A review of "ISTJ: Understanding and Relating with the Inspector"
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular
personality test, said to reveal the existence of 16 distinct personality
types. The MBTI is freely based on Carl Gustav Jung's speculations and was
developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. While the
scientific basis of the MBTI have been questioned, other psychological theories
doesn't strike me as any more “scientific”, but sure, feel free to send me your
empirical evidences for the Oedipus complex, Thanatos or the Bell Curve as they
become available! I won't reveal my Myers-Briggs personality type here, but I
admit that it captured my psychological make-up relatively well and certainly
much better than any of the other types on the MBTI. However, it also feels
rather “flat”, as if personality only had four axes. Trust me, my have at least
16 axes, ha ha. Curiously, although I don't believe in astrology, I feel more
comfortable with astrological personality types, perhaps because there are more
of them, at least if you count the “decans”, “dwaads” and “cusps”…
Clayton Geoffreys, who interestingly enough doesn't want to reveal his MBTI personality type either, has written this short introduction to the ISTJ personality (the dependable but boring worker-ant or, more formally, The Inspector). You can probably find the same information free on the web, but if you want everything under one cover and also like to have a short introduction to the MBTI system itself, this could be what you are looking for – at least if you're an ISTJ or absolutely need to understand one! In order to fully understand Myers-Briggs, it's important to remember that some terms are used in slightly unfamiliar ways. Thus, “Judging” doesn't necessarily mean judgmental. Nor does “Introverted” necessarily mean anti-social, and I suppose you could be “Extroverted” according to this system without being an annoying braggart in colorful dress.
From the top of my head, I think Geoffreys nails the ISTJ relatively well, both the positives and negatives. He never mentions the a-word, but astrologically speaking, I would say that ISTJ is closest to Capricorn. On one point Mr Geoffreys reveals that he, at any rate, can't possibly be an ISTJ: he claims that The Inspector should enter a romantic relationship with the Performer (ESFP) or the Promoter (ESTP). Astrologically speaking, that would be like pairing a Capricorn with a Leo or Sagittarius! Ahem, baaaad idea…
As for the MBTI not being scientific according to the ISTJ-like standards of your local psychiatrist guild (the one with all the prescriptions for happy pills), why does it have to be? Surely, a personality test is good if it helps you understand yourself and, horror of horrors, improve? What other criteria for “truth” can there possibly be in a subjective endeavor such as this…?
Clayton Geoffreys, who interestingly enough doesn't want to reveal his MBTI personality type either, has written this short introduction to the ISTJ personality (the dependable but boring worker-ant or, more formally, The Inspector). You can probably find the same information free on the web, but if you want everything under one cover and also like to have a short introduction to the MBTI system itself, this could be what you are looking for – at least if you're an ISTJ or absolutely need to understand one! In order to fully understand Myers-Briggs, it's important to remember that some terms are used in slightly unfamiliar ways. Thus, “Judging” doesn't necessarily mean judgmental. Nor does “Introverted” necessarily mean anti-social, and I suppose you could be “Extroverted” according to this system without being an annoying braggart in colorful dress.
From the top of my head, I think Geoffreys nails the ISTJ relatively well, both the positives and negatives. He never mentions the a-word, but astrologically speaking, I would say that ISTJ is closest to Capricorn. On one point Mr Geoffreys reveals that he, at any rate, can't possibly be an ISTJ: he claims that The Inspector should enter a romantic relationship with the Performer (ESFP) or the Promoter (ESTP). Astrologically speaking, that would be like pairing a Capricorn with a Leo or Sagittarius! Ahem, baaaad idea…
As for the MBTI not being scientific according to the ISTJ-like standards of your local psychiatrist guild (the one with all the prescriptions for happy pills), why does it have to be? Surely, a personality test is good if it helps you understand yourself and, horror of horrors, improve? What other criteria for “truth” can there possibly be in a subjective endeavor such as this…?
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