5/11/2004

INTJ = Green?

Saw a link to this quiz from the also-green Frogs and Ravens . It seems to basically be a simple personality type quiz, a watered-down and colorful Myers-Briggs. (the full Myers-Briggs is not free-- but versions of the Keirsey sorter, which is a derivative, are on the web.

Green
What Color is Your Brain?

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So in this, I'm green. In MB terms, I'm an INTJ. According to some sources, INTJs make up only 1% of the general population, and female INTJs are especially rare. That probably is because many INTJ traits are culturally coded in Western/US culture as "masculine" so some women probably hide or underdevelop those aspects of their personality in order to conform. But in my experience, I've met a number of female INTJs in academia. Just more proof of how our world is actually not at all the same world as that of the general population...

For all that the Myers-Briggs can be critized for cultural bias, etc -- and some temperament types just basically hate such tests, while others love them -- I've found it incredibly helpful over the years. (Had the opportunity at a job many years ago to take the full MB test and workshop.) Instead of simply thinking "he's so stupid" in a meeting I try to gently remind myself that "different people process information in different ways." No, really. It does help you learn to try to get along with people who have different ways of being in the world.