Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Do What You Are

There are lots of these online, but I thought this Personality Type Quiz was simple and smart, letting you find your Myers-Briggs type with four quick choices and then exploring the implications of your type. I'm solid INTP, meaning that I tend to be (quite accurately):
"quiet, independent, and private; logical and unemotional; creative, ingenious, and innovative, global thinkers; curious and driven to increase their competence; casual, and adaptive; nonconforming and unpredictable."
My list of suggested careers and the advice on how to love me seem pretty close, overall.

A lot of people make fun of these quizzes, but I think they're good tools to get you reflecting about who you are and to trigger ideas for how to align various parts of your life (work, especially) with your identity. Bridges Transitions (my current employer) also offers a subscription-based version for schools that has a similar flow, but with more in-depth questions, richer reports and professional resources.

Thanks to Penelope for reminding me to dig around in this stuff some more.

23 comments:

Jason said...

ISTJ apparently. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I'm sure you'd know since it's easier to judge from as an outsider.

Jeremy said...

You think so? I think it would be pretty tough to do this for someone else. Just skimming through the descriptions, I could see ISTJ matching you in some ways, but the summary description just doesn't seem particularly good:

"cautious, conservative, and quiet; literal, realistic, and practical; careful and precise; logical, honest, and matter of fact; resistant to change and comfortable with routine; hard working and responsible."

What do you think? I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know the Jason from the past few years well enough to judge the match.

Jason said...

"cautious, conservative, and quiet; literal, realistic, and practical; careful and precise; logical, honest, and matter of fact; resistant to change and comfortable with routine; hard working and responsible."

If it started out as, "cautious, extremely liberal, and quiet..." then it would be dead on.

It's not embarrassing, we just don't know each other like we used to. Although, I always like to think that I know exactly who Jeremy Hiebert is, but then I read some of your posts, or I see you, and you say something that blows me away and sets me in my place.

The current state of our relationship has a lot to do with the choices we've made in our life. You've decided that time with your family is more important than seeing your cousin once a month or less. I've decided that social interaction isn't fun and I'd rather sit in my house and do lots of nothing.

That, maybe, didn't come out right, but I hope you know what I mean. We've made decisions that have helped in drifting us apart. I decided biking was too much expendable energy that I just didn't have. That choice of lifestyle cut the amount of time we spend together.

I should say that whenever we do go for a ride I enjoy it to no end. Not only do I get to get out and enjoy nature and have a blast, but I get to hang with (and learn about, and from) one of my favourite people in the world.

Jason said...

Thanks to Jer we figured out that I'm not a ISTJ, but either an ISTP or an INTP. Oddly enough, both fit.

Anonymous said...

I did this test when I first started with Weyerhaeuser and I was a very strong ISTJ, I actually scored 100% on two of the variables, "I" and "T". It fits me perfectly as well. The woman who did the analysis thought it was a little creepy actually, as did I.

As for the two of you, you are in each in the stage of your life where your immediate family comes first, when you are older and kids take up less of your time, you may come to know each other better once again. I don't have kids and I don't have time for anyone now, what will I do when I have kids? Maybe I'll just have to pass on the kids.

Garth said...

I actually use the Teiger's book The Art of Speedreading People for my Interpersonal Processes class and generally speaking - my students appreciate learning about their personality types. I also ask them about the ethics of "speedreading" others - whether it is manipulative in nature or just good for relationships...I've gotten some interesting responses!

Jason said...

Thanks for that Garth. I'll check out that book if I ever have the time. Know where I can get it? Would it be at the library?

Jason said...

Nick, that really doesn't surprise me. We all know how strong of a personality you are. It's not like you're wishy-washy in any way.

Garth said...

Depends on your public library Jason - it is available on Amazon.ca

Mr. GluSniffer said...

One more thing we have in common -- I've consistently tested out as an INTP -- and as a I understand, this is one of less common types.

Jeremy said...

Jay, I realize we already talked about this, but thanks for your thoughtful comments here -- good stuff, and I agree with most of it.

And only you can really judge your type, I'd say...but from what we looked at together, the ISTP sounded better suited for you: "logical, pragmatic, and matter of fact; quiet, unassuming, and autonomous; realistic, pragmatic, and aloof; impulsive and curious about the physical world; flexible and resourceful; objective and unemotional."

Jeremy said...

Nick, ISTJ sounds a little dull and overly practical for you too; more like a quieter Ned Flanders. Your hilarious creative streak and spontaniety must show up more in one of the other types.

As for passing on having kids, it sounds like you're more aware than some of the impact it would have. I have never been more keenly aware of the value of time.

Jeremy said...

Hey Garth, I saw some of their "speedreading people" stuff on the site and immediately reacted badly to the concept...but it's something we're doing anyway, so why should it be a problem to make the process more conscious and explicit? If it helps ease communication, perhaps it's a valuable tool.

Jeremy said...

Cool, Brian. Your pondering led me to find the distribution of types in the population and INTP is indeed in the bottom half of the 16 with just over 3%. If you look at the distribution for each individual letter, N, T and P are all outnumbered, and apparently people are almost exactly split 50-50 on the introvert-extrovert question. Fascinating stuff.

Jeremy said...

Brian, also interesting to note that the two most common types (ISFJ and ESFJ) out of the 16 make up at least a quarter of the population, and they're pretty much the opposite of INTPs like us.

E said...

INTJ. I balance on a couple traits, but in general, INTJ all the way.

Heather said...

(Extravert, Sensor, Feeler, Judger)

People of this type tend to be: active, friendly, and energetic; outgoing, affectionate, and talkative; concerned about others and careful to be polite and cooperative; realistic, literal, and conscientious; highly sensitive and easily hurt; organized, responsible, and conventional.

The most important thing to ESFJs is their relationships and helping people in real, and practical ways.

Jeremy said...

Evan, I wonder how many ed-tech types would be somewhere in the INTP/INTJ realm? You, me and Brian isn't the largest sample set, but you've got me thinkin'...
: )

Jeremy said...

Heather, that's hilarious. You and I are the exact opposite personality type, but you're in much larger company (12% of the population, compared to my weakling 3%). I'd be curious to see what the gender split would be on ESFJs -- my hunch would be (probably wrong and sexist) that it would skew way in favour of women...there's probably some research on that...hmmm...

Heather said...

Jer, I haven't seen Ryan's results on the quiz - but I suspect he would have a similar type to yours. What were Tannis' results? I'd be curious to see if opposites really do attract. :) You are probably right about the man-to-woman ratio of ESFJs. Very likely a higher ratio of women in that category. I would have to say that all the character traits they list are pretty much bang on as far as my personality goes. The list of How to Love an ESJF was pretty bang on too!

Jeremy said...

I tried doing it with RP in mind, but found it hard. I ended up thinking that the description for INTJ sounded pretty good, but on most of the pairs, there were good ones on both sides.

Tannis and I are very close, actually. She's is an INFP (to my INTP), and we both recognize each other pretty closely in those types. We've always known we weren't an opposites-attract kinda couple. We agree on one key to loving both INFPs and INTPs: "don't bug them about being messy."
: )

Heather said...

Ryan likely falls into one of the INT categories. I'll have to work on not bugging him about being messy!

Jason said...

I know that was a joke, Heather, but you shouldn't stop bugging him just because it's his personality type. It's mine too, but if Karen wasn't on me all the time the pigs could move in and feel right at home.