Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless

Vox ^ | July 15, 2014 | Joseph Stromberg

[EveningStar]

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is probably the most widely used personality test in the world.

An estimated 2 million people take it annually, at the behest of corporate HR departments, colleges, and even government agencies. The company that makes and markets the test makes somewhere around $20 million each year.

The only problem? The test is completely meaningless.

[OneWingedShark]

I favor the ancient Greek’s quadrant approach (Galen’s four types: cholerics, melancholics, phlegmatics, and sanguines). Add that there only two types of humans (conscious and unconscious, relating to recognizing why they do what they do), and you have a very useful sorting system.

Sorting system… four types… I know what this calls for:

…I got Hufflepuff.
😒

[no-s]

INTJ here.

No, no - you can't be introverted if you volunteered that in public. ;)

[dangus]

I can, but it’s unreasonable. It should have become burocrat long ago. This would also cause less confusion, since it would separate the buro office from the furniture bureau. See, “Tri-boro bridge” as an attempt to similarly change “borough” to “boro.”

[dangus]

He didn’t. He used an anonymous post.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

We’re a rare breed!

[NorthMountain]

Well ...

I disagree. A bureau is both an office, and a desk with drawers in said office ... typically a government office.

However ...

I could go along with spelling it “burro-crat” ...

[dangus]

That’s just it... people rarely mean a desk when they say a bureau. Typically, they mean a set-of-drawers for clothes. If you mean a desk, by all means, lump it in with the office.

[dangus]

>> Some personality types do better in different jobs. <<

I’d even be less direct, and say merely tat some personality types have an affinity towards skill sets useful in certain jobs.

[BuckeyeTexan]

INTJ
89,25,50,22

Totally me.

[Agamemnon]

It is interesting to see the preponderance of admitted introverts using this measure who have posted to this thread.

"ENTJ" FReegards!

[OneWingedShark]

I see.
You must be an ENFP.

[reed13k]

Oh - I thought he’d be an ISTP

[reed13k]

danggit ISFP

[SoothingDave]

It’s useless because any self-respecting sociopath can fool a bunch of HR people.

[goodnesswins]

HAHAHAHA

[goodnesswins]

HEY...I WAS in HR....when it was a legitimate, USEFUL part of the management team....I quit...because it began to feel like I was working for the Government, and I hated it. Babysitting at times, too. Once sat with the Oregon Intel FAB site Director at a 6am meeting of mfg groups....he turned to me and said...”why are we here? to babysit?” Or something like that. That was the beginning of my decline in HR...INTEL had a manual 3 inches thick of “policies”....I once fired someone on night shift (drugs)...without telling my boss till a.m.....I almost got fired on THAT one....but, I did the right thing...and survived.

[Edward Teach]

I wish. I stumbled on it some time ago.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I’ve taken the test at least a dozen different times over 30+ years. Always come out clearly ISTJ - and the type information fits me pretty well. I think that the author is trying to read more into the test than it is meant for - it just points out personality tendancies, it can’t predict how anyone will act in a specific situation.