I don't know for certain what value there is in knowing what "personality type" you are. Everyone is an individual, after all. You may decide there is no value in it for you at all. However, I have learned a few things that help me understand how I approach the world, and the ways my approach is lacking, by applying the knowledge gained by taking the tests and reading about the results.
I am an "INTP". Also known as the "rational architect". As usual, I am a rare type of critter.
Mostly, my personality type has served me well. I really enjoy thinking and plotting- um, "planning". I can hardly imagine being some other way, although I do feel the past several years have allowed me to stretch my boundaries a little. And shown me where I need to change.
I need a little more of whatever trait it is that would help me make money. All my life that has been the toughest thing for me. If I enjoy it and I'm good at it, it's practically guaranteed to not be popular enough to lead to financial success (and by "success" I don't mean "get rich", I mean "allows me to make enough to eat and pay some basic bills").
My other difficulty has been maintaining intimate relationships. I'm not "cold", I'm just difficult and different. (And the lack of money has always been a stumbling block in that area, too.) I'm hoping I am softening up where I need to and becoming more approachable and "relatable" now.
Understanding the INTP traits has allowed me to see how I interact with others in all aspects of life, and shows where I need to focus some attention and put forth some effort. I am trying to accentuate the positive traits and minimize the negative ones.
I also wonder if it might be part of the reason I have always been drawn to "rules, not Rulers". After all, one of those pages above states "Authority derived from office, credential, or celebrity does not impress them. " You've got that right. Expertise impresses me, position is meaningless without it. And, if your expertise is in coercing the innocent, you don't "impress me" in a good way- but you do make an impression. You expose yourself as someone to watch when TSHTF, in case self defense (and defense of the innocent) becomes a more critical necessity.
But, then, I also feel pity for those cursed with a personality type (along with other traits they may have no control over) which draws them toward coercive "jobs". What if that were me?
(Writing this post, and doing what I always do when I write, amused me this time as I struggled to make certain each and every word was just the exact word I meant to use. Just as the INTP profile says "rational architects" are wont to do. Which is also why the editing of my newspaper columns gives me heartburn.)
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Intj, here.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff.
If I change my answers on a couple of questions that are very "iffy" for me, I come out INTJ- but then the description also doesn't fit me as well.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. ISTP, Crafter Artisan. Description was basically on the money except for the risk taking part.
ReplyDeleteArtisan Performer (ESFP)
ReplyDeletesounds about right....I guess.
Also INTP, not surprising - I always enjoy your posts and I have never been impressed by authority.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Rich
Fellow INTP here. Are we really 1%ers?! A shame, but maybe enough. I suspect that whatever personality type(s) encompass the politician-criminal spectrum, those who are opposite from us in their need to dominate and exploit others rather than explore and build, are far more numerous. That is why a major challenge in constructing an ideal socio-political framework is figuring how these folks fit in. We can't merely rail against the dominators, the destroyers. We can create conditions which minimize their occurrence, which favor development of more useful personality types from birth. But domination, exploitation, manipulation, are clearly useful traits which have created our species' unique position, and to the extent these traits are anchored in the genome, they will not diminish greatly within the few generations we call the civilized era, no matter how rational a society they are born to. The systems we INTPs construct must be built for real humans, as we find them, including those less suited for the world we hope to build for our progeny. And theirs.
ReplyDeleteSince you can't change people, it makes sense to eliminate the "system" that gives them to opportunity to rule others and hide from the consequences of their antisocial behavior behind a veil of false legitimacy. Let the thugs be seen as thugs, and let them live with the fear of being Darwinized right out of the gene pool if they can't channel their "gifts" in less destructive ways. Because, yes, there is a place for taking charge- but it isn't where it is used politically.
ReplyDeleteINTJ here. Seems there's a lot of us frequenting the more libertarian blogs.
ReplyDeleteI've found as I've aged that I fit the stereotype less and less, but I put that down to broadening as an individual. Focus on your strengths but realise that most things are a skill and can therefore be learned, even the things (like small talk) that don't come naturally or which you don't particularly enjoy.
I'm presently having to learn people management the hard way. It doesn't come naturally to me and I don't enjoy it, but past a certain point in your career there seems no getting away from the necessity of it - something I never thought I'd say with reference to myself even as recently as a couple of years ago. As a friend of mine once said to me, my ideal job would be doing something inscrutably technical alone in a back room somewhere, but ideal jobs are hard to come by and you do what you have to to pay the bills.