Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - I'm an INTP

A couple of months ago I was asked to take a personality test at work, to determine my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The test is a questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the theories of Carl Jung. Some academics have criticized the indicator as not being based on sound theoretical basis, but it is quite popular and seems to have reasonable predictive powers as to behaviour.

The model is described quite well here, but, in summary, works by examining 4 opposite pairs of ways of thinking or acting:

Extraversion/Introversion - whether you prefer to act and interact with people or things or think and reflect

Sensing/Intuition - do you prefer to gather concrete information or do you trust information that is more abstract and theoretical

Thinking/Feeling - do you make decisions from a logical, detached viewpoint or do you look at the situation from the inside and empathise

Judging/Perceiving - this dimension describes how you look at the outside world - do you prefer to have matters settled or keep things open

The 16 possible combinations give the Myers-Briggs personality types. There are plenty of places to take the test online. My Personality Info lets you create a badge for your blog, like this...


So does it predict how I behave? Well, firstly, it's pretty consistent with the results of the test I did at work. When I did it there, I had an interesting discussion with the assessor around my 'JP' dimension. The important thing in doing the test is to describe how you would prefer to behave not necessarily what you would do. I found I had learned lots of 'J' behaviour to get by in my professional life, but that, actually, I prefer just to go with the flow like a 'P'.

Once you've established your profile you can find lots of material about your personality type. Here and here are only some of the descriptions of an INTP-type person and here's how they can behave at work.

As an INTP, I am, of course a bit of a sceptic and aware of the Forer Effect that writers of horoscopes etc. rely on. Nevertheless, I think there is at least some truth in what it says about me. The most significant thing I've learned is that, by nature, I prefer not to organise people or things, which explains why I find it hard to do. So don't go asking me to organise a p*****p in a brewery!