HB Fans and Meyers-Briggs Personality Types

[Tortoise]

I was originally going to start a poll on this, then decided just to make it a thread since it's probably kind of a niche topic.

The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator is a questionnaire, heavily influenced by Carl Jung, that determines which one of 16 personality types is most dominant in the person completing the questionnaire. Naturally, this is just one particular model of personality types, and some people's types change over time. But the idea is that most people tend to land in one of the 16 Meyers-Briggs categories most often, and that is roughly the person's "type."

Each of the 16 personality types is denoted by a string of four letters: E (extroverted) or I (introverted), S (sensing) or N (intuition), T (thinking) or F (feeling), and J (judgment) or P (perception).

I'm interested in finding out whether one or two of the 16 Meyers-Briggs personality types are disproportionately represented among the Harry Browne and Permanent Portfolio fans on this forum.

I have a definite guess as to which type(s) is (are) most common on this forum, but I didn't want to skew the results by saying it at the outset.

What's your type?

[lazyboy]

Last time I tool the exam back in 1996 I was ENFP.

[MediumTex]

I don't know my type, but every time someone mentions Carl Jung I think about his "Red Book" that was published a couple of years ago for the first time.

The work is inscribed by Jung with the title Liber Novus (The New Book). The folio size manuscript, 11.57 inches (29.4 cm) by 15.35 inches (39.0 cm), was bound in red leather, and was commonly referred to as the "Red Book" by Jung. Inside are 205 pages of text and illustrations, all from his hand: 53 are full images, 71 contain both text and artwork and 81 are pure calligraphic text.  He began work on it in 1913, first in small black journals, during a difficult period of "creative illness", or confrontation with the unconscious, and it is said to contain some of his most personal material.  During the sixteen years he worked on the book, Jung developed his theories of archetypes, collective unconscious, and individuation.

The Red Book was a product of a technique developed by Jung which he termed active imagination. As Jung described it, he was visited by two figures, an old man and a young woman, who identified themselves as Elijah and Salome. They were accompanied by a large black snake. In time, the Elijah figure developed into a guiding spirit that Jung called Philemon. Salome was identified by Jung as an anima figure. The figures, according to Jung, "brought home to me the crucial insight that there are things in the psyche which I do not produce, but which produce themselves and have their own life."

The Philemon figure represented superior insight and communicated through mythic imagery. The images did not appear to come from Jung's own experience and Jung interpreted them as products of the collective unconscious.

What an interesting guy.

I wonder what his wife thought over the 16 year period during which Jung would periodically announce that he was retiring to his quarters to commune with Elijah and Salome and draw pictures of the collective unconscious in his Red Book that no one was allowed to see.

From the Red Book:







Sorry to digress, but I thought some of you might enjoy this stuff.

[lazyboy]

Tortoise: what is your type?

MT: It's fascinating about Carl Jung. I recently saw a movie, A Dangerous Method, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=664eq7BXQcM, that covers a period in his life, his relationship with Freud and his love relationship with a troubled patient who eventually became an analyst, herself.  It does seems that Mrs. Carl Jung had quite a lot to be concerned about since Jung took yet another lover and maintained an open marriage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=664eq7BXQcM in this clip he speaks about death.

[lazyboy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung. "Jung's work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a spiritual purpose beyond material goals. Our main task, he believed, is to discover and fulfill our deep innate potential. Based on his study of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Taoism, and other traditions, Jung believed that this journey of transformation, which he called individuation, is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine. Unlike Sigmund Freud, Jung thought spiritual experience was essential to our well-being".

[Gosso]

Tortoise, I will take the test after I'm done work...I'm very interested to see where I end up.  I wonder if the personality types change throughout your life as you gain more knowledge of yourself and the world around you?

MediumTex, that was some great info.  Over a month ago I started going down the Carl Jung road, but it felt like it was too advanced for me at the time.  I see I have some catching up to do!

[Lone Wolf]

I came out evenly split between INTJ and ISTJ.  The "ITJ" component was very strong and the N/S was exactly down the middle.

[clacy]

I came out evenly split between INTJ and ISTJ.  The "ITJ" component was very strong and the N/S was exactly down the middle.

I guess the "I" explains your handle.  I am an INTJ as well.

[KevinW]

INTJ, although I usually like to consider many alternatives in parallel and delay committing to any one, which is more of an INTP approach to decision-making.

[clacy]

INTJ, although I usually like to consider many alternatives in parallel and delay committing to any one, which is more of an INTP approach to decision-making.

That pretty much sums up me as well. 

For the fellow INTJ's here is a forum that is devoted to us....

http://intjforum.com/

[blancalily]

Another INTJ here.

[l82start]

INTJ as well....   i don't put much stock in it however, after visiting a INTJ forum (yes there is one ) and i read posts by the people that are obsessed with this Meyers Briggs test, half the time they seemed to be using it as an ego boost to justify how great they are (and their type is ) the other half to justify their shortcomings instead of working on fixing them...

edit to add.... i see i am not the only one that stumbled on the personality type forums.. lol

[Tortoise]

I took the test a few years ago, and I placed firmly in the INTJ category.

BTW, my unspoken guess was that INTJ and ISTJ would be the predominant personality types here. Only about 15% of the general population tends to fall into one of those two categories, but based on the responses so far, the percentage on this forum is probably much higher than that.

[Tortoise]

I don't know my type, but every time someone mentions Carl Jung I think about his "Red Book" that was published a couple of years ago for the first time.

[...]

Sorry to digress, but I thought some of you might enjoy this stuff.

Very interesting stuff! I've always been fascinated by Carl Jung.

If I had to guess, MT, I'd peg you as evenly split between INTJ and INFJ.

[MediumTex]

I don't know my type, but every time someone mentions Carl Jung I think about his "Red Book" that was published a couple of years ago for the first time.

[...]

Sorry to digress, but I thought some of you might enjoy this stuff.

Very interesting stuff! I've always been fascinated by Carl Jung.

If I had to guess, MT, I'd peg you as evenly split between INTJ and INFJ.

I'm a Scorpio...and left-handed.  I wonder how that fits into the Meyers-Brigg methodology.

I wish there was a machine in the grocery store like those blood pressure monitors that could spit out your Meyers-Brigg type.  That would be cool, as long as it made everyone sound special and unique in some way.

What a bummer it would be to put your arm in the cuff of the personality type reader and have the machine spit out the message "unremarkable in every way."   :(

[HB Reader]

ISTJ

It has been a few years since I've given much thought to this kind of stuff, but the personalty types described by Eli Jaxon-Bear in "The Enneagram of Liberation -- Freedom from Fixation" always seemed remarkably accurate to me. 

[Gosso]

Well I have never done the "test", but I went to this site and picked out where I stand.  I would be a mix between INTJ and INFP.  Here is why I'm a blend of the last two personality types:

T&F:  The reason being is that I hate conflicts (probably the main reason why I took so long to join this forum, but I'm more comfortable with that now), but yet I approach things using mostly logic, although I do go a little spacey at times.

J&P:  I always make plans that I intend to follow, but can easily get distracted and fall into multi-tasking and deadline stress.

Also I'm trying to be less of an N and more of an S, and the same can be said for I and E.

Really should we not be striving to balance all these personality types?

[MediumTex]

Really should we not be striving to balance all these personality types?

I would be inclined to rebalance them if one hit either 15% or 35% of the total. 

[lazyboy]

Really should we not be striving to balance all these personality types?

I would be inclined to rebalance them if one hit either 15% or 35% of the total. 

There is great wisdom in that, MT.

[lazyboy]

ISTJ

It has been a few years since I've given much thought to this kind of stuff, but the personalty types described by Eli Jaxon-Bear in "The Enneagram of Liberation -- Freedom from Fixation" always seemed remarkably accurate to me.  

I'm interested in the Enneagram types myself and have read some books on the subject, taken a few classes and discussed it a lot with friends. The main problem is in "standardized" testing and not making into a parlor game. Like any system, it has limitation but can be very useful. The best test I found was here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/tests_battery.asp. I recommend the long test. Riso and Hudson have also written several books and have explored levels of integration/disintegration within each type which is quite in depth and can be a bit scary, especially when looking at personality disintegration. I also recommend reading:
The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri for a really deep look at the subject. Oh, I test and observe myself to be a type 9. That's where my tag, Lazyboy, comes from.

[lazyboy]

I don't know my type, but every time someone mentions Carl Jung I think about his "Red Book" that was published a couple of years ago for the first time.

[...]

Sorry to digress, but I thought some of you might enjoy this stuff.

Very interesting stuff! I've always been fascinated by Carl Jung.

If I had to guess, MT, I'd peg you as evenly split between INTJ and INFJ.

I'm a Scorpio...and left-handed.  I wonder how that fits into the Meyers-Brigg methodology.

I wish there was a machine in the grocery store like those blood pressure monitors that could spit out your Meyers-Brigg type.  That would be cool, as long as it made everyone sound special and unique in some way.

What a bummer it would be to put your arm in the cuff of the personality type reader and have the machine spit out the message "unremarkable in every way."   :(

No chance of that happening in your case, MT. 
These test were used by HR and career counseling folks to help people find their niche emphasizing that everyone is unique and  best served by working in an environment that best supports them. For example, if you know you and your boss and are very different you can make adjustments or, if it's really bad, try to work for someone else rather than beating yourself up over a bad fit. 

[HB Reader]

ISTJ

It has been a few years since I've given much thought to this kind of stuff, but the personalty types described by Eli Jaxon-Bear in "The Enneagram of Liberation -- Freedom from Fixation" always seemed remarkably accurate to me.  

I'm interested in the Enneagram types myself and have read some books on the subject, taken a few classes and discussed it a lot with friends. The main problem is in "standardized" testing and not making into a parlor game. Like any system, it has limitation but can be very useful. The best test I found was here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/tests_battery.asp. I recommend the long test. Riso and Hudson have also written several books and have explored levels of integration/disintegration within each type which is quite in depth and can be a bit scary, especially when looking at personality disintegration. I also recommend reading:
The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri for a really deep look at the subject. Oh, I test and observe myself to be a type 9. That's where my tag, Lazyboy, comes from.

Yeah, I'm a type 9 too.

It certainly isn't perfect, but I think the Enneagram types can often be useful in understanding why some people typically react to events in certain ways.     

[Tortoise]

Really should we not be striving to balance all these personality types?

Not necessarily. There are two schools of thought: One says it's best to identify our weaknesses and work on them to bring our strengths and weaknesses more into balance (what you are suggesting). The other says it's best to identify our strengths and then place ourselves in environments that play to our strengths so that we can be most effective and successful.

In my opinion, those two schools of thought kind of mirror the perennial "Nature vs. Nurture" debate. The "improve your weaknesses" school is like the "Nurture" argument, positing that with the appropriate level of nurturing, anyone can be good at just about anything they put their mind to. The "focus on your strengths" school is like the "Nature" argument, asserting that Mother Nature (or God) made each of us the way we are--likely for good reason--and that refusing to accept and embrace your innate strengths and weaknesses is likely to be counterproductive, akin to banging your head against a wall.

[lazyboy]

ISTJ

It has been a few years since I've given much thought to this kind of stuff, but the personalty types described by Eli Jaxon-Bear in "The Enneagram of Liberation -- Freedom from Fixation" always seemed remarkably accurate to me. 

I'm interested in the Enneagram types myself and have read some books on the subject, taken a few classes and discussed it a lot with friends. The main problem is in "standardized" testing and not making into a parlor game. Like any system, it has limitation but can be very useful. The best test I found was here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/tests_battery.asp. I recommend the long test. Riso and Hudson have also written several books and have explored levels of integration/disintegration within each type which is quite in depth and can be a bit scary, especially when looking at personality disintegration. I also recommend reading:
The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul by Sandra Maitri for a really deep look at the subject. Oh, I test and observe myself to be a type 9. That's where my tag, Lazyboy, comes from.

Yeah, I'm a type 9 too.

It certainly isn't perfect, but I think the Enneagram types can often be useful in understanding why some people typically react to events in certain ways.     

Yes, I agree. It's very helpful to not fight the way somebody is being even if they are irritating the crap out of you because you are probably affecting them in the same way. If you understand their mode of reacting to the stress of life you can work with it because you can see that it's just their mode of coping and not who they really are.

[Gosso]

Really should we not be striving to balance all these personality types?

Not necessarily. There are two schools of thought: One says it's best to identify our weaknesses and work on them to bring our strengths and weaknesses more into balance (what you are suggesting). The other says it's best to identify our strengths and then place ourselves in environments that play to our strengths so that we can be most effective and successful.

In my opinion, those two schools of thought kind of mirror the perennial "Nature vs. Nurture" debate. The "improve your weaknesses" school is like the "Nurture" argument, positing that with the appropriate level of nurturing, anyone can be good at just about anything they put their mind to. The "focus on your strengths" school is like the "Nature" argument, asserting that Mother Nature (or God) made each of us the way we are--likely for good reason--and that refusing to accept and embrace your innate strengths and weaknesses is likely to be counterproductive, akin to banging your head against a wall.

That's very well said.  In How I Found Freedom, Harry Browne talks about discovering who you truly are and then placing yourself in an environment which matches that.  But unfortunately, I'm unsure of what my true personality is.  I have a rough idea, but I'm not satisfied with that version.  I'm unsure which parts of my personality are the true self or from cultural programming.

I might be over thinking this, but discovering who you are seems to be the most important problem one can solve.  I just fear I'll go too deep and end up living in a VAN BY THE RIVER!


(maybe not a bad option?)