Adventures in Personality Typing

Recently, I went to a career planning workshop organized by my alma mater, the University of Waterloo. As part of this workshop, everybody took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, which determines your Myers-Briggs personality type. An accompanying Career Report provides suggestions for what sort of career path best suits people of that type.

The MBTI is based on Carl Jung's theory of personality types, and has been in use for over 60 years. It uses four criteria to classify people into 16 types. The criteria are:

• Where you focus your attention (E or I): Extraverts (E) focus their attention on the outside world, and Intraverts (I) focus on their own thoughts and impressions. Extraverts gain energy from interacting with other people; Intraverts need to be alone to recharge their batteries.
• The way you take in information (S or N): Sensors (S) obtain information using their five senses, and tend to concentrate on the here and now. Intuitives (N) focus on the big picture: they see the world in patterns, and tend to concentrate on the future.
• The way you make decisions (T or F): Thinkers (T) make decisions logically and objectively. Feelers (F) make decisions subjectively, based on feelings and values.
• How you deal with the outer world (J or P): Judgers (J) like to plan and organize their lives. Perceivers (P) prefer a spontaneous and flexible approach. (I once read that the best way to decide whether you are a J or a P is the condition of your desk. If you have everything neatly in its place, you are a J. If your desk looks like somebody dropped a bomb on it, you are a P. I am a P.)

These four criteria are then combined to yield your personality type. For example, someone who is an Extravert, a Sensor, a Feeler, and a Judger would be classified as an ESFJ.

In our workshop, each of us first tried to determine what our own personality type was. (We hadn't seen our reports yet.) Then, the workshop leader divided us into four groups:

• Guardians (people who are S and J) - this is always the largest group
• Idealists (people who are N and F)
• Rationals (N and T)
• Artisans (S and P) - there are usually only one or two of these in a room

Each group was given the following exercise: Picture yourself on a desert island. What three things would your group want to bring with you, and what three people would you want to have with you? I was with the Idealists, and we agreed that we wanted an Internet connection or supply of books, a musical instrument, and art supplies. The three people we wanted with us were a close family member, a creative intellectual of some sort, and a practical person to do all the stuff that needed to be done.

By the time we finished (we went first), the Guardians were hooting with disdain. Their suggestions were more practical, such as a hunting knife, a supply of water, and so on. We Idealists tended to assume that the means of survival would all somehow magically appear.

People who doubt the validity of the MBTI, such as Robert Todd Carroll in his entry in The Skeptic's Dictionary, point out that the personality types used in the MBTI are not based on controlled studies. Other concerns:

• The MBTI might be used to pigeonhole people
• Most people tend to be a bit of everything: for instance, many people use both logic and feelings when making decisions, and are therefore both T and F
• When taking the MBTI, people may select the trait they find most admirable, rather than the one that accurately reflects who they are. (This was something I had wondered about, especially since I'd seen shorter on-line versions of personality typing tests, and could guess which trait went with which criterion.)

My own belief is that people can't be narrowly classified into 16 types, but that personality typing is useful. It draws attention to the fact that people see the world in different ways - as our group exercises showed.

Oh, by the way: I'm an INFP. Apparently, my preferred work environment:

• Offers private time and space to concentrate for long periods without interruption
• Emphasizes that the work has meaning beyond the paycheck
• Offers opportunities to work in harmony with others who share my values
• Fosters cooperation and helping
• Trusts people to work autonomously without close supervision

If you happen to work in such an environment, and need a writer - by all means, give me a shout.