Do the MBTI tests work?

Lerxst

Lerxst

Well-known member
MBTI
INFJ
Now, I've taken the MBTI tests in school, work and with a therapist and they always come out the same. The problem is, I can already see the pattern of the test and the specific topics each question is addressing. I can basically work the test to create whatever personality I want it to classify me as.

If I want to be an ESTJ - I like parties. I always follow instructions. Etc...

If I want to be an INFP - I like long walks alone. I'm disorganized. Etc...

Even the "good" tests that don't make the answers that obvious still seem obvious to me. I know that if I answer this for one question then it's testing my Judging trait, or this other one is testing my Sensing trait. I just keep a running tally of what my answers have been and throw in few here and there to feed the result I want... it's like counting cards in Blackjack.

Anyone else find yourselves "test proof" like this?
 
Short Answer: No, they do not.
 
That's exactly what I do, hence my sureness that I am INFJ. I think tests are most accurate for people who are new to MBTI. But for people that have been involved for a while, it takes further discussion. Look in the type me subforum, there's lots of page-long debates over really small things.
And, of course, it depends on the test. I don't think being subtle or indirect in approach is a necessity in a test; the tester just needs to know their type. Us N types can see through tests like you described, so we are typed more accurately by visiting with members of each type and comparing/contrasting.
 
They just don't work - at all.

When I did it the first time, it got 2 letters off, and other people I know got up to 3 letters off.
 
A self assessment test will only tell you who you think you are.

...and that is assuming there is no bias to any of the questions, and they're all measuring what they intend to measure accurately.

To make matters more difficult for the MBTI, it assumes that social attitude determines Introversion or Extroversion dominance, and that the cognitive functions can be determined via 4 dichotomies that are not directly connected to cognitive functions, nor based on how those functions are prone to develop.

Therefore, at best, the MBTI can only help you get in the ballpark of your type. There are a few other approaches out there that can also help get you in the ballpark - some directly attempting to measure the functions themselves, others directly pitting the functions against one another. If you take several different kinds of tests, you're more likely to get a closer estimate, but in the end it all boils down to learning about the functions, the types, and deciding for yourself.
 
I feel like a lot of the tests are crap though...

Are you organized? No, not really....P!

That's not how it works. These tests should go more into the cognitive functions to get J vs P.
 
MBTI is a great start for many people starting with typology, in my opinion. It gives you the raw materials to understand how personality works, and how it affects you. However, they are simply the training wheels into a more complex system. Sooner or later you're going to have to leave MBTI and delve deeply into JCF in order to get to the fundamentals of behavior and cognitive processes.

These tests should not be taken for truth or accuracy, but simply for guidance into the world of your own personality, nothing else. Once you understand what the letters mean, and how the orientations work, you're going to reach a wall/barrier in which case, the cognitive functions will destroy that barrier and once again lead you into more interesting perspectives.

After a while, even JCF will be an obstacle, and this is where you begin to make up your own theories and explanations of how your personality functions. This is where you make it individualized, and see how all things come together.
 
VH, I liked the second of those two tests. I never know in the test when I'm supposed to use my work self and when the self I use around my own family. They're opposites, to a great extent. I love nurturing my own family, and watching out for them. I would never do this at work with people I don't care about too much, or when it would seem inappropriate. With little kids, it's really fun to be close to them, and try to help them feel safe in the world. With grownups, it seems like a wasted effort, unless you plan to marry them or something.
 
VH said:
Aside from the fact that this test has a strong Fi bias (the Fi questions are simply asking if you have emotions in most cases), this test does a good job.

http://www.keys2cognition.com/explore.htm

Here is another cognitive function based test with a different approach.

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi/questionnaire/
Click to expand...

The second one gave me really high Fi and Ne. I've been through this whole infj vs infp thing too often to think this is correct.

I think going about testing Fi is hard. Everybody makes moral decisions. I feel a need for hypotheticals.
 
I like these videos which goes into the detail onto the many criticisms that MBTI has, and why people tend to get different results each time.

Part A:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxgPQjBZe98&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL"]YouTube - ‪Myers Briggs, Part 5A: Criticisms of the MBTI‬‏[/ame]

Part B:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWzLBqpWmyo&feature=autoplay&list=PLA1683A4EB410A798&index=44&playnext=3"]YouTube - ‪Myers Briggs, Part 5B: Criticisms of the MBTI‬‏[/ame]

Part C:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1YqwW3LIMQ&feature=related"]YouTube - ‪Myers Briggs, Part 5C: Criticisms of the MBTI‬‏[/ame]
 
VH said:
Aside from the fact that this test has a strong Fi bias (the Fi questions are simply asking if you have emotions in most cases), this test does a good job.

http://www.keys2cognition.com/explore.htm
Click to expand...

The fact that it associates the two makes it quite suspect in my book. Why?

Fi is a judging function. It doesn
 
aeon said:
The fact that it associates the two makes it quite suspect in my book. Why?

Fi is a judging function. It doesn’t work on an emotional level. It’s a cognitive function.
Click to expand...

I think the designers were at a serious loss on how to assess Fi and fell back on the MBTI assumptions for being a Feeler. I don't give any value to the Fi scores on that particular test.

bickelz said:
The second one gave me really high Fi and Ne. I've been through this whole infj vs infp thing too often to think this is correct.
Click to expand...

The issue on that test is that it pits function pairs against each other.

Ni vs. Se
Ti vs. Fe
Fi vs. Te
Si vs. Ne

Let's say you have a well developed Ni, Fe, and Ti. You're going to lean more toward Ni than Se. But, your Fe and Ti leans are going to be pretty close to the middle because they're similarly developed. This causes two responses that you feel strongly about in both cases to score as low because the test assumes that preferences will be clearly polarized.

Meanwhile, Ne will likely sound much more appealing to you than Si, and Fi will sound more appealing to you than Te because Si and Te are functions that oppose your Ego (Ni and Fe), and therefore you'll be likely to rate Ne and Fi far higher than they actually are.

This test would do so much better if it also pitted opposed functions against each other for a contrast.

Fe vs. Te
Ni vs. Si
Ne vs. Se
Fi vs. Ti

This would give more weight to one's actual functions to balance the discrepencies mentioned above.

I had contacted the developer of that quiz and offered this solution. I got an email reply that addressed my concerns directly, so I suppose I should be grateful for the time they took to respond, but the reply was extremely dismissive of my suggestions and went on to explain why it wouldn't help because the test is already working perfectly. Seemed like the kind of response you get when you bruise an ENTPs Ego. Therefore, I doubt there will be anything done to fix that anytime soon.

I've often considered making my own test...
 
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It's maybe 75% accurate on each letter, so that means it gets it right about 1/3 of the time.

As far as I know, there aren't even any tests with questions that even really deal much with what MBTI is.
 
I tested as INFP the first time I took it. I obviously had no idea what they meant when they said "values". I then tested as INTJ, and then ISFP moments later. When I understood what they meant about "values" I was no longer a Fi-type, and ISFP turned into ISTP. Later, I learned about how we develop our functions from the age of 6, 12, 20, and 35, and I realized that I may have been an ESTP all along-- my mental health is just very low, which is why I come off as an introvert today. When I was 6 years old I wasn't focused on Fi or Ne or Ni, I was focused on Se primarily, and Ti.

I will say that tests are as far from correct as they could possibly be, but that is mainly because everyone test as intuitive, and I mean literally-- everyone.
 
It works somehow. Among the people I know, there are a few who don't fit well within the model (including myself), but in general it's usable.

Try the cognitive processes test. That's harder to understand beforehand.

I was always wondering why there are no types for other combinations of cognitive processes, e.g. Te-Ti-Ni-Ne.
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