| I'm just about to whack one of the sacred | | | | for it, so whatever else it is, the MBTI |
| cows of the HR world, the Meyers-Briggs Type | | | | isn't a predictor of behavior. |
| Inventory (MBTI) test, so if you're a big fan | | | | |
| of the MBTI you might want to quit now, or | | | | Okay, if that were all of my objections I |
| read on and flame me in the comments.I'll | | | | would just sneer at it as a badly designed |
| summarize the MBTI by saying that it's a | | | | psychometric instrument and forget about it. |
| personality inventory test based on Jung's | | | | But the world in general, and industry in |
| theory of opposites. It assumes that there | | | | particular, has siezed on the MBTI as the key |
| are four important components of a | | | | to personality and compatibility. So I have |
| personality and that each is binary: either | | | | personally seen: |
| you are and introvert (I) or an extrovert | | | | |
| (E). This means that the MBTI can assign you | | | | Qualified candidates not hired because "they |
| to one of sixteen personality types, based on | | | | have the wrong personality profile for the |
| your answers. The MBTI cult asserts that this | | | | job." |
| personality type is very significant for who | | | | |
| you can work well with, what jobs you're | | | | People denied promotions because "their |
| suited for, who you should marry, and most | | | | personality wouldn't fit the executive team." |
| other life decisions. You can read more about | | | | |
| it here and here.Is it clear to you that this | | | | People moved from software development |
| is nonsense? Here are my observations: | | | | projects to software quality assurance |
| | | | (testing and bug fixing) because "their |
| | | | personalities are more suited to that kind of |
| | | | work." |
| Jung's theory of opposites was a | | | | |
| psychoanalytic theory meant to diagnose and | | | | I'm not laying these outrages at the feet of |
| treat psychopathologies, not to categorize | | | | the MBTI, it's idiot managers and HR staff |
| healthy people. And even within its realm, | | | | who are to blame for misusing it. But the |
| it's now regarded only as a metaphor, not as | | | | structure of the MBTI is so simple that it |
| a reliable personality model. | | | | seems irresistable to assign people to |
| | | | pigeonholes from which they can never escape |
| As far as I know, the MBTI has never been | | | | because, presumeably, their personality type |
| validated to show that it actually measures | | | | is fixed.So personally, I recommend that you |
| what it claims to measure. Its correlations | | | | stop using the MBTI and that we burn all |
| against other, more robust personality | | | | copies of it, but I know I've got a big chip |
| measurements are very weak. | | | | on my shoulder. If you feel you have to rely |
| | | | on it, you should at least combine it with |
| The questions of the MBTI yield a continuous | | | | another, better validated, instrument like |
| quantitative value, but you are assigned to | | | | the Strong Inventory, or use it simply as a |
| one category or another of a scale based on a | | | | starting point for discussion and don't take |
| seemingly arbitrary cutoff value. So, for | | | | it seriously as a personality measure, or |
| instance, my score on the thinking/feeling | | | | combine it with your intuitive appraisal of |
| scale is so close to the cutoff that I'm | | | | someone's personality.But for heaven's sake, |
| assigned to different categories depending on | | | | don't stamp a person's MBTI score on his or |
| how I'm feeling when I take the test. | | | | her forehead and let it determine the |
| | | | trajectory of their career.Okay, I'm done |
| I've seen plenty of introverts who can be | | | | with the rant and you can start throwing |
| quite extroverted when the situation calls | | | | sticks and stones if you want. |