Do you believe in the accuracy of Meyers Briggs and other Personality Tests?

[Anonymous]

Seriously is it so hard to understand that some people are introverted and other extroverted and that it can help to know for various reasons. As a manger, parent, choosing careers, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like the horoscope, you see what you want to see.

--PhD psyc.

I’m so happy to see a professional say this! That’s what I think but I have no experience in the field. The test seems ridiculous to me. I took it several times a few years back and my results were basically in the middle for everything. Which makes sense because a) people rarely fall to one extreme or the other with any personality trait and b) the test sets up false dichotomies.

And the results sound exactly like horoscopes.

But if somebody finds the test really helpful, whatever.

PhD = “professional”

Um, actually the reliable personality tests have been overwhelmingly developed by PHD psychologists as that is their area of research. That is the Big Five research cited earlier. None are gospel, the predict some variance in human behavior but can be useful in understanding yourself and how to interact with others.

MBTI loses a lot of utility because the scale is bifurcated when your actual score may be closer to the middle.


PhD in psychology is not an expert in this field it’s stupid to act like they are.

But that typical of a Ph.D

[Anonymous]

^^^^ you can’t even figure out quotes... so

[Anonymous]

I’m a science PhD and I’m shocked (well okay, not really) that someone who apparently has a PhD in a field related to psychology doesn’t understand that Myers Briggs is nothing like horoscopes.

[Anonymous]

Complete BS way for consultants to make $$ & put people in convenient boxes. (Head of retained executive search firm)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a science PhD and I’m shocked (well okay, not really) that someone who apparently has a PhD in a field related to psychology doesn’t understand that Myers Briggs is nothing like horoscopes.

It's not an objective test. It can't be falsified. It's at best a general indicator reducing a spectrum to a set of binary attributes. But hey, I am a lowly engineer so I don't understand science.

[Anonymous]

I think Meyers Briggs is accurate if you answer the questions honestly and without overthinking. I took the test for the first time when I was 14. My dad was working on his masters and brought the test home. The result was ENFP. I’ve taken it at least a dozen times since then. The last time I took it, I was 50. My results have always been the same, even with different questions. I’m always an ENFP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Meyers Briggs is accurate if you answer the questions honestly and without overthinking. I took the test for the first time when I was 14. My dad was working on his masters and brought the test home. The result was ENFP. I’ve taken it at least a dozen times since then. The last time I took it, I was 50. My results have always been the same, even with different questions. I’m always an ENFP.

I have been an INFP every single time I have taken it as well.

[Anonymous]

Always an ENTJ over 35 years.

[Anonymous]

I think Meyers Briggs is accurate. But the results show a preference. People who are naturally introverted can do jobs that require the to be extroverted. They can be insightful on how certain fields can work to your type but they aren’t a miracle cure or necessarily help people get along any better in the work place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a science PhD and I’m shocked (well okay, not really) that someone who apparently has a PhD in a field related to psychology doesn’t understand that Myers Briggs is nothing like horoscopes.

It's not an objective test. It can't be falsified. It's at best a general indicator reducing a spectrum to a set of binary attributes. But hey, I am a lowly engineer so I don't understand science.

Oh .. an engineer, that explains your lack of basic EQ.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s necessarily accurate, but it is a common reference point of sorts for personality traits. I took a position on a volunteer committee and really wanted to understand how things work in the organization. I had a ton of questions. It was helpful to tell the other volunteers “I am not questioning you personally or trying to be hostile - it’s just my INTJ coming through!”

[Anonymous]

WRT MBTI: Nooooope.

The way it was developed fails all measures of scientific rigor. Personality is supposed to be stable over time, yet people often find that they are different Myers-Briggs types depending on the year (or even day) they take the inventory. The types in each dimension are supposed to be opposites —introvert and extrovert, thinking and feeling, sensing and intuitive, and judging and perceiving. If there really are two types within each of these dimensions, there should be bimodality when the data is normed. Yet, there isn’t: The data cluster around the middle.

Further, I think the MBTI data is used in really harmful ways. If you take it like a Buzzfeed quiz and better understand yourself, then fine. But if hiring managers make decisions using it, then they may lose out on great talent for no good reason. Personnel managers may make team grouping decisions that have little to do with hard skills and organizational talent and everything to do with personality voodoo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WRT MBTI: Nooooope.

The way it was developed fails all measures of scientific rigor. Personality is supposed to be stable over time, yet people often find that they are different Myers-Briggs types depending on the year (or even day) they take the inventory. The types in each dimension are supposed to be opposites —introvert and extrovert, thinking and feeling, sensing and intuitive, and judging and perceiving. If there really are two types within each of these dimensions, there should be bimodality when the data is normed. Yet, there isn’t: The data cluster around the middle.

Further, I think the MBTI data is used in really harmful ways. If you take it like a Buzzfeed quiz and better understand yourself, then fine. But if hiring managers make decisions using it, then they may lose out on great talent for no good reason. Personnel managers may make team grouping decisions that have little to do with hard skills and organizational talent and everything to do with personality voodoo.

Haha this is a copy paste

[Anonymous]

As someone who took time to write up my thoughts on the matter, I’d be interested if you could point to where you think I copied the above from?