Myers-Briggs...

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

OK...this is from "16 Personalities". I have no idea who these guys are. There are more and more web outfits offering what I consider to be a cheap and dirty MBTI-"like" screening that can be done really quickly and you get your "type" without a whole lot of effort or time. This test has a 6 choice range for each answer. I found it difficult to decide whether I was small, medium, or large on almost all the questions I looked at before i quit.

The MBTI and Keirsey instruments are called "forced choice" instruments. Each question has only two optional answers and you have to choose the one that fits you "best". Both systems instruct the user that they may skip questions they feel unable to respond to...but it's better if you keep the skipped answers to a minimum and just pick the answer which is "...closer to how you usually think or feel..." which is the language I was instructed to use when administering the MBTI.

The MBTI is 93 questions long and takes considerably longer than 12 minutes. The MBTI is available online at http://www.mbtionline.com/, it costs $49.95.

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter online test is 70 questions long. At http://www.keirsey.com/sorter/register.aspx. It's free.

If you want the most reliable results available you want to take the actual MBTI test or the Keirsey which is probably just as good. If you want a better screening than you got on "16personalities", and don't want to pay for it, take the time to do the Keirsey. The number of questions helps make the result more reliable.

Okay, thanks. Will do.

Dave

[Oerets]

OK, take a test, find out who you are. So can you change a thing if not happy with results? Bet not. Learn to live with your true self? Hope so. Self discovery is one thing but if used for employment or advancement another. Do we really want a society where everyone is judged by a label from a "test" not actions? Hope not.

Or just be happy with who you are without a label to live up to or dislike? I know if taking the test at eighteen thirty fifty sixty might have gotten totally different results.

My $0.02 anyway.

Barney

[merrylander]

If at 84 I don't know who I am I am in deep trouble. If y'all want astrology I am a Sagittarius. Or as a young lady at Mensa described it 'Beneath this suave sophisticated exterior is a core of solid mush', in describing my feelings of empathy.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Oerets

OK, take a test, find out who you are. So can you change a thing if not happy with results? Bet not. Learn to live with your true self? Hope so. Self discovery is one thing but if used for employment or advancement another. Do we really want a society where everyone is judged by a label from a "test" not actions? Hope not.

Or just be happy with who you are without a label to live up to or dislike? I know if taking the test at eighteen thirty fifty sixty might have gotten totally different results.

My $0.02 anyway.

Barney

Sometimes people have questions about why they tend to respond or react to situations in certain ways. A question often asked by clients is...why, when I know what is the logical way to deal with a certain situation and a decision has to be made am I often so uncomfortable with it and end up dealing with it differently? Because you have a feeling preference as opposed to a thinking preference, and logic may not be as important to you as interpersonal concerns.

Some people, on the other hand, have no introspective interest at all and could not care less about any aids to understanding themselves better.

PS - I first took the MBTI in my early 30's. I last took it in 2006, and several times in between. I'm an ENTP every time.

[JJIII]

I took the Keirser Temperament Sorter- II and it said I am a "Guardian". Do you all feel safer now?

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by JJIII

I took the Keirser Temperament Sorter- II and it said I am a "Guardian". Do you all feel safer now?

Not so long as you're wandering aimlessly about with that Buntline Special on your hip.

[d-ray657]

I don't recall all of the quadrants, but last time I took it, it suggested that I should be a shrink or a pastor. Instead, I'm a lawyer. I don't know what that means.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Oerets]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Sometimes people have questions about why they tend to respond or react to situations in certain ways. A question often asked by clients is...why, when I know what is the logical way to deal with a certain situation and a decision has to be made am I often so uncomfortable with it and end up dealing with it differently? Because you have a feeling preference as opposed to a thinking preference, and logic may not be as important to you as interpersonal concerns.

Some people, on the other hand, have no introspective interest at all and could not care less about any aids to understanding themselves better.

PS - I first took the MBTI in my early 30's. I last took it in 2006, and several times in between. I'm an ENTP every time.

My problem is when the test is used for evaluations of employment or rankings in a position. Much like ones DNA profile has the potential of abuse.

I guess also taking a test where you answer questions without supervision, one may answer to the test. Not be totally truthful subconsciously or intended. Be different if evaluated by others or even have someone who knows you fill it out with their opinions of you.



Barney

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Oerets

My problem is when the test is used for evaluations of employment or rankings in a position. Much like ones DNA profile has the potential of abuse.

I guess also taking a test where you answer questions without supervision, one may answer to the test. Not be totally truthful subconsciously or intended. Be different if evaluated by others or even have someone who knows you fill it out with their opinions of you.



Barney

Regarding your first paragraph, maybe this will help. I don't know how a legitimate professional trained the administration and evaluation of the MBTI would use the instrument as an aide to evaluate job performance or "ranking" (I'm assuming that means regarding other employee's performance). As far as employment is concerned, the only appropriate use for the MBTI is as an aid to identifying what type of work one might be more interested in or prefer. It's a scale of individual preference, not performance. If MBTI results are being used in job evaluation, again I have no idea how that would be done...and it wouldn't not be done by a competent professional trained the the use of the instrument and acting in the best interests of the client, which licensed professionals are sworn to do.

For almost 12 years I administered the MBTI along with the Strong Interest Inventory (a specific job interest inventory) to hundreds of clients back in the Clinton years when all the federal welfare reforms were rolled out...during the TANF program rollout. I worked as a mental health counselor as an adjunct to case management services for long-term welfare recipients who were also in the HUD Section 8 housing program. The MBTI and Strong were used to have a coordinated basis for helping the clients self-direct themselves into appropriate jobs or job training programs, where they were likely to have the best chance of success in getting off of public assisstance, and through increases in income from employment, eventually disqualifying themselves from their Section 8 certificate or voucher.

Regarding your closing paragraph...I'm unsure of your point. Are you talking about somebody having someone else complete the instrument for them? Why would anybody bother. No competent human resources manager would be hiring anybody based on their MBTI profile.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Not so long as you're wandering aimlessly about with that Buntline Special on your hip.

I dunno.

JJ's piece looks more like the 7 and 1/2 inch barrel to me.