I was subjected to a Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) analysis at a training day last week.
My first problem was with the questionnaire which is an either/or tick boxy thing. In most cases I could have chosen either box, depending on my mood at the moment, and the situation I was imagining myself in. For example, did I prefer (a) thinking or (b) feeling? Well BOTH actually.
The result of this dodgy questionnaire is that I was categorised into one of 16 personality types. This brings me to my second problem with the whole thing – the descriptors of the different types read like horoscopes, and actually, I could identify with bits from most of them.
I asked the ‘experts’ what they thought about this and here is a brief summary of our discussion….
Me: Can you explain why the either/or questions are used, rather than trying to elicit more graduated responses?
Expert: Oh, your type are always the ones that query the questionnaire process. I expect you also object to being put into a category when you feel that everyone is unique?’.
Me: Erm…….yes.....
Spot on actually. I thought it best to sit quietly for the rest of the day
7 comments:
I think your response, instead of being "Erm yes" should have been "You mean intelligent and discriminating, don't you?".
And perhaps if I had been intelligent and discriminating (and quick witted), that would have been my answer...
Horoscopes read like personality descriptions actually ;-)
The reason why it's an either/or questionnaire is because the underlying theory is that the mental functions involved are inherently dichotomous - when you're "doing" Thinking, you're not "doing" Feeling. The MBTI uses this as the basis for figuring out which side of the dichotomy you most likely fall.
The reason why you see parts of yourself in other descriptions is because we *all* do *all* of these functions, we just *prefer* to do one over the other. The MBTI indicates preferences.
There are indicators that use a Likert scale and are also based on Jungian psychology, such as the Singer-Loomis, and you might find their results more to your liking.
Don't look to the descriptions as the end-all and be-all of the MBTI - it's actually much more complex. They're certainly not containers. They're more like postal codes - you call one home, but you probably visit others (and may even spend more time in others than you do at home, but one is still 'home').
I won't comment on the "expert" in question, and their training methods, since I don't know anything about them. But I hope your training didn't end there. Don't look to the failings of a trainer as a failure of the underlying theory and application.
Hello Michael.
Whilst I'm sure there are sound principles behind the whole theory, I don't think the questionnaire is very effective if, like me, you are either leaving lots of questions unanswered, or plumping for one answer without any real understanding or preference. I came out very differently the last time I was 'Myers-Brigged'.
Also, the whole thing smacks to me of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, in that managers go away from these awayday type events with a box/label for their staff, without any real understanding of the complexities, and I find that more than a bit scary!
Those tests are so creepy. I hate being analyzed. By self or otherwise!
Those tests are bollocks. If you're doing them for work, you're bound to just put whatever answer you think you *ought* to put.
When I was an admin assistant, I came out on the Belbin test as a Completer/Finisher - despite the fact that I am congenitally incapable of completing or finishing anything. The next time I did it, by which point I'd been promoted to account manager, I came out as a Monitor/Evaluator. Utter rot, the lot of it.
I'm very glad I work for myself now and don't have to bother with any of that rubbish.
Tara: Me too - naval gazing just gives me a crick in my neck.
Patroclus: Exactly. All any of these tests do is highlight what you are doing or feeling at that moment - do we really need a consultant to tell us this I wonder?
However, these people are smart - every one of the tests need payment to use them and there are plenty of people who pay up - clever!
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