I vaguely recall taking a test in high school to determine my "personality type". It must have been the Myers-Brigg test because the result was a four-letter code. (I want to say that the result was INFJ, but it's been a long time and my memory may be off.) Inspired by a blog post by Bob Carpenter about personality typing blogs, I re-took the test (here). This time the result was INTP, which is described on the Myers-Brigg web site as follows:
"Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical."
That sounds mostly right (except for the middle part about being quiet and contained). I looked elsewhere and found another description of INTPs, which turned out to be creepily accurate:
"Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists."
Yikes. Maybe there is something to this stuff, after all. Now I should figure out my blog's personality type...
Comments (3)
An apples and oranges comaparison for sure, but you can get similarly creepy results from clear non-science.
For instance, my birthday:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0670032611/ref=sib_dp_pop_toc?ie=UTF8&p=S00B#reader-link
And my father's:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0670032611/ref=sib_dp_pop_toc?ie=UTF8&p=S00B#reader-link
Charlatans feed on our desire to find meaning where there is none. I'm just sayin'.
Posted by Walker | January 8, 2009 11:14 AM
Posted on January 8, 2009 11:14
Lame! The links don't retain the book-search results. For those of you keeping score at home ...
My birthday (August 28): The Day of Language, also indicative of a good debater.
My Dad's (July 11): The Day of the Unsolicited Opinion, enough said.
Posted by Walker | January 8, 2009 2:22 PM
Posted on January 8, 2009 14:22
I thought you were a FYYF.
Posted by Nick | May 15, 2009 11:24 AM
Posted on May 15, 2009 11:24