the mbti is over 80 years old, and maybe it was more useful for describing how people were back then than it is now. cultures change, and personalities are normally a function of both genetics and culture, so surely some of those type descriptions are no longer relevant. also, a lot of progress has been made into the study of human behavior since the 1930's, and if the authors of the MBTI were alive today they'd probably revise the theory themselves.
have you ever actually considered working on your own personality type theory, a new one? after all, YOU have a perspective on life that not a single other person can possibly have; what you know about people could be quite insightful. i was thinking about this today when it occurred to me how many different levels of personality there are, how our age and gender factor into it, how even on this forum, one infj is as distinctive from another infj as two people of opposite types are. you wouldn't confuse (and i'm sorry for calling people out like this!) siamese cat, an infj, with ria, also an infj. and likewise i couldn't see either being confused with enfp_can_be_shy, an enfp.
and let's not forget the many, many threads here about people wondering if they're really their type. maybe it's not that you haven't found your true type, maybe the theory itself is flawed, and can't accurately categorize every one of 6 billion people into 16 neat little groups. the people who came up with the MBTI did not test everyone, obviously, and therefore their conclusions are definitely going to be biased towards the few people they met/tested. what if there was no one that fit your type in the test group? what if, of the say 100 people they tested when coming up the theory, there weren't any infj's, would the category of infj even exist? no. but infjs obviously still would, only they wouldn't have been recognized as a distinctive type. maybe the same thing is true of people who fall half way between introvert and extrovert, sensor or feeler, etc. possibly there are additional categories which need to be added to the MBTI to make it more accurate, or maybe these labels need to be scrapped altogether and a totally new definition proposed. say "introvert" and "extrovert" are too simple to describe how people actually are, for instance, since there are times in all our lives where we are extroverted, and likewise when we want to be alone. those times when you're not acting true to your type, ARE you not that type?
what i think is personality is a far more fluid and dynamic process than what is described by the MBTI, that it's going to significantly change depending on your surroundings, your age, your chemical makeup, your past experiences, the types of the people around you, etc.etc. and i definitely think there are better ways of understanding people than merely through the cardboard black and white structure of the MBTI. ALSO personality seems to be very subjective- have you ever noticed how you like people more who are friendly towards you, than you did when they were indifferent? are you projecting your own enjoyment of their actions onto them, defining them as a "nice" person, or are they ACTUALLY nice, separate from you?
ok so the main point I was trying to make here before I went off into looneytunes land: have you ever thought maybe you could come up with a better theory than the MBTI, one more specific to the personalities of people today?
have you ever actually considered working on your own personality type theory, a new one? after all, YOU have a perspective on life that not a single other person can possibly have; what you know about people could be quite insightful. i was thinking about this today when it occurred to me how many different levels of personality there are, how our age and gender factor into it, how even on this forum, one infj is as distinctive from another infj as two people of opposite types are. you wouldn't confuse (and i'm sorry for calling people out like this!) siamese cat, an infj, with ria, also an infj. and likewise i couldn't see either being confused with enfp_can_be_shy, an enfp.
and let's not forget the many, many threads here about people wondering if they're really their type. maybe it's not that you haven't found your true type, maybe the theory itself is flawed, and can't accurately categorize every one of 6 billion people into 16 neat little groups. the people who came up with the MBTI did not test everyone, obviously, and therefore their conclusions are definitely going to be biased towards the few people they met/tested. what if there was no one that fit your type in the test group? what if, of the say 100 people they tested when coming up the theory, there weren't any infj's, would the category of infj even exist? no. but infjs obviously still would, only they wouldn't have been recognized as a distinctive type. maybe the same thing is true of people who fall half way between introvert and extrovert, sensor or feeler, etc. possibly there are additional categories which need to be added to the MBTI to make it more accurate, or maybe these labels need to be scrapped altogether and a totally new definition proposed. say "introvert" and "extrovert" are too simple to describe how people actually are, for instance, since there are times in all our lives where we are extroverted, and likewise when we want to be alone. those times when you're not acting true to your type, ARE you not that type?
what i think is personality is a far more fluid and dynamic process than what is described by the MBTI, that it's going to significantly change depending on your surroundings, your age, your chemical makeup, your past experiences, the types of the people around you, etc.etc. and i definitely think there are better ways of understanding people than merely through the cardboard black and white structure of the MBTI. ALSO personality seems to be very subjective- have you ever noticed how you like people more who are friendly towards you, than you did when they were indifferent? are you projecting your own enjoyment of their actions onto them, defining them as a "nice" person, or are they ACTUALLY nice, separate from you?
ok so the main point I was trying to make here before I went off into looneytunes land: have you ever thought maybe you could come up with a better theory than the MBTI, one more specific to the personalities of people today?
