Some days I find myself explaining more about what the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is NOT than what it is.
- a selection tool
- the only personality assessment
- developed directly by Jung
- meant to tell you everything about your personality
- mean to label you
- available in a free version
- an indicator of skill
I could go on and on, but let's discuss the last bullet point here. The MBTI does not assess ability or skill in your preferences.
If the MBTI did indicate skill or ability, then as an ISTJ who relies on things on seen/touch/felt/heard/tasted and who thinks logically about making decisions by weighing pros/cons and evaluating consequences, then I would not:
- purchase a Power Ball ticket every Wednesday and Saturday (because the odds are I would have more money over my lifetime if I just put it in a porcelain piggy bank than handing it over to the lottery commission)
- have a serious fear of the number 13, also known as Triskaidekaphobia (this fear causes me to put back items I've purchased if the total equals 13. I don't schedule meetings/important events on the 13th. I've also been known to call in "Triskaidekaphobic" when a test lands on the 13th. No joking). No matter how logically I can look at the phobia, I still get anxious when I see the number 13. This is not something someone with "strong" sensing preferences would allow.
- be positive that a ghost cat used to live in my room, but had a battle with my real life cat (which ended with my real life cat being super sick for over a week). Sounds kooky, I know! I truly believe it, though. When you feel something jump on your bed and walk up beside you in a slinky cat-like way...and then you look and nothing is there, it will mess with your head!
- refuse to pick up a penny if it is tails up because that would mean bad luck for the rest of the day.
- believe in the Ides of March just because someone told me she was superstitious one day (peer pressure superstitions?)
- refuse to buy a green car because both of my grandfathers were race car drivers and say green cars are bad luck (not coincidentally, when my mom bought a green car we were hit by a drunk driver and totaled it in the first year. I'm just sayin'!).
I could go on with about 10 more bullet points about my superstitions and personality quirks, but then you might worry about me!
The point is that ISTJ's are seen as being good at taking in data and logically assessing the information to make a decision. That doesn't mean an ISTJ will always do that well. It just means that is his/her preference. Similarly, you can be right handed, but not extremely graceful with your right hand. You can still be clumsy with your right hand and have a strong right-hand preference.
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2 comments:
I agree with your main point. For example, I know an ISFJ that is better at brainstorming than some ENTP's.
However, your examples of superstition seem to prove the opposite. :-) You basically seem to be saying that intuition mostly occurs with you in an inferior way. So, you'd be lead to conclude that you don't have good 'intuition skills'.
Interesting question perhaps is if it is because of your strong sensing preferences that you have such superstitions. Seeing dangerous possibilities everywhere is one of the attributes of inferior extraverted intuition. The inferior typically comes out when you are overusing your dominant.
This is funny - I guest posted here about my gradual shift from testing F to testing T. As a proclaimed dominant introverted F, I always felt that I had HUGE conflict with dominant extroverted F. Felt hijacked by it. Your post just reminded me that if I'm truly a dominant introverted T, then dominant extroverted F is my inferior function! (In fact, I don't have as much conflict with extroverted thinking, the inferior function of introverted F.)
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