# I Pit My Personality Type **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 14, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790 "2017-10-14T06:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/21 "2017-10-14T17:40:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I don’t know what mine is… Take the test. It’s fun! ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/22 "2017-10-14T18:01:01Z")
Now a days they have what they cal “the spectrum”. The real question is: what is normal? Personally I think psychiatrists and the media made up what’s supposed to be normal to make money. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/23 "2017-10-14T18:26:55Z")
Rather than astrology, I would compare the Meyers-Briggs test to those “What 80’s band is your spirit animal?” type quizzes on Buzzfeed and other sites. The tests are mildly amusing, and who knows, they might provide a springboard for some self reflection. But they have no scientific validity at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/24 "2017-10-14T18:43:01Z")
Wait, are you saying there are people on this board who don’t believe in _astrology?_ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/25 "2017-10-14T21:58:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Wait, are you saying there are people on this board who don’t believe in _astrology?_ Well, Us Virgos certainly don’t! ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/26 "2017-10-15T12:33:49Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > How about IN **F** J?! > > Fucking F. ☹ Hey, I’m an INFJ! Supposedly it’s the second rarest type. I get a kick out of astrology, btw, Daily horoscopes are bunk, but I think there are enough aspects to natal charts and such it to make one believe it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/27 "2017-10-15T12:44:51Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > “Forming a lasting, committed relationship will be the hardest endeavor of your life.” I’ll take “universal human traits” for $300, Alex. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/28 "2017-10-15T12:55:41Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Take the test. It’s fun! OK. So, I’m apparently **Posh Spice**. What the hell does that even mean??:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![LongTimeLurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@LongTimeLurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LongTimeLurker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/29 "2017-10-15T14:08:49Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > [I’ll just leave this here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NQqSnkI32A) +1 I love Adam, he even pit’s himself when he screws up. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/30 "2017-10-17T11:56:17Z")
While we’re busy pitting this test (or something like it), it irritates me every time someone makes a comment along the lines of “Oh, you’re definitely an extrovert” or “oh, so you’re an introvert.” Fact is, sometimes I like being around other people and sometimes I don’t. “Oh,” people insist, “but it’s all about how you RECHARGE. What recharges you, being around other people or being along?” Both!! Sometimes I’m alone so much that I feel restless and yearn to be around other people; sometimes I’m around other people so much I feel exhausted and yearn to be alone. The fact that I need to be one or the other, and that it reveals something intrinsic to my character, is bullshit, and I hate that so many people feel the need to categorize me in that way. If you want to categorize yourself, fine, that’s great. But to then try to categorize me is annoying and inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/31 "2017-10-17T15:06:07Z")
What I remember reading is that people do a better job self selecting based on the criteria than any test actually does at sorting people. Not sure how they figured that out, but I’ll go ahead and check what fits me the most again. And, what I found is split between two: [INFP](http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INFJ.html): I have an extremely strong sense of right and wrong, that correlates with what is best for people. You don’t see it much here, but I’m often told I’m a good listener, and deeply care about people. I get angry when my “value system” is “threatened,” but otherwise hate conflict. I do have control problems when working in groups, to the point I’ve left them to just do it all myself before. So I do have the perfectionist tendencies. [INTP](http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INTP.html): But I do a lot more thinking than figuring things out intuitively. And I think about things differently, with that rational logical part missing from the above. I want to figure things out. I have a strong internal world, and think the externals are not that important. I do have a problem with thinking of myself more highly than I ought, and of wanting to rebel against social norms that I think are dumb. And I do have a problem of expressing things I believe as absolute truths. After finding these both, I do seem to remember having a thing where I was in the middle between Thinking and Feeling. Though I also was near the middle on I/E. But the whole “how you recharge” thing does fit I a lot better. As for the disdain: I get it. It’s not all that good, and not scientific. But it causes me to think differently about people than I normally do, so I kinda like it. Plus it makes it easier to admit my personal flaws. But I still don’t think there’s much point in taking a test. Just look at [the lis](http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html)t, and pick the one(s) that fit. It can help you put into words things about yourself. Or not, but it can still be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/32 "2017-10-17T15:06:23Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The disdain for Myers-Briggs baffles me. The test asks questions which paraphrased are “Are you introverted?” and then, at the end tells you you’re “I.” How is that like astrology? > [@Merneith](#): > > I don’t have much opinion on M-B but that’s pretty much exactly like astrology. > [@septimus](#): > > Uhhhh … this claim is so wrong, so utterly nonsensical, that I’m going to assume you had some mental lapse. > > Take a deep breath; reread the statement you’re responding to with the realization that “I” stands for “Introverted”; think for a few seconds; and try again. I can’t speak for Merneith but I think the argument would be that just because somebody sees themselves as having a certain personality trait, doesn’t mean they actually have it. It’s like the cliche about how four out of five people rate themselves as being above average as a driver. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/33 "2017-10-17T15:22:51Z")
I’m also INTJ, which is the coolest because you can sing your type to the tune of “YMCA”. Any personality type can be compatible with a long and happy relationship. You just have to recognize what your traits are and how to smooth some of the rougher edges to make yourself more palatable to others. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/34 "2017-10-17T17:36:56Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But I still don’t think there’s much point in taking a test. Just look at [the lis](http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html)t, and pick the one(s) that fit. It can help you put into words things about yourself. Or not, but it can still be fun. I’ll grant you this: I do think it would be cool if I could look at a list of personality types and say “Hey, that’s me!” and feel like I belong and that somewhere in the world, 1% (or w/e) of other people share my tendency to react in a certain way. But none of those descriptions fit me. And when someone asks me (nicely and innocently) what category I fall into and all I can say is I don’t belong anywhere on that test – ehhh, not so fun. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/35 "2017-10-17T18:19:02Z")
Yeah. Every MB test I’ve ever taken has left me thinking “yup, that’s what I’d like to think I am.” There were just way too many self-assessment questions that I could have answered either way and would have preferred a disinterested opinion on. INXP. skewing toward T usually. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/36 "2017-10-17T18:30:10Z")
I took the test and it said I’m a Ravenclaw. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/37 "2017-10-17T18:52:17Z")
A few years back here at corpoglomerate, they made all of us do the MB test (or a thinned business world version). The head-slappy ridiculous part was that they also associated each type to “job roles that type would most excel at”. So you got HR folks put in a category, engineers in another, mechanics in another, and so on. Needless to say, the ‘togetherness workshops’ devolved into a bunch of arguments, bickering, and sarcasm (that’s what happens when you let in the INTP types ;)) Most ridiculous was that management was declared to be best as an ‘E’ type, and managers were encouraged to pursue changing their own personalities and outlooks to retest themselves eventually into an ‘E’ type. [Glover] I’m getting too old for this shit [/Glover] ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/38 "2017-10-17T20:43:59Z")
My personality type has several times been confirmed as JERK. I’m OK with that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/39 "2017-10-17T23:51:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s like the cliche about how four out of five people rate themselves as being above average as a driver. I’m #5, a gawdawful driver who knows it. > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Needless to say, the ‘togetherness workshops’ devolved into a bunch of arguments, bickering, and sarcasm (that’s what happens when you let in the INTP types ;)) We ruin every meeting. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790/40 "2017-10-18T00:46:27Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I’ll take “universal human traits” for $300, Alex. You’re right! Now the OP owes you $300. Me, I’ll choose “6 or 7 of the 16 personality types could apply to me at some point in my life… heck, in an average day.” I like to say “The Sorting Hat put me in the local tavern”… but “put me in INFP” would work, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-personality-type/798790.md?page=3)