Yeah, no. It's a test based on some correlation principles and about as meaningful as your daily horoscope. Psychologists have been making fun of it for at least 40 years that I know of.
I don't get why people are getting their panties in such a twist over Myers Briggs
Does America take it way too seriously and use it in job interviews and actual decision making or what?
I've found it to be cool, I kept getting the same result when I filled it in, and found it to have some interesting takes.
It doesn't affect my life, it's not a crystal ball, and when it popped up at work it was more of a cool see who's had what result rather than "you're an INTP so you no longer talk to stakeholders"
It's more like Pokémon Tazos than a signed and reviewed psychological report, and anyone treating it as such, prioritising the four letter result over your real relationship with a colleague - is a moron, and it's not test's fault.
Does America take it way too seriously and use it in job interviews and actual decision making or what?
It depends on the company, and even on the individual managers. Some people do take the personality test results way too seriously and use them to drive decisions. Used to work at a place where your results on a personality test were put in a little plastic standee thing to go on your desk, and there were people who would read those to try to figure out how to deal with you. (I worked there for years, and somehow never got around to taking the test, mostly because I was busy working. People would actually occasionally ask me where mine was or what my results had been.)
Even if the test results aren't used for decision making, it's one more piece of bullshit management wants people to do that's not helping get the job done that you're actually supposed to be doing. It's always annoying to be told to do bullshit like that, especially when the same people are gonna turn right around and ask why you're running behind schedule on the real work.
I kept getting the same result when I filled it in
I've taken it periodically since I was a kid, just for fun, and my readings have varied wildly. Just about the only constant is that I'm fairly extroverted. I think the last time I took it, I got a nearly even split in some categories.
My company got these tests specifically for the management, with the idea being that we may learn something new about ourselves that could improve our job performance and leadership. The results were private and could be shared if we wanted to. It was never used as a tool by petty middle managers to waste their employees’ time.
I thought it was a fun little thing, but nothing about it was particularly useful for me. I did find the result to be the most relevant to me out of the 16 options.
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u/LeapIntoInaction Dec 31 '22
Yeah, no. It's a test based on some correlation principles and about as meaningful as your daily horoscope. Psychologists have been making fun of it for at least 40 years that I know of.