I defy your meaningless categories! I have meaningless categories of my very own!

[deird1]

My boss is making us do Myers-Briggs tests so that we can understand each other better. An idea I approve of, in theory.

In practice... I kinda hate Myers-Brigss. Mostly because I've never been able to figure out what I am. (Except for the "I-not-E" bit, which has been completely obvious since I was born.)


I really prefer the personality tests with four categories. You know - the ones that are always exactly the same, but try to pretend they're new and different by giving them funky names. (I've seen "earth; air; fire; water", "lions; otters; golden retrievers; beavers", "heart; mind; body; soul", "red; blue; yellow; green", and countless others.)

Me? I'm a phlegmatic, a yellow, an air, a golden retriever, a soul...

Actually, just "phlegmatic" will do. (Come to think of it, the Myers-Briggs one is just four letters long - maybe that'd be preferable.)

Comments

[velvetwhip]

Those tests always reduce me to fits of helpless giggles.


Gabrielle

[zeborah]

Re Myers-Briggs, I get grumpy and want to call myself an INTS for "It's Not That Simple".

The things with doves and eagles and stuff I just want to bang my head against the desk.

[deird1]

INTS for "It's Not That Simple"

Hee! I like!

[jl_in_the_lane.livejournal.com]

I really prefer the personality tests with four categories...(I've seen "earth; air; fire; water", "lions; otters; golden retrievers; beavers", "heart; mind; body; soul", "red; blue; yellow; green", and countless others.)


NOW HANG ON.

Firstly, why have I not seen all these? and what others are there?
Secondly, you clearly haven't bothered listing them all in the corresponding order for each test.
TELL ME THE RIGHT ORDER, NOW.
I want to know what colour I am. (Because I damn well better be blue.)
No, but seriously, it should be this:

Choleric: lion, body, red, fire
Melancholic: beaver, mind, blue, water
Sanguine: otter, heart, yellow, air
Phlegmatic: GR, soul, green, earth

I KNOW I've got the first two categories right.

But apparently you reckon you're a yellow airy fairy person WHAT WHAT WHAT THAT CANNOT BE RIGHT.

[jl_in_the_lane.livejournal.com]

Or, well...

I suppose it could be that Sanguine = Fire and Choleric = Earth. And I suppose that could be Phleg = Air.

Kinda.

BUT HOW CAN YOU BE YELLOW? THAT DOES NOT WORK.

You knew this would happen, didn't you...

[jl_in_the_lane.livejournal.com]

Well, I've just been looking this up on wikipedia, which has been MOST interesting.

The only colour-based one I came across listed you as 'White' and didn't include green at all (WHAT IS THAT. EVERYONE KNOWS WHEN YOU HAVE FOUR COLOURS THEY ARE REDBLUEYELLOWGREEN WHAT IS THIS WHITE RUBBISH however, I was blue, so THAT'S all right).

Oh, and you might be 'ether', or 'earth', depending on whether you classify yourself as 'Ambiverted' or 'Introverted + Relationship-oriented' (WHAT.).

Mind you, some of them are VERY RUDE about me (I am apparently 'Impoverished' and 'Avoiding'. Hmph. And there's something about Rheumatism in there, too...))

Re: You knew this would happen, didn't you...

[jl_in_the_lane.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaand now I've looked outside wikipedia and found various RBGY ones and ok, yes, they think you are yellow. And I am green. And not one of them gets their grammar right.

I liked this bit:

"Motivating the Different Personality Colors

The things that motivate the yellows ares that they like to help people so let them help. (They love potluck dinners.) Blues are motivated by travel and adventure - they will go anywhere for a meeting. Reds love money and recognition and trophies. Reds love competition and challenge so to motivate them give them a compliment, then give them another compliment, and finally give them a challenge. (For example: You are the best recruiter in my group, you always have the greatest numbers. But Susie brought 10 prospects to our last meeting and I don't think you can top that.) For the greens, how do you motivate them? You can't, so don't."

Hehehe.

[deird1]

I KNOW. I SHOULD NOT BE YELLOW. IT'S REALLY WEIRD.

[redsixwing]

I forget what my Meyers-Briggs was. I kind of hate the way personality tests are used, in my experience. It gives just another way to go "oh you're a [wev], I'm not a [wev], WE CANNOT GET ALONG.

Maybe I just haven't seen them handled in a helpful manner.

That said, they're kind of fun to take as a way to waste a few minutes. I particularly like the "what Pokemon are you" kind, though they generally have more than four, and correspond nicely to nothing.

[deird1]

I liked one of the books I read on the four types: it had a thing of "these are the strengths of this personality - and here's how exaggerating these strengths can turn them into weaknesses", which helped you look at the irritating things different personality types do and go "Ah, that's because of this nice thing they also do. If they didn't have the bad bit, they probably wouldn't have the good bit either."

*shrugs* It helped me be more understanding towards people.

[bruttimabuoni]

I quite enjoy the whole process of working this stuff out, and especially the analysis of what different character types bring to a conversation. Just occasionally, it has really helped me relate to someone I've previously completely failed to get. (For proper Myers-Briggs being unsure on some of the criteria should be factored in, so you're not just stuck with one label that doesn't fit. I've been thoroughly peeved when that hasn't been done properly - days of seminars spent thinking but I'm not really an otter. Not 100%. Kind of a lion/otter mix.

We had a red-green-blue triangle of types most recently, which nearly breaks your point. But they cheated and also had a Hub type so basically it's another four.

Earth, melancholic, blue [which surprised me] and I-something-something-J, personally. If you want to believe that stuff...

[worksofliterata.wordpress.com]

Partner was apparently joking around with work colleagues the other day about developing their own (highly American) set of axes. I forget if they had four axes like the MBTI picked out, but two were:

Tea or Coffee?

Elvis or Beatles?

And I think they were debating "Wine or Beer?" as a third. We realized, of course, that there might need to be a third option, "Mormon," for both the beverage-related categories.

[deird1]

Well, clearly the right answers would be tea, Elvis, and wine. Surely everyone would end up choosing those, right?

[redsixwing]

I'm with you on the tea and wine, but have to go with Beatles otherwise. X3

[worksofliterata.wordpress.com]

Partner now confirms that it was a four-axis test, with tea/coffee the original (and wine/beer a later add-on), where the other two axes are (American) football or baseball ("It doesn't matter if basketball is your favorite - which one of those do you like more?") and Mary Ann or Ginger (from Gilligan's Island). It's pretty obvious that it was a bunch of guys sitting around who came up with this stuff, although I can see how American football vs. baseball could exemplify different personality characteristics.

My answers are: tea, wine, Beatles, neither, and both.

Actually, one of the best books I read on personality types was a Wiccan one: Deborah Lipp's _The Way of Four_ has good overviews of the strengths and weaknesses of the classical four Elements in personalities, and while she draws on stereotypes and cliches, she pretty clearly talks about how we all have parts of each, and we need to work on being balanced, emphasizing the strengths, and using them as a way to help understand others, not to separate and divide us or prevent communication.

[klme.livejournal.com]

Yup, Beatles all the way :)

[guy-who-reads.blogspot.com]

I don't know about any of the rest of that, but I'm Sanguine Phlegmatic (which means that I don't remember peoples names, but I don't care too much about it), and I'm a proud member of House Ravenclaw.