Personality Tests are the WORST!!
What better place to spout unpopular opinions than my aptly titled Tumblr?! Let’s go!! Dale!! </pitbull>
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For some reason, a lot of my friends put a lot of their energy into the discussion of their Myers-Briggs personality test results.
"You’re an ENTJ? Me too!! OMG THAT’S SO COOL!!"
"My test told me I was ENFP, but it’s TOTALLY wrong. I’m TOTALLY an ESFP."
I think there’s at least some validity to those tests. After all, two men apparently spent their lives dedicated to this endeavor (Or at least enough of their lives to have it named after them), so I’m hesitant to say that it’s completely worthless. However, I do think the test doesn’t really do what it says it does as well as it claims, and even if it does, I think the entire notion of a personality is a bit subjective.
I’m still a little bit unsure of the ramifications of the last 3 letters, but I think I have a good grasp of the Extrovert vs Introvert thing, especially given all the articles floating around the Internet about how nobody understands them, so I’ll use that as an example. The basic gist that I’m getting from them is that while both extroverts and introverts are perfectly happy to hang out around people, extroverts recharge by spending time around people while introverts recharge by spending time by themselves. The extrovert isn’t being obnoxious. He just needs to recharge around other people. The introvert isn’t being anti-social. He just needs time to recharge by himself.
I think that’s a load of crap. That’s just being selfish. I realize introverts need recharge time, and that’s perfectly fine. But I have seen too many introverted people use that excuse to be anti-social. “Oh Tim, you’re not an introvert. You don’t get it.” False. I understand needing to be by yourself. I get that feeling all the time, and I spend plenty of time by myself to recharge, but you don’t see me not hanging out with people because of it. Why? Because I realize my extroverted friends want to be around me.
Maybe that’s where I’m different. When people want to hang out, for the most part, I’ll join them. They only ask me to hang out because they would be happier if I were there, so I go. I pretend I’m doing fine for the sake of others, and to help myself out, I do my recharging when people aren’t bugging me to hang out.
I’m not saying extroverts aren’t at fault either. Sometimes, you need to stop bothering the person that wants to be by himself. Maybe put down your needs and just spend some time alone for a bit. “Oh Tim, you’re not an extrovert. You don’t get it.” False. Those close to me know much I’ve craved people’s presence, and how often I’ve had to just suck it up and let people be. Sometimes you just gotta do something that makes you uncomfortable for somebody else, and if you do it enough, maybe you’ll eventually be less uncomfortable with it.
That’s just the most easily demonstrated of the four personality traits. I think this applies to every one of the other traits as well. Yes, everybody operates differently and has different tendencies, but it’s not impossible to see things the way other people do, and it’s not impossible to put yourself aside for a little bit to help somebody out.
People use their personality as an excuse to not do/do (hehe I said doodoo) something way too often. It’s not a crutch. It’s simply one’s natural tendency to do something, and it can suppressed, especially to show other people you care about them.
This is just how I feel, and if this piece of my mind can be categorized into any one of EISNTFPJ, then I recant and maybe I don’t really get people, but I’ve taken many of these tests many times (I really tried to get meaningful results), and I’ve every combination of each of those letters, so I don’t think I fall into any of these categories. If anything, this means that the test isn’t conclusive, and more letters need to be added, but I think that’s the wrong way of going about it. We’re never going to have enough letters to categorize everybody.
Don’t get me wrong. Some people fit very well into these categories and they definitely learn a lot about themselves through this test. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be yourself. I’m just saying that it’s not impossible to see things like someone else and change your tendencies, and because of that, your test results aren’t really something that you should use as an excuse or take too seriously like too many people do.
If you pretend to like something enough, you may eventually actually like it. After all, that’s how I fell in love with Jesus.
