# What is your Myers-Briggs type?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 27, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165 "2009-01-27T01:31:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@The\_Defenestrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Defenestrator)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/21 "2009-01-27T03:42:51Z")
ESFP
I’ll be surprised if there’s more than a few of us here.
As a side note, I find most of the actual test questions to be annoying, and I feel that is actually easier to type yourself by finding a good thorough [description of the types](http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/mbtypes.htm), and narrowing down from there. Especially since it’s easy to get a letter or two off from the test.
I got introduced to Myers-Briggs by my mom (INFJ). I probably wouldn’t have gotten interested in it otherwise.
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Well, if the idea that dopers are smarter than the average bears is true, there _ought_ to be a fair number of INTJ and ENTJ folks on the boards.
Hey, that’s not fair. Those types are not inherently more intelligent than other types.
---
### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/22 "2009-01-27T03:46:11Z")
> [@robardin](#):
>
> I still wonder though – for those of you who knew this right off the bat, how did you get introduced to this concept?
Back in the 1990s, I worked for a guy who was getting his PhD in business. He asked me to take the Meyers Briggs test as administered by a trained professional (yes, such things exist). He was interested in seeing the results and getting my input on how accurate and relevant it was. I took it and was an ENFJ. I’ve since retaken it online and it came out the same.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/23 "2009-01-27T03:47:37Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Well, if the idea that dopers are smarter than the average bears is true, there _ought_ to be a fair number of INTJ and ENTJ folks on the boards.
I am not really sure that we can say any one personality is “smarter” than the other.
Besides I’m dumber than a box of hammers.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/24 "2009-01-27T03:49:06Z")
> [@robardin](#):
>
> Part of the OP of this polling thread should be some way to determine the answer, or even an explanation of what a “Myers-Briggs” type indicator is. I’d never heard of it.
>
> I Googled lightly and found [http://www.myersbriggs.org](http://www.myersbriggs.org), which while giving a high level description of how there are several dimensions resulting in a 16-box grid/chart of personality types that suggest different ways of processing information(?), there is no simple way to “take” this test. Meaning, a free online test that takes a short amount of time. It’s an administered test by a trained professional and which costs at least $50 or so. And these professionals are trained to do the test in an “ethical” way – which is rather ominous. What, in the “wrong hands” the test results could be harmful?
>
> Why would I want to spend the time and money do this? What exactly is finding out my M-B type supposed to help me determine?
>
> Or is it me this test is meant to enlighten at all? Is this some kind of evaluation that some schools, companies or agencies are requiring people to undergo as a prerequisite for employment or placement?
The thread linked to in the OP might be interesting to you.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/25 "2009-01-27T03:52:30Z")
1.
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### Author:  [@Elyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elyanna)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/26 "2009-01-27T03:52:40Z")
INFP.
I once had many of my friends take one of the online tests, and they were overrepresented in the idealist (NF) and Guardian (SJ) types, with Rationals (NT) giving an okay showing and Artisans (SP) hardly showing up at all. Guess that’s what happens when a group self-selects.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/27 "2009-01-27T04:11:19Z")
\*High-fives \*\*John DiFool \*_and **Elyanna** _ INFP here as well. We’re supposed to be rarest type of all, something like 2% of the US population or some such? I wonder if it’s different globally.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/28 "2009-01-27T04:24:52Z")
INTJ
To other INTJ’s…dontcha just hate it when someone says, “Because we’ve _always_ done it that way!”
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### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/29 "2009-01-27T04:29:58Z")
> [@Rysdad](#):
>
> INTJ
>
> To other INTJ’s…dontcha just hate it when someone says, “Because we’ve _always_ done it that way!”
Ditto. I thought everyone hated that! :dubious:
Well, they should anyway. 😃
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/30 "2009-01-27T04:34:09Z")
> [@Queen\_Bruin](#):
>
> I am not really sure that we can say any one personality is “smarter” than the other.
Sure, next you’ll say that the common wisdom that [sociopaths](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sociopaths++INTJ) are most often INTJ isn’t right either:p
The idea that NTs are more intelligent comes from a mostly useless book called Do What You Are by Paul Tieger & Barbra Barron-Tieger. It’s a lot less insightful than the authors pat themselves on the back for.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/31 "2009-01-27T04:46:26Z")
INTJ
Taken the test several times and had very consistent results.
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### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/32 "2009-01-27T04:46:55Z")
The rarest personality types are ([according to wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator)):
INFJ: 1.5%
ENTJ: 1.8%
INTJ: 2.1%
ENFJ: 2.4%
The most common:
ISFJ: 13.8%
ESFJ: 12.3%
ISTJ: 11.6%
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/33 "2009-01-27T04:46:56Z")
INTJ.
You are:
moderately expressed introvert
moderately expressed intuitive personality
distinctively expressed thinking personality
moderately expressed judging personality
I’m pretty sure the first time I took this test a few years ago I got something slightly different, but now I can’t remember what.
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### Author:  [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/34 "2009-01-27T05:24:07Z")
I come up INTP pretty consistently, though. [This](http://typelogic.com/intp.html) description struck me as pretty accurate, especially about such things as “a haunting sense of impending failure”, second-guessing oneself, overlooking details, and loving word games, that I’m pretty sure aren’t covered explicitly in the questionnaires.
I will admit that I routinely get sucked into personality quizzes, but I usually need to read about all of the possible results. I’m sure at some point last summer I read through all of the introverted types, just to see if they sounded more accurate. They didn’t.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/35 "2009-01-27T05:24:08Z")
> [@robardin](#):
>
> Part of the OP of this polling thread should be some way to determine the answer, or even an explanation of what a “Myers-Briggs” type indicator is. I’d never heard of it.
>
> I Googled lightly and found [http://www.myersbriggs.org](http://www.myersbriggs.org), which while giving a high level description of how there are several dimensions resulting in a 16-box grid/chart of personality types that suggest different ways of processing information(?), there is no simple way to “take” this test. Meaning, a free online test that takes a short amount of time. It’s an administered test by a trained professional and which costs at least $50 or so. And these professionals are trained to do the test in an “ethical” way – which is rather ominous. What, in the “wrong hands” the test results could be harmful?
>
> Why would I want to spend the time and money do this? What exactly is finding out my M-B type supposed to help me determine?
>
> Or is it me this test is meant to enlighten at all? Is this some kind of evaluation that some schools, companies or agencies are requiring people to undergo as a prerequisite for employment or placement?
All fair questions. See the other thread I linked to in the OP for the relevant discussion of the system’s merits-in short I think it is reasonably valid within the rather narrow confines it patrols. And yes thank you for the link to the test.
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### Author:  [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/36 "2009-01-27T05:24:10Z")
INTJ or, rarely, INTP. I’m not as authoritarian as I’d need to be to be a strong J, probably.
I’m not as introverted as most descriptions, either. I’ve given speeches in front of a few hundred people without much stress. I don’t seek out attention, but I deal with being the center of attention pretty well when it happens. I have no problem dealing with big parties, being social with people I don’t know, or the other things introverts have trouble with, it’s just that I’d _prefer_ to have smaller groups of people to be with.
My feeling is that you don’t actually get to know anything about someone in a large group, other than how they react around crowds. More intimate gatherings are much more conducive to actual communication and perception. I sometimes feel alienated in crowds since you don’t get that kind of connection.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/37 "2009-01-27T05:36:15Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> \*High-fives \*\*John DiFool \*_and **Elyanna** _ INFP here as well. We’re supposed to be rarest type of all, something like 2% of the US population or some such? I wonder if it’s different globally.
Charmed. 🆒
During my high school years I would definitely be considered more extreme on all four counts (except maybe F/T where I’ve probably shaded a bit more towards F since then). I was very shy and reserved (loner), constantly created whole worlds in my head to the exclusion of almost all else, and was as hopelessly disorganized, scatterbrained, and unfocused as you could possibly be (a la my bedroom, schoolwork, whatever). Since then I’ve significantly honed my E, S, and J functions (am much more outgoing, assertive, and engaging, tho my loner streak is still strong; can look more objectively at things without imagining them to be something else-including (especially, rather) other people; and can force myself to be tidy and efficient when the situation calls for it (tho my bedroom still looks like a nuke went off in there, and I still have my “blonde” moments).
Before vs. After, I’d peg my percentages as
10 E-90 I
40 E-60 I
15 S-85 N
35 S-65 N
45 T-55 F
40 T-60 F
5 J-95 P
40 J-60 P
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### Author:  [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/38 "2009-01-27T05:42:43Z")
INFP. I’m not artistic at all, though. Mainly I’m just inefficient and overly sensitive, hence the F and P.
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### Author:  [@sovtawen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sovtawen)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/39 "2009-01-27T06:40:37Z")
I am an INFJ.
We’re only 1.5% of the population. I feel so alone… ☹
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### Author:  [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-myers-briggs-type/483165/40 "2009-01-27T06:41:52Z")
ISTJ 89 50 50 67
Portrait of the Inspector (ISTJ)
The one word that best describes Inspectors is superdependable. Whether at home or at work, Inspectors are extraordinarily persevering and dutiful, particularly when it comes to keeping an eye on the people and products they are responsible for. In their quiet way, Inspectors see to it that rules are followed, laws are respected, and standards are upheld.
Fits me like a glove.
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