Someone asked me about my Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) recently. I replied that in my completely unprofessional online testing, I test as INT (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking), but with wavering between J (Judgment) and P (Perception), probably because I’m so indecisive and don’t take in how I act most of the time. Sometimes it’s a 50/50 split or close enough, sometimes I really don’t know, and sometimes my life is in such limbo that it’s hard to tell. Tonight I decided to take four completely unprofessional online tests in a row. The results:
1) Hunch’s personality type topic scored me as an INTP, with INTJ right behind that. Hunch’s test is different from the others, so let’s take care of it first. It shows all sixteen types and sorts them in order as you take the quiz (or decision, as it’s called on the site). It uses the results to show neat correlations, get smarter, and make recommendations, so I wasn’t the least bit surprised at this result.
Then I took all three free quizzes linked to from Wikipedia’s MBTI article and found some surprises.
2. HumanMetrics labeled me as an INTJ. I received a breakdown as follows:
Strength of the preferences (%)
Introverted: 33, Intuitive: 62, Thinking: 25, Judging: 22
You are:
* moderately expressed introvert
* distinctively expressed intuitive personality
* moderately expressed thinking personality
* slightly expressed judging personality
All right, fair enough. The judging part is less distinct than the other parts, which explains why I hover so.
2. Then I went to Personality Test Center, where I tested as–get this–ENTP. No statistics here, but I think my appreciation of crowds is what pushed me into the extroverted category. This quiz was particularly frustrating because of the “Would you rather” and “Are you the kind of person who” questions.
3. Last up was Similar Minds, which cast me as INTJ. The stats:
Introversion: 70.83, Intuition: 66.67, Thinking: 66.67, Judging: 62.5
A few things to note again. Once again, the judging is the weakest trait, but this time introversion is the strongest. Also, I’ve seen several different percentages for every personality type, so I won’t put too much weight on this particular one. This one was less annoying because it let me rank on a scale but still irksome because I got only four radio buttons instead of five. I guess I had to rank myself somewhere.
So, four personality tests, three personality types. Even after taking the majority rules type breakdown, this still tells me absolutely nothing. Even reading the descriptions on the Myers-Briggs official website helps none. In the description for J vs. P, the official site writes:
Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).
Well, I like getting things decided, but I’m okay with letting things stay open, too. I’m open to the idea of staying open to things. How’s that?