I'm sorry, I saw this thread before I realized that it was on the INFP board. I hope that you don't mind me posting here.
I'm an INTP who was typed correctly from the very first test, but I still don't think that tests are very accurate. Once I learned a little bit about MBTI (I took the first test blind), I could easily and subconsciously manipulate the test to whatever type I thought that I was at the time. Even though I match the INTP descriptions, I did give a fair chance to all of my possible types. (It's pretty obvious that I'm not an Se-dom or anything, so those kinds of types weren't considered.) But I only felt comfortable with saying, "Yes, I
am a Ti-dom" when I read Jung's original description. It accounted for some of the things that seemed to be MBTI's Ni, and it clarified a great deal for me.
One of my pet peeves is people say... Don't pay attention to the MBTI test results and figure it out on your own! YAY! You're smarter and know better than that stupid test right? Well, I don't adopt that philosophy. I say go with the real mbti results and if you don't agree with what you type as, discuss it with the mbti professional. "Wow Doc, I tested INTP on the mbti but guess what I did... I read a book on cognitive functions and I've decided I'm INFP. What say you about that, Doc?".
One of these days, I'm going to write to the peeps at mbti and I'm going to say "I belong to a forum called PerCafe and *some* members think your test is shit and believe they can assign your (YOUR!) type letters to themselves after blowing off your test. Your thoughts, please."
I often wonder what Isabel would say about that.
How about if you want to use mbti letters, you use the Real mbti test and if you want to go with a certain cog. function you call youRself NeFiTiTe? Hmmmmm?
I'm sorry, but this kind of thinking bewilders me.
First of all, "Isabel" (really?) based her work on what "Carl" wrote, so I consider her letters to be nothing more than shorthand for Jung's functions. INTP = Ti-Ne-Si-Fe or Introverted Thinking + Intuition (depending on how Jungian you want to get). I don't like MBTI, but I use the four-letter codes because it's easier to type and people understand what it means.
MBTI's greatest "contribution" to Jung's theory was the addition of J/P, which I hate because it creates terrible stereotypes (I like a clean desk, so I must be a J! Oh, but wait, I'm never on time ... so am I a P?) and really skews things for introverts. An introvert's auxiliary function is
not how he deals with the outside world. The dominant function is how you deal with life, and your auxiliary function serves the dominant (if you're healthy). Your inferior function is actually more important than the auxiliary, which MBTI totally overlooks.
Let's not forget that Myers and Briggs created their tool to help WWII-era women find suitable employment, while Jung was a
real psychologist who understood the complexities of the human mind. If we're dealing with matters of IDENTITY, who would you trust more?
Anyway, enough about the quality of MBTI. Let's address the methods of typing, since you apparently think that tests are infallible. You gave a really sarcastic example of someone testing as an INTP but realizing that he's an Fi-dom. Was that in response to @
TJSeabury? If so, you were basically mocking his efforts at self-understanding. And even if you weren't targeting him, I still must ask: What in the heck is wrong with that? Ti and Fi are both introverted rational functions, and are quite similar in many respects. (More so than Fi and Ni, and yet people mix those up all the time with INFX.)
Why in the world would you assume that a test can understand you better than you understand yourself? And why would you assume that some stranger you're paying has a fantastic understanding of who you really are? I'm baffled and almost offended by the lack of logic.
I know is possible to figure out your type correctly with a lot of studying of the functions but sometimes I would like to know the point of view of someone else who can see me face to face. Since my family and acquaintances know nothing about MBTI I cannot ask them and I think it would be a great opportunity to sit down with a professional to discuss this things.
Like for example there is a member here that labeled himself as an INFP for a long time until he spoke to his therapist about it and she told him that he was an INFJ instead and he realized that he was.
Maybe a professional can study your behavior and the way you express yourself and figure it out right away and tell you "You use more Fe than Fi.......etc".
I totally understand. While I was trying different types on for size, I was always bugging people to describe me so I could compare those traits against potential function use. Perhaps you could do that, if you haven't already? You could also post on the What's My Personality subforum, and get some free advice from people who actually like this stuff. I don't think that a professional would spend a lot of time analyzing you unless you're also paying a lot, so I'd hate to see you spend a lot of money on something like this. (It's not even guaranteed or anything. They might give you a type, yeah, but that doesn't mean it's truly "you.")
Also, have you read Jung's original descriptions? They're far more helpful than MBTI's, so you might realize that the answer has been there all along and you just didn't have the right map.
roud:
