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

[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.