Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? You know, the most popular personality test in the world? I've taken it often, starting in high school as part of a "future career" workshop, and then many times since–on my own or at the request of an employer. My scores always indicate that I'm an "INFP"—so I have jokingly warned people for decades about my "INFP-ness". Cringe, I know. Turns out the test is pretty cringe, too, as we've covered here in the past. In a deep-dive into the test several years ago, Vox calls it "totally meaningless." Vox further explains:
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is probably the most widely used personality test in the world.
About 2 million people take it annually, at the behest of corporate HR departments, colleges, and even government agencies. The company that produces and markets the test makes around $20 million off it each year.
The only problem? The test is completely meaningless.
"There's just no evidence behind it," says Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who's written about the shortcomings of the Myers-Briggs previously. "The characteristics measured by the test have almost no predictive power on how happy you'll be in a situation, how you'll perform at your job, or how happy you'll be in your marriage."
So it's no surprise that the MBTI is the subject of so many jokes. This classic McSweeney's piece by Erica Lies and Alex Baia, "What your Myers-Briggs type says about whether you'll take the Myers-Briggs test"—still makes me laugh. Let's see what it says about INFP:
INFP: "The Sensitive Druid" – You'll start the test, answer two questions, then get distracted by a poetry anthology by William Carlos Williams.
Hilarious. Click here to see how your Myers-Briggs personality type reacts to the test.
And here's another more recent McSweeney's piece that also pokes fun at the MBTI. This time, the subject in question is your "Michael Myers-Briggs Type." You know, Michael Myers, the famous serial killer from the classic Halloween films. Simon Henriques explains:
The Michael Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an assessment to help people determine how they perceive the world and make decisions about silently stabbing innocent teenagers while wearing a hideous rubber mask. The MMBTI is structured around four dichotomies that each describe a different element of one's stabbing-related behavior and preferences.
Now THAT seems pretty helpful! To learn more about your Michael Myers-Briggs Type, click here, and for the rest of the Vox article about how the test is questionable at best, click here.
