
Test HN: Briggs & Myers' 16 personality types - galfarragem
https://www.16personalities.com/
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Zolomon
This test is quite criticised[1].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator#Criticism)

~~~
pfooti
Also:

[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-
take/201309/go...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-
take/201309/goodbye-mbti-the-fad-won-t-die)
[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Myers-
Briggs_Type_Indicator](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Myers-
Briggs_Type_Indicator) [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-myers-
briggs-pe...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-myers-briggs-
personality-test-is-pretty-much-meaningless-9359770/)

The MBTI is about as valid as a horoscope, and people actually make hiring
decisions based on it.

It is probably useful to help introverts understand extroverts and so on, and
maybe help people have _conversations about_ personality differences, but it
is pretty bad at diagnosing actual personalities beyond "a dark-haired
stranger will meet you"

~~~
nyc640
I don't see how you can say an assessment based on people's actual behavior is
about as valid as completely made up predictions based on the alignment of the
stars when you were born. I think it's pretty obvious your MBTI can say more
about you than your horoscope can.

Not that I disagree with you that hiring decisions should not be made based on
MBTI, nor can we categorize all people into 16 personality types.

~~~
pfooti
The point is more along the lines of: the MBTI really can't tell you much. It
has very bad psychometric properties (people regular test differently on
different days, or show as a mix of two supposed opposing factors). As a
theoretical framework, there is little in the way of peer reviewed work to
even support anything other than introversion - extroversion as a measure.
MBTI is pretty much pseudoscience that we keep using because it Feels Correct.

Psychics and astrologers do the same thing - make broad and generic claims to
make you think they're talking to you because you fill the gaps in the story.

So, it's an aggressive claim I make yes. Partly (perhaps largely) driven by
the fact that too many otherwise reasonable people do not treat the MBTI with
the skepticism it deserves (again, hiring decisions are made and justified
based on this pseudoscience). But partly because I've been through both the
long form MBTI test and explanation (with subfactors, where I was thoroughly
mixed with stuff that wasn't supposed to correlate) and the explanation phase
felt precisely like a psychic reading.

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at-fates-hands
I've taken it several times and always come back as an INTJ.

At my last gig, the manager was an expert on all the Briggs-Myers types. He
made everybody on the team take the test and then put up the chart where it
shows where everybody on the team is.

TBH, it helped a LOT in how the team communicated with each other as well as
conflict resolution because it gave you a really good insight into their
personality.

~~~
miguelrochefort
That's fantastic!

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travjones
Although it is fun to try to categorize ourselves into 16 personality types,
what these categories really describe are behavior, which is dependent on way
more than personality traits alone (e.g., what about context? What about
reinforcement contingencies?). I'm not trying to be a hater, I just want
people to take the test and read the questions with a critical eye. Behavioral
science has come a long way scince this test was published over 60 years ago.
Your personality type does not define you and does not determine how you
behave in real world situations.

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galfarragem
INTP. It really hits home. The suggested jobs are exactly the ones that I see
myself doing professionally and amateurly: architect, software designer,
financial analyst, ..

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miguelrochefort
Should we turn this post into a poll?

If not, here's one: [http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/wrtqqk/whats-your-mbti-
type](http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/wrtqqk/whats-your-mbti-type)

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gadders
I was an INTJ when I did it before.

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miguelrochefort
INTP

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lsorese
INFP

