ENTJ. Then I edged more towards INTJ. Finally, a few years ago, I started testing as INTP. Which I would question, except I clicked through to read the dscription: "Surprisingly, INTPs are often the hit of the party--not for their sometimes annoying habit of turning every discussion into a debate about semantics" and HOW DO YOU PEOPLE KNOW THIS ABOUT ME.
posted by instamatic at 6:04 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

It told me I was right on the borderline for EVERY letter. I'm everyone all at once.

Really though, if I think about what makes me tick and rock n roll aat work, versus my personal life and journey I'm two different people. Maybe I need a "work type" and a "life type."
posted by missmary6 at 6:10 PM on November 19, 2015 [4 favorites]

So I did the four question one and I'm ESTJ. A rare bird around here apparently!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:16 PM on November 19, 2015

The goal through them via individuation was to aim for the middle - if not in actual nature than in valuing the positive aspects and accepting and being aware of the negative aspects of both.

Oh my goodness, Deoridhe, thank you so much. That is exactly the conclusion I have always drawn about the MBTI, and I have never met (or "met") anyone else who seems to agree with that, though I obviously picked it up from somewhere.

Like, seriously, I envy y'all with a bunch of Xs or *s. You are more stable than I! I'm crotchety and stuck in my ways and off-kilter with extreme prejudices. Treasure your lack of extremes!
posted by jaguar at 6:19 PM on November 19, 2015

On non-preview: See? I've met missmary6, and she seemed awesomely stable and well-rounded. We should all strive toward ****. (I fear that saying we should all strive toward XXXX will create the wrong impression.)
posted by jaguar at 6:21 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hahaha, well on preview this comment maybe says more about how MBTI is implemented and used than about the Jungian foundations it is supposed to draw from, but anyway: having T and F be at opposite poles in Myers-Briggs has always kind of bugged me, to be honest. I think there's a kind of pernicious stereotype that it plays into, that you're either basically a "feelings" person or basically a "logic" person, with implications for the careers and roles you should choose to be most effective. I suspect that the test really primes you to pick one over the other. The thing that comes to mind as a contrast is the Bem Gender Roles Inventory*, which allows the respondent to score high on "masculine"-stereotyped traits, "feminine"-etc., either, or neither.

Working in science, I think some people really over-identify with this T/F dichotomy, to the point some people even explicitly argue that any amount of consideration for others' feelings in how, for example, you argue or phrase criticism, is at best a waste of time, and at worst akin to "sparing the rod." And yet, far from being a waste of time or an indication of weak-mindedness, emotional responsiveness [PDF] has actually been credited with improving a team's problem-solving abilities -- and in at least some circumstances, emerging as an even more important factor than the individual problem-solving abilities of the team's constituents. (Of course, this anti-emotional-responsiveness bias is also related to sexism, and how women are not only encouraged to perform disproportionate shares of emotional labor but then are also disparaged for doing so in male-dominated arenas.)

Basically, my perspective here is that science actually needs people who see F and T as two important skills that everyone should try to develop, and not as opposing (esp. not inborn!) traits that interfere with each other. Which, I guess, was also Jung's intention.

(Or maybe I'm just annoyed because I'm a scientist who consistently tests as NFP - but sssh.)

* Sandra, not Daryl
posted by en forme de poire at 6:45 PM on November 19, 2015 [6 favorites]

Yeah, and the official MBTI tests and scoring are gender-normed (I don't know if that's the case for all the free online versions). Women are considered to be Feeling types, and to have to score higher on Feeling to score an F. Reverse for men. I'm sure that makes it scientifically more "accurate," but it certainly reinforces the idea that these are not totally objective.

Which is fine, in that I seriously looooove the MBTI and delving into the various types is part of what spurred my interest in psychology, which moved me toward becoming a therapist. But I do think the MBTI is a tool, not a destiny, and is wrapped up in all sorts of assumptions.
posted by jaguar at 6:52 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Updated graph
posted by Going To Maine at 6:53 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

I have noticed that a great deal of my male friends who have re-typed as Feeling types, also have been more comfortable with their masculinity and emotions not being seperate, but rather as integrated and important things. Healthy emotional health is so important.

Yes! And Exactly! That's what annoys me about the gender-norming. It implies that "normal" men are "rational" and "normal" women are "emotional." I love that that's shifting.
posted by jaguar at 7:23 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Updated graph

OMFG.
posted by jaguar at 7:24 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

With a natural thirst for knowledge that shows itself early in life, INTJs are often given the title of “bookworm” as children. While this may be intended as an insult by their peers, they more than likely identify with it and are even proud of it, greatly enjoying their broad and deep body of knowledge.

A paradox to most observers, INTJs are able to live by glaring contradictions that nonetheless make perfect sense – at least from a purely rational perspective. For example, INTJs are simultaneously the most starry-eyed idealists and the bitterest of cynics, a seemingly impossible conflict. But this is because INTJ types tend to believe that with effort, intelligence and consideration, nothing is impossible, while at the same time they believe that people are too lazy, short-sighted or self-serving to actually achieve those fantastic results.

I think... I finally understand MetaFilter.
posted by escabeche at 7:33 PM on November 19, 2015 [7 favorites]

Updated graph

OMFG.
posted by jaguar at 7:24 PM on November 19

Oh yes, that's right, we will take over the world, beginning with Metafilter.

It's just that we're going to do it very, very quietly, and if we don't speak to you during the overthrow, it's not you, it's us.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:40 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm glad I like INTJs, because the army of INFPs are going to find very soothing ways to mediate the diabolical nature of y'all. You're gonna need us, because we write the pretty epic poetry and provide the counseling services.
posted by yueliang at 7:42 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

But you will silently judge me for caring about what other people think! And I am a J so I will not even be able to run around chicken-headed with the Ps!
posted by jaguar at 7:43 PM on November 19, 2015

"Updated graph"

And that's with nearly 400 responses.

So the four INs -- INTP, INFP, INFJ, and INTJ -- account for a bit more than 60% of MetaFilter respondents, whereas those four account for only about 11% of the US population. That's a huge divergence.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:44 PM on November 19, 2015

Yes! That is what I am saying. MetaFilter does not reflect US society as a whole, and that is an awesome thing. Despite my stance that I will never again date an INTJ, I appreciate all the NF/NT energy around here. It's what makes this site awesome.
posted by jaguar at 7:47 PM on November 19, 2015

How does an ST/SF think? I'm genuinely baffled. Like I read the descriptions and I'm not too sure, and need to take some time to reread them again. Maybe I just gravitate to NF/NT spaces all th time...
posted by yueliang at 7:48 PM on November 19, 2015

And jaguar, you're an INFJ. You're like an amazing cousin who helps me figure out where my shoes are.
posted by yueliang at 7:50 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

That graph is amazeballs.
posted by missmary6 at 7:57 PM on November 19, 2015

So, as far as I understand, "S" types correspond more with their E/S types and "N" or F" with their P/J types. So the breakdown tends to be NF/NT/SP/SJ. There are Jungian models that explain why, but I don't know them well enough to break them down. So (I'm biased, factor that in) NF is "We must create systems to save all the people!" and NT is "We must create systems that all the people can follow!" and SP is "We must pay attention to all the people!" and SJ is "We must make decisions that will help all the people!" I'm not really going to stand behind that, though, because while I respect Ss I don't have a good intuitive (ha!) understanding of their deal, and so I could absolutely be characterizing them incorrectly.
posted by jaguar at 8:00 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ohh, that makes sense. My ESFP bestie is studying to become a doctor right now with that exact sentiment. Thank you!!!
posted by yueliang at 8:02 PM on November 19, 2015

Also the NF "We must create systems to save all the people!" makes sense for why I always responded to my 90s cartoons messages of "change the system" with great enthusiasm. This knowledge excites me, great summary jaguar.
posted by yueliang at 8:03 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Js seem to me to be uptight and Ss seem to me to be off-puttingly literal. But that's not actually true -- it's that there are uptight people who need to schedule everything to the last minute and there are literal people who don't think much about ideas. And on the rare occasion I think about the MBTI, I think, ah, it's those Js and Ss. In truth, I have basically zero idea what anyone else's MBTI types are. This thread would enlarge that knowledge a great deal if I would actually remember what people have said here, which I won't.

That said, finding out that about a quarter of MetaFilter is possibly INTJ leads me to think, ah, INT+J is why I mostly agree with everyone here, except that people tend to get kind of nitpicky about some stuff. Or something. Everyone keeps pointing out that J doesn't actually mean "judgmental", but it does sort of seem to me that the fact that I'm IN*P and not IN*J is why I've never used the flagging system very much.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:04 PM on November 19, 2015

More info on NF, NT, SJ, and SP.
posted by jaguar at 8:15 PM on November 19, 2015

Hahaha, well on preview this comment maybe says more about how MBTI is implemented and used than about the Jungian foundations it is supposed to draw from, but anyway: having T and F be at opposite poles in Myers-Briggs has always kind of bugged me, to be honest. I think there's a kind of pernicious stereotype that it plays into, that you're either basically a "feelings" person or basically a "logic" person, with implications for the careers and roles you should choose to be most effective.

Ah, yes, T/F is the most gendered of these in the US with women more F and men more T, likely due to socialization (the US trends toward Extroversion for likely the same reason).

If it helps (yes, I am an evangelist!) one way to think about it is where you're response to something STARTS. For example, I'm a pretty strong F (I'm very strongly all of my things OH PAPA JUNG I HAVE FAILED YOU!!! TT___TT) and so my first response to pretty much everything is always F, and I care much less about mathematical "balance" or "justice" than everyone being happy with the results - all quintessential F things. This doesn't mean I don't think, because obviously I do, it just means I start at F and then add in T later. Ts, in contrast, start with the logical axiomic end of things and add in their emotional reactions later. They are likely to be much more concerned with mathematical equality and justice, with everyone contributing equally, with making sure everything is taken into account, and analyzing what's going on.

Neither of these are actually better or more important than the other, and everyone actually needs to do both in order to be a well rounded person, but most people start in one place and then add in the other. The denigration of F in general likely contributes not only to a lot of individual suffering but also to our imperfect responses to other people, especially in the contexts of the "Justice" System.
posted by Deoridhe at 8:17 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

Individual letter graphs
posted by Going To Maine at 9:24 PM on November 19, 2015

MBTI distribution of reddit.

(Spoiler: reddit is basically MetaFilter.)
posted by escabeche at 9:50 PM on November 19, 2015

“We’re not so different, you and I. Two sides of the same coin…”
posted by Going To Maine at 9:58 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

ugh except they used a pie chart
posted by en forme de poire at 11:36 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

(the philistines!)
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:07 AM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I've taken this when I was 16, 29 and just now at 50. INTJ all 3 times. That graph is rather odd, but I am not surprised.

When I made Lt., I made every soldier in the platoon take the test. It got some really under educated people talking about things they'd never thought about. I kept notes about what type was best at what and combos that worked well together that I am really going to try to find, but they are on paper and I'm moving Monday so we'll see about that. I do remember that all of my attached EOD section and most of my squad leaders were INTJ. Back then EOD training had an 80% drop out rate and a 13k bonus and that's who made it through.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:17 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

INFJ, married to INFP; we met through an MBTI forum back when we both thought we were INTPs. Good times.
posted by Taisto at 3:45 AM on November 20, 2015

Ha! Okay, I finally took the test Going To Maine linked (which is super short, yay!), and it bears out my feeling that I have different, often contradictory tendencies, because my score was "right on the borderline" for everything but N/S, and result says I might be: ENFJ, ENFP, ENTJ, ENTP, INFJ, INFP, INTJ, or INTP.

So four each Extravert & Introvert (I always describe myself as an extraverted introvert), four each Feeler & Thinker (yes, this makes total sense), four each Perceiver & Judger (yep, I have constant tension between these two), but I'm always iNtuitive (seems right, but I always think that most successful intuition builds on an underpinning of concrete facts, even if one isn't consciously assembling the data that way, e.g. the arguments in "The Gift of Fear" about trusting one's intuition are usually based on actual observable concrete details).

Earlier, longer tests I've taken are probably not *wrong* but just eventually solicit slightly more of one type of behavior via repeated questioning. In a showdown between Thinking and Feeling, I'll usually select for more tolerance and tend to use a lot of Thinking to get to a situation of more harmony, in extraversion vs introversion, introverted behavior is often my lazier or abstracted choice, and while I am definitely of the "drained rather than charged by social situations" variety, I think it's because of my empathic tendencies. I'll usually rate very high for confidence, but maybe also for "unassuming," not because I'm shy or self-doubting, but just because I'm often more interested in observing, and not very interested in being the center of attention*. And so on.

So, ultimately not really that useful for establishing my type, but it seems to confirm my own conclusions, so hey, cool! :)

* despite talking so much about Me, Me, Me here! I'm just a bit fascinated with all the personality evaluation things
posted by taz (staff) at 3:57 AM on November 20, 2015

IS[F/T]J here.

Which is either Protector or Inspector. The main traits are conscientiousness, loyalty, reliability and organisation. These are good characteristics that you'd value in a friend or co-worker, but man, they might as well call it the "will be no fun at parties" personality type. Which is...possibly more true of me than I'd like to admit.

I never know what to put down on these things for "organisation". I'm messy - no-one who saw my office/cube/house would ever call me organised. But I'm definitely a list maker and planner so yeah, there's that.
posted by pianissimo at 4:27 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ohh, it looks like librarylis and carsonb are among my MBTI-MeFi siblings! And missmary6, stavros, Hairy Lobster, and jadepearl are even more ATT (ALL THE THINGS).

Also agreeing with missmary6 that the updated graph is amazeballs. Wow.

I didn't add mine, because I didn't know what to choose, but taking jaguar's 4-question test, I come out as INFP, which matches up with one of my two types according to earlier results of longer tests, so I'll submit that (even though it way overstates my idealism, for one thing, and, man, SO VERY VERY VERY EXTREMELY EGREGIOUSLY WRONG about my logic side as described here, for example).
posted by taz (staff) at 5:59 AM on November 20, 2015

I took the MBTI years ago (in a much lengthier questionnaire) and was evenly split between INFP: The Healer and ISFJ: The Protector. With 100% on the introversion scale.

This time, this site suggests a choice between:

INFJ: The Counselor
INFP: The Healer
ISFJ: The Protector
ISFP: The Composer

But I still think an even split between INFP and ISFJ is more accurate.
posted by zarq at 7:14 AM on November 20, 2015

I had a friend I shared a house with briefly in college (early 1980's) and he somehow discovered the MBTI and became a complete zealot about it. Had everyone he knew take it and from them on out it was always "Of course you would say/do that. That's such an (insert MBTI result) thing to say/do!" Even in those pre-web days where you had to go to the library to find information I smelled a rat and thought the whole thing was just another example of the Forer/Barnum effect. Since then I've learned a lot more about it and cringe whenever I see it (or something similar) trotted out at team-building exercises, retreats, leadership seminars and the like. It immediately diminishes the credibility of whoever is putting on the activity. Having said that I was happy to do this just for the heck of it. I can't remember what I have scored before, but this time I was rated too close to call on every parameter. Probably because I almost never answered at one of the extremes on the questions (apparently I like balance in my life) and answered in the middle on a lot of them where it seemed like there was a false dichotomy presented; for example, supportive and logical aren't opposites and I don't see why one can't be both.
posted by TedW at 7:47 AM on November 20, 2015

The 4 question test tells me I am an ESFJ. Wikipedia says that makes me a skeptic. I'm conflicted about what to think about that.
posted by TedW at 7:57 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

I always score INFP and I always felt the descriptions of INFP are pretty unfair and sometimes downright mean. Some parts of the page taz linked above just send me into waves of cringing.

The description on this site makes a little more sense to me & makes the INFP seem more human and much less squishily irrational.
posted by mochapickle at 7:58 AM on November 20, 2015 [3 favorites]

We did this one time, my behaviorist friend and me and her then husband, all on the brink of tumbling into grad school. I don't remember what any of the letters mean, but I remember one of us got INTB, which we named "I'm not the problem!" Then we all went to grad school where we were safe for a few years. Now I'm staff at a university. If you're faculty you can safely ignore "colors" and myers briggs and seven habits of highly effective cheesemovers and the rest of it. But, protip, thanks to Harvard business school, which turns this shit out in reams and sells it to HR departments everywhere including universities, not if you're staff. I have to go back to grad school and get another goddamn degree.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:00 AM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think you mean "I'm not the broplem!"
posted by Going To Maine at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]

it's that there are uptight people who need to schedule everything to the last minute and there are literal people who don't think much about ideas.

Er, I suppose, or there are people who try to keep things moving along so that projects finish on time and people who think about implementation instead of lofty ideas or ideals. The world needs those uptight and literal people around sometimes to accomplish things.

For example, have you ever planned to get together with friends to go grocery shopping and cook dinner? You need that one or two obnoxious people making a list for the grocery store and pointing out that the stove only has 4 burners, you can't be boiling 5 pots at once, or you won't be eating until 10pm.
posted by maryr at 10:05 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Note: I am sometimes the friend making a list of groceries and I am sometimes the friend trying to stick 3 things in the oven at once. I am not very organized *but I want to be*.
posted by maryr at 10:07 AM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

The world needs those uptight and literal people around sometimes to accomplish things.

In the ideal case, this is what management / a good producer / should help with. The number of people who are bad at getting things done (including myself) is staggering.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:30 AM on November 20, 2015

I'm going to get my PhD in interpliscidinary broplematics.
posted by Don Pepino at 11:30 AM on November 20, 2015

I took the free test linked and I either have no personality or all the personalities. It literally said I could be either dimension (introvert or extrovert, feeler or thinker, etc.) and gave me 16 possible personality types, listed in alphabetical order so I don't even know which I am closest to. Then it asks me to read and pick the one I am closest to. Um, you were supposed to do that for me, quiz.

I think this is the result because most of my answers are borderline but I object to having to choose between the choices given. Am I hardworking or fun? I am a hard worker that likes to have fun so...neither?both?
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:03 PM on November 20, 2015

I think this is the result because most of my answers are borderline but I object to having to choose between the choices given.

Yep. These tests inherently want you to prioritize values, and if you consider them of equal importance they become kind of moot. This one seems to go more for agree/disagree rather than "I prefer A or B", so might give you a different result.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:07 PM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

The description on this site makes a little more sense to me & makes the INFP seem more human and much less squishily irrational.

Unfortunately, it also kind of puts to light why I've straight fucked up so many times to the point I don't even realize how fucked up I am.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:43 PM on November 20, 2015

I N F J 62 14.4%

WTF, we are 1.2 or 1.3% of the population at most. As a left-handed INFJ, my unicorn status is assured.

Metafilter is almost all people in the I zone though. Figures.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:14 PM on November 20, 2015

I always hated how mean some of the descriptions were to INFPs. Hugs to mochapickle and lmfsilva <3

I know I'm an I, when I get worn out from commenting like two-three times on here and no longer want to socialize for the rest of the day. Wonder if other MeFites feel similarly?
posted by yueliang at 2:26 PM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think that the survey generally leaves online interaction in an ambiguous place. I mean, I can comment here endlessly, but the idea of having this much activity at a social event would be impossibly fatiguing.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:48 PM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

One of the things that drives me nuts about the entire genre of this kind of thing is that, as far as I'm concerned, my ideals are derived from my reasoning. I'm passionate about things because I've analyzed them and come to conclusions, not because of some random urge. The idea I run into so often, that passion/ideals/causes/principles are diametrically opposed to and separate from reasoning/logic/analysis/facts, makes ZERO sense to me. I'd love a personality test that reflects that.

(I liked a "working styles" thing that we did as part of a program where I teach--it really emphasized being able to to raise or suppress your inclinations according to the situation, and it helped me really come to terms with my analytical side. Wish I'd taken it years ago.)

I got INF P/T on the 16personalities version of the test, by the way.
posted by wintersweet at 2:52 PM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]

joseph conrad is fully awesome: received two types: "ENFP: The Champion" and "ENTP: The Visionary", but they kind of don't sound like me

Oh, that's easily explained. They accidentally gave you my results.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:03 PM on November 20, 2015

I know I'm an I, when I get worn out from commenting like two-three times on here and no longer want to socialize for the rest of the day. Wonder if other MeFites feel similarly?

It happens to me almost once a day, that I'll have some comment I feel like making, I'll get it half-typed out, and then just won't have the energy to continue. I'll ask myself, "Do I really need to say this, and does anyone really, really need to hear it?" And if the answer to either of those questions isn't a resounding "yes," then I don't finish.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:12 PM on November 20, 2015 [6 favorites]

Graphs for today, and all graphs in one album. No dramatic changes, but some new heat maps of pairwise correlations.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:38 PM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]

Findings:
You invade buffets but are bored quickly by the salad selection. Other people's choices of vehicle colors make you acutely uncomfortable. You favorite meal is third-breakfast for first-breakfast. You rightly attribute malice to the inexplainable movements of your various pets. You keep a copy of Infinite Jest inside a hollowed-out copy of Don Quixote, but have read neither. Winter is too cold and summer to hot. You strive for mediocrity, but wildly exceed your peer's expectations, due to having chosen a career in a field beneath your station, stemming from grudging feelings towards your just slightly domineering father. You hate fishing. You find Fassbinder enigmatic, like everyone else. You are uncomfortable at dinner parties because your jacket is too tight.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:07 PM on November 20, 2015 [15 favorites]

I hate fishing because I find Bassfinder enigmatic.
posted by taz (staff) at 8:55 PM on November 20, 2015 [5 favorites]

I always hated how mean some of the descriptions were to INFPs.

I avoid INFP descriptions for the most part at this point (I always get INFP), as my takeaway always seems to be "You're kind and creative and compassionate and you're going to die poor and alone in a ditch probably."
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:55 AM on November 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

IN A VAN, etc.
posted by en forme de poire at 3:24 AM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

or is that ENFP
posted by en forme de poire at 3:29 AM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

My problem with some INFPs description isn't even that. It's the undertone of "this person lacks discipline to complete anything, so they will be forever losers".
I mean, sometimes, I work like 15 or 16 hours a day on something. I have completed a bunch of projects, sometimes in completely unrealistic deadlines. I just don't like to advertise my work.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:35 AM on November 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

We did Myers Briggs at a professional development thing at work a while ago. (So, a roomful of academics). Every single person came out as INTJ or INTP.

Not that the Myers-Briggs shouldn't be critiqued, but a roomful of academics all being INTJ or INTP is not at all surprising if you know about the Myers-Briggs.

I am willing to bet that the majority of Me-fites are either INTJ or INTP.

I do think there are many people who don't score strongly or any of the aspects and therefore the test is not that useful for them; however, personally, I STRONGLY identify with INFP, score strongly on all the aspects, and it has been an extremely useful tool in understanding my own behavior and personality.
posted by bearette at 8:26 AM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am willing to bet that the majority of Me-fites are either INTJ or INTP.

However, they are the type most likely to be skeptical of the tests, esp. INTJ, and therefore less likely to participate in the survey (my guess). I think INFP/J's would be more likely to be interested in and participate in this discussion and the survey.
posted by bearette at 8:29 AM on November 21, 2015

It's funny that as I take these getting older I've unconsciously morphed from INTJ and INTP to ENFJ. I seriously think that MetaFilter had something to do with that.
posted by Tchad at 9:39 AM on November 21, 2015

Oh, everyone's an INTJ. Heh, cool. Seems about right.
posted by limeonaire at 8:44 PM on November 21, 2015

Female INTP here.
posted by spinifex23 at 1:12 AM on November 23, 2015

We’ve passed 500 responses (513, to be exact), so I’ve regenerated the graphs.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:25 PM on November 23, 2015

I stand by my "OMFG."
posted by jaguar at 8:26 PM on November 23, 2015

I was an INTP pretty much every time I took the test in school (high school, undergrad, grad school), but in the versions that showed the sliding scales, I came out at about the 60% line - so consistent but not particularly vehement in my choices. I am, and am surrounded by, academic scientists; much like the graphs here are showing, and the anecdotes above, academics and scientists are pretty much INTP and INTJ.

When doing job searches I encountered a "workplace personality" version that specifically reframed the questions for coworker/boss/project interactions and specified to think about how you behave working. Everything flipped. ESFJ. And the article went on to discuss how having a large disconnect between your professional self and your whole-life self was setting yourself up for trouble and distress and lack of promotions and many therapy visits (or some dire warning like that, I forget).

What I got out of it, though, was that among the population of rabidly INTP scientists, I was the least INTP of them, and that the realm in which I could contribute most to the community was by being the ESFJ counterbalance, the person who can chat, and write coherently, and understand that I don't need to take that comment personally. In recent years I was wondering if that dichotomy was still true, but I haven't re-located that test since then.
posted by aimedwander at 8:46 AM on November 24, 2015

What I got out of it, though, was that among the population of rabidly INTP scientists, I was the least INTP of them, and that the realm in which I could contribute most to the community was by being the ESFJ counterbalance, the person who can chat, and write coherently, and understand that I don't need to take that comment personally.

In one of my therapy classes, we used the MBTI that way to help couples understand each other. Like, even if both people were introverted, one person was probably more introverted, so in that coupledom, that person was an I and the partner was an E, etc. I think it was helpful in that counterbalancing way you're talking about, for people to realize that even if they tested as the exact same type, they were not the exact same person and those differences needed to be negotiated and, ideally, used as strengths.
posted by jaguar at 8:54 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Huh, I have consistently scored as an INFP every time I took the test... Except this time, I got INFJ. Must be my more recent insistence on having a plan for everything.
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 7:21 PM on November 29, 2015

However, they are the type most likely to be skeptical of the tests, esp. INTJ, and therefore less likely to participate in the survey (my guess). I think INFP/J's would be more likely to be interested in and participate in this discussion and the survey.

INTJs are actually more likely to take the test so that they can critique it. Evidence: this entire conversation.
posted by one_bean at 10:16 AM on December 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

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