I would guess that it is seen as "less canon", though I do agree that it is worth talking about and useful in understanding why people differ within types. I am INTJ-T, for the record. The stereotype leans more towards INTJ-A, and I have been told more than once that I do not act as sure of myself as an INTJ is supposed to.

 

Cause it has nothing to do with functions and it's arbitrary. We can tac on 20 or so letters if we really wanted to.

 

It seemed like an attempt to carry over Big 5's Neuroticism to MBTI. IMO, it's not a very good dichotomy because stress levels can really vary in your life. A few years ago, I'd definitely identify as INTJ-T, but now I'm more INTJ-A. Doesn't seem to be something as stable as the other dichotomies.

 

Well yes, different stress levels will trigger different degrees of vulnerability to the stress. However, do you not believe that some people are naturally better at ignoring stress than others? If you put two different people in the same stressful situation, one of them might start worrying and the other might shrug it off. This difference alone would make two very different personalities.

 

Some ol' bullshit.

 

As Mr. Castelo mentioned, it does seem like an attempt to incorporate neuroticism into MBTI, and I think it is more likely to shift than other functions. It does, I think, help to explain how some people may not correlate, in general, with stereotypes. My mom is an INTJ crippled by lack of motivation and indecision. I'm an INFP who's very assertive and straight-forward. My mom has always been the way she is, and I've always been the way I am, despite very big life changes and experiencing new, more intense stress factors.

I do know people that have been significantly more turbulent in the past, but have since developed more assertive personalities. I know assertive people who have undergone intense trauma who are now more turbulent. It seems like 16 Personalities may have touched on something in terms of measuring emotional stability, but it may not belong in cognitive function theory.

 

It's not an 'attempt' to incorporate Big 5's Neuroticism into MBTI, it is the Big 5's Neuroticism.
16personalities is not an MBTI test, it is a Big 5 test with it's results converted into MBTI language for wider appeal (probably to make more $$$ from the premium profiles they sell).

From here:

Our Approach
With our model, we’ve combined the best of both worlds. We use the acronym format introduced by Myers-Briggs for its simplicity and convenience, with an extra letter to accommodate five rather than four scales. However, unlike Myers-Briggs or other theories based on the Jungian model, we have not incorporated Jungian concepts such as cognitive functions, or their prioritization. Jungian concepts are very difficult to measure and validate scientifically, so we’ve instead chosen to rework and rebalance the dimensions of personality called the Big Five personality traits, a model that dominates modern psychological and social research.

Make no mistake, 16personalities is not an MBTI styled test nor does it test for cognitive functions at all, yet alone their order.
Returning say INFJ results on 16personalities in no way, shape nor form, represents a preference for Ni, etc etc (just throwing that out there).

I agree, to some extent - I dislike 16personalities because well, I see it as essentially deceptive - however I do believe the Big 5's Neuroticism factor is a welcome addition to personality theory.

 

I agree, to some extent - I dislike 16personalities because well, I see it as essentially deceptive - however I do believe the Big 5's Neuroticism factor is a welcome addition to personality theory.

Thanks for the info. And I have the same problems with Big 5's Neuroticism, it's too broad of a dimension that mixes a bunch of different traits together with little correlation between them -- the same applies to Openness.

 

https://www.16personalities.com/articles/identity-assertive-vs-turbulent

Assertive (-A) individuals are self-assured, even-tempered and resistant to stress. They refuse to worry too much and do not push themselves too hard when it comes to achieving goals. Similarly, they are unlikely to spend much time thinking about their past actions or choices – according to Assertive types, what’s done is done and there is little point in analyzing it. Not surprisingly, people with this trait report more satisfaction with their lives and they also feel more confident in their abilities to handle challenging and unexpected situations.
In contrast, individuals with Turbulent (-T) identity are self-conscious and sensitive to stress. They experience a wide range of emotions and tend to be success-driven, perfectionistic and eager to improve. They are also more willing to change jobs if they feel stuck in their current one and to spend time thinking about the direction in which their life is going.
However, while the Assertive variant may seem more positive on the surface, that is not always the case – for instance, Turbulent individuals perform better in certain roles as they push themselves to achieve superior results, while Assertive ones do not care about the outcome that much. Always feeling the need to do more, to have more, and to be more, Turbulent types often forget how exhausting that can be to both themselves and the people around them – but it is entirely possible that this desire to always push themselves just a little further helps many Turbulent types to achieve what they seek to achieve.

I'm very strongly turbulent, about 90%. I also wonder if some MBTI Thinking types look more like a Feeling type because of this. I actually get INFP-T on that test, but I know that I'm more of an Fe/Ti user. I'm self-typing as ISFJ now but I could actually be an INTP who is just very high on turbulence, which would reinforce all of the insecurities I have around Fe and why I'm so hypersensitive to criticism and what others think of me.

 

it definitely makes a difference. i'm esfj-t and full of anxiety when it comes to social interaction.. low self-esteem and not the popular, social butterfly that esfj is portrayed to be like. i do love talking with people, but i'm not up in their business and such. much more reserved that an extrovert would be like.

 

Right, this is what I was trying to get at. Being a turbulent or assertive type could also cause many people confusion as to their typing. Because turbulent individuals are said to worry more about what others think (self conscious), I can see how a lot of turbulent T types could mistaken themselves for F types. I do agree that it isn't as measurable as cognitive functions because of the uniqueness of everybody's contributing factors into being turbulent or assertive, but it's pretty useful to think about and is a big part of your personality as a whole. If somehow in ten years, you aren't generally turbulent anymore, it doesn't change how you were Turbulent for such a large chunk of your life.

 

For the most part it doesn't help. sure, it makes things more specific to a person, but MBTI is flawed, you can't just add more options, this is pretty much what enneagram did and now you have wings and tri-types: about
7,992 possibilities assuming you get to choose between right/left wing, or central. MBTI is good for placing people in a general group of people with similar personalities. If you want pin point accuracy then just describe your personally instead of relying on a test or typing system

 

16personalities is not a credible source for MBTI. I started off learning about MBTI through it, and it always gave me INTJ-T, which is the complete opposite of who I am. I always thought it was strange that I couldn't relate to the INTJ profile at all until I started studying functions.

As others have said, I don't think those letters would be nearly as stable, and they also have nothing to do with any function setup.