From the time I first took a personality test as a freshman in college, I’ve been fascinated by the measurable and observable differences in people’s personalities. We are each so vastly different in how we think about ourselves and the world, and how we choose to interact with other people.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator was first published by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers, a mother and daughter duo, in 1943. In the development of their type indicator, they drew from the studies and philosophy of famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. The tool has been used now for decades and is continuously being developed and expanded by different people who use the tools for education.
Companies and organizations across the country have developed and modified this indicator with their own tests in order to improve individual and collective awareness of peoples’ differences and how to work well together. Due to the fact that the workplace is more and more becoming a collective and team-oriented enterprise in our culture, this sort of tool is an incredibly useful one for business settings. If you are interested in taking or researching this type questionnaire, I have included a few links to different free sites. In addition, I have included the link to the OPP website, which provides more interesting history on the MBTI. A basic comprehension of the terms on these sites may help with understanding the discussion below.
https://www.opp.com/en/tools/MBTI/Myers-Briggs-history
http://www.16personalities.com
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
http://www.16personalities.com
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
I have found the tool quite helpful for personal life, too, however. When I first took the questionnaire, my results were an INFJ type, with the Introverted and Judging very strong traits, and the Intuitive and Feeling traits very slight. I was fascinated, and would often have long discussions with friends about varying personalities and how they were similar and different, and what traits created conflict or balance between people. It brought me to a more others-focused understanding of behavior that I deemed irrational or ridiculous.
After a few years of university, I took the test again, curious to see what had changed in myself and if the test would reflect that. This time, my score was an ISFJ. Already a mild N to begin with, during college, life had forced me to become incredibly observant of what went on around me. There were many people to please, many goals to accomplish and many things to achieve. I had gone from very focused on my inner world and what went on inside to focusing on the things in my life and my external world.
A few weeks into my new job, and I took another type-indicator test, this time with an extra variable. I scored as an ISFJ, with a Turbulent rather than Assertive bent. There was a 100-page manual describing how my type operates in life, and again I was mesmerized by the accuracy of the descriptions and the enlightenment into my own confusing world.
This opened up another world of opportunity to learn, and I excitedly brought the link home to my husband and had him take it. He scored an INTJ-A. We are both introverts, which is a similarity that I am glad we share. We don’t have many disagreements about whether we should spend an evening ‘out or in’. We focus very intently on our small collection of friends, and we enjoy it. Our similarities in personality pretty much stop there.
Our differences have both created conflict in our marriage and helped us to resolve it. Although we are both Judging types on paper, I am a very strong J (usually around 70-80%), and he is a very mild J. This creates some tension in how orderly we like our lives to be. My ‘orderly’ for a college class would include a tabbed folder or binder with separations for different categories of paperwork. His orderly, however, is satisfied by separate stacks stuffed in between the pages of his class textbook.
His Intuitive style usually leads him to push the limits where I would be more comfortable staying within that limit. In saying that, however, the balances of our personalities have been incredibly helpful in encouraging each other to become more than we are, while simultaneously accepting ourselves as we are. His Thinking orientation helps me make rational decisions when my Feeling trait takes over, and my Feeling trait encourages him to consider more than just logic, but also his own feelings. His Assertive reality makes him a very stable, contented person. In the context of our relationship, it enables me to accept my more Turbulent, improvement-oriented style. I am constantly amazed by the fact that God brought us together and excited that God can now use us as a team in addition to using us as individuals for His Kingdom.
Please understand, though, that people are not boxes. There are traits that my husband and I have that do not reflect our types. The MBTI is a magnificent tool, and it is fun to learn more about others in a way that is comprehensible to most people, but no one person is defined by their personality traits.
If you are interested in discovering more about your strengths and weaknesses, what drives you and how you can relate more positively toward others, I strongly recommend taking this questionnaire. When you do, comment here. Let’s talk personality!