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