If you’re looking to understand the nuances of MBTI, you’re in the right place.
Q: What is MBTI?
A: MBTI is a theory stating that there are 16 personality types that each person could possibly be. MBTI is taken very lightly by the masses as if it was another “fun” test or like astrology, but after having done extensive research, me and many others have found that there is some serious truth to MBTI.
Q: Is MBTI real?
A: Yes, from what I can tell. I have applied the principles of MBTI towards studying everyone I have ever met and gotten to know well, and found that everyone shows patterns correlated with an MBTI type. There is still much more interesting work yet to be done towards advancing the field of personality typing.
Q: Why should I care about learning MBTI?
A: Find out about why MBTI matters on my post here.
Q: How do I learn my MBTI type?
A: If you don’t know your type, I recommend taking an MBTI test as a start and looking through the resources section for good information on MBTI. Also, read my post on how to really type people here, because the test is usually wrong, and you are better off trying to figure out your type through introspection.
Q: Is MBTI similar to astrology in any way?
A: No, astrology is not similar to MBTI. Astrology is fake and all you have to do is test it yourself with a bunch of people that you know. Ask them their horoscope signs and then see if their birth month somehow coincides with their description. If you tested astrology for yourself, you would find that astrology has no basis.
Q: What about this “socionics” I have been hearing about?
A: Socionics lacks the same consistency that MBTI (cognitive functions) has. A part of this may be that socionics uses a stereotype version of MBTI to describe inter-type relations. The stereotype version of MBTI that is used seems to be based on the most common types of enneagram for those types. Which leads to strong inconsistencies as enneeagram has a big influence on inter-type relations. Therefore, some to most of socionics can be true. However, it is not reliable enough as a system to make truly functional use of it.
Q: I took the test and I scored “The Lawyer” as an ENTP and my brother did too, he scored “The Artist” as an ISFP. This doesn’t sound like us?
A: These are just labels some random people have added on to describe the MBTI types in a very simplistic way. The label means nothing. An ISFP is not necessarily an artist and an ENTP is not necessarily born to be a lawyer. Ignore the labels. MBTI tries to describe thought processes. That’s the only thing that is real. The descriptions you find online are general summaries of people with those thought processes, and as a result, are stereotypes.
Q: I took the MBTI test and I can’t tell what type I am because I keep getting a bunch of results. What do I do?
A: Check out my post on how to type people correctly here.
Q: I took the test, and the type description still seems very wrong. Are the tests dependable?
A: I don’t think the tests are dependable at all really. Usually people are just too bias to admit things about themselves and will usually answer questions based on how they see themselves. The tests will likely give you a score that is close to the type you really are though. You could score ENTP, when you’re really an INTP, and you can score INFJ, when you’re really an ISFJ. You will have to introspect if you want to figure it out on your own.
Q: When is the best time to type people?
A: When they are younger, around their teens.
Q: I don’t like that I am an INTJ. Can I change into an ENTJ?
A: No, this is just one of the misconceptions about MBTI that are out there. You can’t change your type and there are alot of merits that could be found within your type if you took advantage of it. For example, an INTJ may not have the work stamina and social ease of an ENTJ, but they are better long-term thinkers and smarter overall. This may not translate into high powered work success compared to the ENTJ, but it has its own merits.
Any more Questions?
If you have any questions of your own that you’d like to see answered, please contact at email@intrascholar.com.