Sorry, I can’t. I’m an INTJ

 

I remember being a high-school student, just beginning to foray into the possibilities of my future, when our career counselor explained to us that we would all be taking a survey to determine our personalities and the career options that best fit them. I distinctly recall being slightly unnerved. Sure, I was a little excited. Who didn’t want to skip PE class to take a test that, for once, could not count towards my GPA? For the most part, though, I wasn’t buying it. I felt as though it had been assumed that we were incapable of figuring out ourselves and that we needed a multiple-choice questionnaire to set us in the right direction.

I took the test anyway, and upon completion, the program led me to a page compiling a computer-generated list that appeared to be forcing unwanted labels at me. The generic list that I received summarized personality traits that I already knew about myself and could, perhaps, ascribe to half the people in that room. They were things I did not need reiterated to me by a computer program, and I was left with a huge, so what?

There is no shortage of psychometric tests, the most prevalent of these being the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI has been lauded to offer the most comprehensive understanding of a person, and while I have never taken these tests seriously, I can understand how such a test might prove valuable if administered in a clinical setting. Unfortunately, the MBTI, meant strictly for administration under professional guidance, has been taken out of context and can be found in a variety of reincarnations on the internet. Although harmless for the most part, misusing these tests as a way to define oneself can be potentially dangerous.

What surprises me is the number of people that use the results of tests masquerading as the MBTI as a labeling tool for themselves and for others. Spend some time browsing the blogosphere and you will find a community of people who readily use their results as an extension of their own name. “Rebecca. INTJ. Food critique,” one might write to introduce themselves.  In some cases, these people become their four-letter code in the sense that they will use their code as an excuse for a particular behavior or decision- “I want to become a [profession] because I am a [MBTI code].” What bothers me about this hype over MBTI-like tests is their ability to confine people into a limited understanding of themselves and the resultant adverseness to personal change.

Personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire are designed to help people become self-aware of their personalities and help people grow as individuals. Unfortunately, what I have noticed instead of growth is a sense of stagnancy. People appear to acquiesce into the stereotypes that they are told they have. They believe that their faults and accomplishments are a result of this four-letter code. What this assumes is a static personality, not a fluid one, and it poses a problem when people, especially children, believe that such tests are capable of defining their lives.

What disturbs me most is our unwillingness to take the time to analyze our own personalities. People somehow like to think they have been elucidated by a mere questionnaire, and I wonder if this is the result of our own laziness to understand ourselves. The use of these tests poses a real risk to how we carry ourselves and what we expect of ourselves as we grow. I honestly believe that if we resort to multiple-choice questionnaires to form an opinion about ourselves, then we are clearly not doing enough living, and no number of personality tests can help us with that.

 

Rebecca Dutta

Blog Director Scr ’15

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