Is the MBTI more helpful than harmful? | INFJ Forum

Is the MBTI more helpful than harmful?

Tin Man

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Jun 21, 2012
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I've read and studied the MBTI quite a bit and from what I've seen it can have both a positive and negative affect on a person's life. It can help people to discover parts of themselves they never knew and put them on the path to a healthy mental state. However, there's no doubt that it can also be incredibly limiting. If you take it seriously, it's easy to force yourself into a type, to ignore the qualities which make you unique.

So I'm hoping to get an account of people's personal experience with the MBTI and just a general discussion over the whether the beneficial traits are more prevalent than the detrimental ones.
 
In my opinion, MBTI is no different then any other form of standardized testing; it has it's limitations and pros and cons. MBTI can be one of many useful tools for guidance, understanding, and fulfillment. However, I don't feel there is a human made test that can define an individual in their entirety. I think in some ways it's human nature to want to define things and put them into nice neat little boxes. The problem with "labels" is they don't leave room for flexibility, growth, and individuality. In other words, you have to take it with a grain of salt.
 
It's only harmful if you are using it wrong. Even then the harmful effects are pretty limited. Its going to make you feel bad because you are statistically lowest on the IQ scale (ESFP I believe), or you are going to think you have the wrong qualities (because you fail to really look at your self for whatever reason), or possibly you'll be put into a job you don't like (when its used in career development). These are all things that would probably have happened to you anyway.

To summarize:
You'll have sad feelings.
You will think you like one thing but will really like another thing because you are gullible and prone to not thinking things through.
You'll be like 90% of the world who is unhappy with their shitty dead-end career.
 
Like anything in life being a skeptical son of a bitch with an open mind.
 
MBTI is MBTI, aka ultimately neither and/or both. Whether it becomes helpful or harmful depends on how it is interpreted and/or applied.
 
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To me, MBTI in my life is like having a really ugly dog that I've had for too long to have the heart to put down.
 
It is helpful, but only for people who have a good basic understanding of it. People often apply it without even understanding what the eight functions are.

That being said, I don't take it very seriously like I used to. I still use it and probably always will, but I can't stand hearing people constantly compare it to astrology, so I don't talk about it.
 
MBTI is MBTI, aka ultimately neither and/or both. Whether it becomes helpful or harmful depends on how it is interpreted and/or applied.

This

Its a tool

A hammer is a tool; it can be used to make things or if it is missused it can be used to break things....is a hammer bad?
 
[MENTION=3240]Jill Hives[/MENTION] [MENTION=1871]muir[/MENTION]

This viewpoint assumes that the tool (hammer, or MBTI) has the potential to help more than it hurts. But what if the MBTI doesn't have that potential? Therein lies the purpose of this thread.
 
It is helpful, but only for people who have a good basic understanding of it. People often apply it without even understanding what the eight functions are.

That being said, I don't take it very seriously like I used to. I still use it and probably always will, but I can't stand hearing people constantly compare it to astrology, so I don't talk about it.

I once read that MBTI is astrology for people who make fun of astrology.

[MENTION=3240]Jill Hives[/MENTION] [MENTION=1871]muir[/MENTION]

This viewpoint assumes that the tool (hammer, or MBTI) has the potential to help more than it hurts. But what if the MBTI doesn't have that potential? Therein lies the purpose of this thread.

That's pretty much it. I've been to a few MBTI forums and while there are people who use it in a healthy manner, many either use it to put themselves and others into a box that doesn't fit or force the world to make sense.

I've come across threads where they use the MBTI to explain all mental illnesses or genocide. These were taken seriously and rigorously discussed.

Of course this is the internet, where there are sites solely to discuss the merits of rape.
 
@Jill Hives @muir

This viewpoint assumes that the tool (hammer, or MBTI) has the potential to help more than it hurts. But what if the MBTI doesn't have that potential? Therein lies the purpose of this thread.

Ok we're talking about something here (MBTI) that is going to expand consciousness

There was an article in a mainstream newspaper today about how magic mushrooms have been proven to be beneficial to people in that they boost an area psychologists call 'openness' which is related to creativity. Here's a link to the article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/single-magic-mushroom-can-change-personality-2363324.html

I'm not sure what kind of mushys those are in the picture but the ones i've eaten didn't look like that! Anyway this is old news

Whats perhaps more telling is that such an admission is actually being made in the mainstream media....but i'm getting off the point now...

So mushrooms expand consciousness. Mushrooms can be used as a tool to increase peoples creativity.

Am i going to tell people to rush out and start gobbling up mushrooms? No because there are also risks involved, not least of all picking the wrong kind of mushroom! Then of course there is that quaint creation of the super rich called the 'law system' that frowns on people expanding their consciousness.

The point is the circumstances, mindset and condition of the person who is going to be assimilating what a new tool gives to them is going to determine how beneficial that tool is to them. A person is who is in an emotionally turbulent state might not benefit from taking lots of mushrooms

Equally a person who is not being honest with themself when typing themself is not going to be able to use MBTI as effectively. Also someone who is going to define themself too much around MBTI is going to try and mould themself around it instead of developing themself in their own way

I came to MBTI in my late twenties so i had already kind of formed my own identity by that point. I often wondered if it might have helped me to have known about it earlier in my life...it might have helped me to dodge some of the pitfalls i fell face first into; on the other hand would i have defined myself by MBTI rather than by finding myself through trial and error (sometimes painful, sometimes delightful!)

Drugs are another area......is it a bad idea for people to use them too young before their personalities are formed or is that just a very modern western constrained view of human consciousness?

I honestly don't know the answer to these questions...i can only speculate and offer opinions

I gues whichever path a person has taken the question is what are they going to do from there....will it make or break them? There's just too many factors that are different for each person. You can only really look at each person on a person by person basis

If you were to do it scientifically i guess you'd need to survey a large number of people and ask people of different ages when they discovered MBTI and whether or not they feel it has benefitted them or disadvantaged them

I found it pretty late and it was a help for me
 
I once read that MBTI is astrology for people who make fun of astrology.

I have to my shame made fun of astrology in the past....it was out of ignorance

Although to be fair it was the sort of 'astrology' that is in magazines where you have some character like 'mystic meg' telling people stuff in a little soundbite like sized chunks about what is supposedly going to happen to them that week....you know the stuff: ''this week you are going to meet a tall dark stranger...''

I'm skeptical about that. I think they are employing the Barnum Effect (Forer effect) where they write something that is going to apply to pretty much anyone for example: ''this week you are going to experience concerns at your work place''

When i discovered MBTI by taking a test online that told me i was something called an 'INFJ'...whatever the hell that was. I looked into it and read descriptions about the type. I was shocked how accurate it was....i was even working in healthcare at the time and it said INFJ's are often found in caring professions etc

But i was aware of the Barnum effect and being naturally skeptical i read all the descriptions of other types to see if these would match me as well...they didn't

I think Carl Jung was an extremely insightful guy...i think he was pointing to truths that aren't always clearly defined, aren't always quantifiable but at the same time have enough people attesting to their veracity that they can be taken seriously.

There are clearly discearneable patterns in humans that are not only visible to the naked eye in terms of observing behaviours but can also be felt by individuals for example introversion and extroversion (an introvert may describe needing some alone time to recharge after socialising)

So i have no doubt there is something in the whole thing

Concerning astrology.....i would imagine the further you dig into the real 'science' of astrology and the further away from the manufactured magazine astrology the more interesting it will get

There is no doubt the planets have effects on us. The moon we know affects the tides. We also know the moon affects peoples moods and has been linked to lunacy (lunar). I worked in a mental hospital for a while as a student and if patients were riled up the staff would often say 'its a full moon tonight'

The sun makes everything on our planet grow by feeding us with energy

The twin sun of sirius affects earth and the Egypians called it the dogstar. At certain times when the dogstar was having a strong effect on the earth it would cause droughts, drying out crops and driving dogs wild. These were called 'the dog days of summer'

Saturn has a strange pattern on one of its poles. It is a hexagon shape. I have heard the very interesting theory that it might be created by sound.....a sound eminating from saturn (cymatics), which could be influencing our planet; the rings are actually part of this sound emitting process as well....kind of like a giant amplifier. The romans worshipped saturn as did and do many other peoples. They held festivals like saturnalia which has become modern day christmas. The 6th day in our week, saturday, was named after saturn

Our planet spins round creating a magnetic feild that deflects some of the radiation emitted form the sun....like a giant forcefield

So there are all sorts of things going on out there that are impacting on us so I'm going to try not to narrow my mind to possiblities concerning these planetary bodies and any field that looks at them and the effects they have on us
 
Hexagon on saturns pole:

6a00d8341bf7f753ef013488e7cff6970c-pi


[video=youtube;ouAUo9jVtAU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouAUo9jVtAU[/video]
 
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Ok we're talking about something here (MBTI) that is going to expand consciousness

Well, it's input, more information like anything else available to your perception. Doesn't guarantee it's necessarily valid or useful information. It'll be guaranteed to expand consciousness in the same way that taking a walk, picking up a pen, or listening to a schizophrenic's babble is guaranteed to expand your consciousness.

There's just too many factors that are different for each person. You can only really look at each person on a person by person basis

If you were to do it scientifically i guess you'd need to survey a large number of people and ask people of different ages when they discovered MBTI and whether or not they feel it has benefitted them or disadvantaged them

I agree with you on this. You would have to survey them after a significant amount of time after their discovering of it. Still, people only have their subjective opinions to offer. The reality may have been that all the time they spent reading about it, combined with potentially being thrown off course by information, may have actually worked in their disadvantage without them even realizing it. It's quite hard to really measure.

Edit: Nvm, I have an idea. You could survey a bunch of people who don't know about the MBTI about their level of success/happiness in life and self-knowledge, and survey people who are about to find out about the MBTI on it, and then after 5 or 10 years, survey them all again and compare.

Guess that would take a lot of work though and so we can only really speculate and project from our own experiences for the moment.
 
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Well, it's input, more information like anything else available to your perception. Doesn't guarantee it's necessarily valid or useful information. It'll be guaranteed to expand consciousness in the same way that taking a walk, picking up a pen, or listening to a schizophrenic's babble is guaranteed to expand your consciousness.

I think it will probably yeild more consistent mind opening results than picking up a pen (unless the pen is soaked in pscilocybin!)

I agree with you on this. You would have to survey them after a significant amount of time after their discovering of it. Still, people only have their subjective opinions to offer. The reality may have been that all the time they spent reading about it, combined with potentially being thrown off course by information, may have actually worked in their disadvantage without them even realizing it. It's quite hard to really measure.

Edit: Nvm, I have an idea. You could survey a bunch of people who don't know about the MBTI about their level of success/happiness in life and self-knowledge, and survey people who are about to find out about the MBTI on it, and then after 5 or 10 years, survey them all again and compare.

Guess that would take a lot of work though and so we can only really speculate and project from our own experiences for the moment.

Its settled then....any volunteers to run the survey? :)
 
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To me, MBTI has made me a more understanding person concerning myself and the physical/psychological behavior of others; however, I've noticed that people start living and acting differently because of their MBTI. They start living more accordingly to their specific MBTI description.
 
To me, MBTI has made me a more understanding person concerning myself and the physical/psychological behavior of others; however, I've noticed that people start living and acting differently because of their MBTI. They start living more accordingly to their specific MBTI description.

Happens with me as well.

At a certain point my behavior have been affected by my understanding of MBTI, which can be bad sometimes (bad as in often it results in a detour; like I should do this or that but NO THAT'S NOT AN INFJ THING), but other times it's good (like, for instance, my understanding of how badly I'm doing with me Se can help me take note of times where I stood still and overruminate.)

But other times, true; it helps building understanding and wisdom regarding ourselves and other human beings.
 
It's not the theory of MBTI that I have a problem with, it's the way that people apply it. There's a bizarre sort of fundamentalism that comes out in people when they think they've discovered some new, profound truth, particularly if they've felt understood for the first time or are on a path to self discovery. Maybe it's in human nature for people to ride this high and to place it on or drag people into it along with them. I find it personally grating.

MBTI is a personality stepping stone, not a permanent truth that's etched into it. While I think a person can get a good grasp of themselves and other people through the study of the theory, more often than not no one is going to fit a particular mold and that tends to cause a lot of drama amongst the know-it-alls. My personal preference is to take what's useful for my own personal growth and cast the rest aside.
 
Yes, MBTI is very helpful but only to an extent. I like thinking about things in terms of the eight Jungian functions and I see MBTI notation to be more of a shorthand way of compacting these functions into a easy-to-understand four letter form. I have a lot of issues with the formalized MBTI test and how over-corporatized anything to do with MBTI is. I don't understand why we can't talk about the functions without worrying about copyright infringement and all that.
 
I am so happy I found this thread. I am new to MBTI. I actually took a couple of tests a few days ago and have been pretty immersed in it for the last few days… Last night I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the limitations of the test and some disturbing things I’ve read in posts here and at the personality café.
At first I felt it was pretty neat to read a description that was so accurate (not completely though). And I have a feeling it could probably change depending on my situation, circumstances, etc. It did give me some insight and understanding. It also gave me greater understanding for some loved ones I had take it. Although I know that this is but a fraction of the true depth that exists within us. This is such a surface thing really. If it helps to expand ones view and give a greater understanding I believe it could be helpful. But many times it seems it limits people, especially in their judgments about other types.

Many posts I’ve read seem to be from teens or perhaps those in their 20’s, and the overall sense I get is that they are limiting themselves by trying so hard to identify with these 4 letters. The need to feel that they finally understand themselves is a wonderful thing but seems to go too far. Not only that but I really hate the idea that when meeting others you are trying to categorize them, thinking, oh wow this guy must be an ESTP, for example, I don’t want to talk to him. There is a strange business of writing others off after you believe you have assessed their type, which seems so incredibly sad to me. Life, people are so much grander and wonderful than this. Allow people to surprise you, that is such a beautiful thing and takes time. You need to get to know people in order for them to show who they really are. I just feel the need to caution especially young people out there not to use this in a way that limits your or anyone else’s potential.

I still have no clue if my MBTI or enneagram type is correct. It has been really interesting and fun to read about though. I also watched quite a few interesting videos on youtube. If I were to paint everyone with the same MBTI brush I don’t think I would like INFJ males very much, and I would probably miss out if I lived like that, just because there were a couple on youtube who seemed egotistical. There are so many other factors why people are the way they are that have nothing to do with the MBTI.. so I hope young people especially will try to be more aware of that. Sorry for the long post..