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Myers & Briggs

Myers & Briggs

Myers & Briggs

(OP)
A while back I was in a group of 25 engineers who were all required to take the Myers & Briggs Personality test.  I came across the group results this week and found them more interesting now than I did then.

After much grumbling, we all took the test and then had a group meeting to compare results.  I find it amazing that in the 16-section box not a single engineer was in the center four boxes.  Most were in the upper left or the lower right. About 1/3 of the group was in one of the 8 blocks that aren't in the corner or the center.  There were zero boarderline scores.  We "was all who we was".

Anyone else want to share any observations about this test, personality tests in general, or their own score (mine was ENTJ)?  Are all engineers destined to be locked solidly into a personality box from which there is no escape?

David

RE: Myers & Briggs

Never taken the official test.

For what it's worth, though, I just went and took a handful of online ones.

ENTJ ("field marshall")
ISTJ ("inspector")
ESTJ  ("supervisor")
ESTP ("promoter"; in the middle 4 boxes)

Uh huh.

Interesting discussion here:
http://skepdic.com/myersb.html
(including reader comments)

Hg

RE: Myers & Briggs

Every company I've had interviews with have insisted on a personality test, or psychometric test as they're called. In addition they also test my english and maths. Being english and having degrees in maths I find this a bit of an insult. Surprise surprise, I also do well in those fields. The personality part of the test has often proved to give misleading results and is probably as valuable as reading your horoscope. At least it keeps the Human Resource people in a job though I think they'd be better employed reading tea leaves.

corus

RE: Myers & Briggs

One company I worked for gave an aptitude test.  One rating I received was "weak with math skills" which was a bit of a surprise.  I think that result was from the way I answered questions like "Would you like to sort library books?".  No, I would not like to sort library books.  I would, however, be interested in designing an automatic system to eliminate the tedious task of manual sorting.

The test was a general test and obviously not targeted toward technical professionals.

RE: Myers & Briggs

I've actually had the MBTI professionally administered and interpreted, and I was surprised how accurately it depicted my character traits. I am approximately 100% I, 50/50% S/N, 100% T, 100% P. According to one website ISTP/INTP puts me into the Scientist category.

xnuke

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RE: Myers & Briggs

I took a MB test a couple of different times, each one different, and all the results were quite close to what I would think would be accurate (other people close to me corroborate that as well).

I like you was quite polarized.  Not on all scales, but the result was not middle of the road by any means.

That said, I don't think taking the test revealed anything to me.  I think people who show definitive character traits don't need a test to tell them who they are.

Dave

RE: Myers & Briggs

While the test seems accurate if answered honestly, it is easy to skew the results to what you think your employer would like to see.  You can get quite different results if you answer regarding traits you would like to have vs those you do have.

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