Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
Nonfiction
>
Is MBTI a Scam? How We Should Perceive the Test, Our Personalities, and Our Results
date
newest »
newest »
I was introduced to the MBTI many decades ago, and once I started reading the book, Please Understand Me, I stayed up all night with it. It knew me inside and out, all my secret foibles! It relieved me of a lot of angst about my personality. I realized society was pushing me to be someone I wasn't, and it was okay to be me, because I had a lot of strengths that compensated for all my weaknesses. For me it was immensely valuable. I have heard that psychologists are calling it into question as not being very scientific; perhaps, but for me it was life-changing.
N.A. wrote: "I was introduced to the MBTI many decades ago, and once I started reading the book, Please Understand Me, I stayed up all night with it. It knew me inside and out, all my secret foibles! It relieve..."Interesting point, N.A.!
As I wrote in my article, I do think personality tests like MBTI can be a pretty good start in realizing who you are.
I think things start going downhill when you become entirely dependent on it. In the past, I actually was quite dependent on it, and I let a single four-letter acronym almost completely define who I was. This was why I denied other nuances in my personality that the acronym and personality description could not identify, and even tried to suppress those aspects of my personality. It might be different in your case but in my case, but that SINGLE, four-letter acronym did not encapsulate the small yet crucial nuances in my personality, which is why I updated my GR Profile Page to mention it. I think that the MBTI can be a bit overgeneralized and falsely dichotomize the dimensions of one's personality. Plus there is the Barnum effect.
Still, if you use actually look into it more and use it for greater levels of introspection, as you seem to have done, MBTI and other personality tests can still be pretty good starting points for self-reflection; I would not let it dictate every little thing about me, but it can still be useful.
Have you read Text, Don't Call by Aaaron Caycedo-Kimura? It's meant to be a book about embracing yourself as an introvert, but there was a part in the book where the author mentioned using MBTI to learn more about himself and embrace his inner introvert. He seems to echo your thoughts on MBTI, so I think you might enjoy the book. 🙂
Yes, as a tool for introspection it is good. It is also good to follow the advice to strengthen your shadow side, and I have been working on that. I'm an ENFP, so my Sensing is the weakest area in my life - I don't clean the house because I honestly don't even notice the dirt! I have found that doing jigsaw puzzles and painting from life or from a photo has been good for me, because it forces me to pay attention to what I see in front of me, strengthening the shadow side. (I still don't clean the house very well, but at least I'm noticing the dirt more! lol) The other thing that helps is to investigate the Enneagram. It's quite different from the MBTI - measures different things. And you can't get a true sense of where your are on the Enneagram from a quiz or test - you really have to read about all the numbers until you start to recognize your deepest motivations. I'm a Seven, by the way!
https://lucylcarter.wixsite.com/websi...