MBTI

Moon MBTI

MBTI links on this page:

Online tests
MBTI personality types
MBTI sites
Other MBTI stuff
Mailing lists/web rings
Where to get books and tests

Hmm, what's this, you say? MBTI? What does that stand for? More Bullshit To Ignore? Not quite...
MBTI stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and is actually an instrument for determining personality types for the general population. It was developed by Isabel Briggs-Myers building on the work of her mom, Katherine Briggs, with help from her son, Peter Myers, and is based on the theories of C.G. Jung. It basically divides the human population into 16 different personality types.
What's that, you say? You're an individual and refuse to be labeled? Sure, we all are individuals; these are just some general similarities between individuals in way of acting and thinking, that then puts you into a category with those people you are most like.
A quick explanation: There are 4 opposing letter-pairs, namely E/I, S/N, T/F, and J/P, where E = extraversion, I = introversion, S = sensing, N = intuition, T = thinking, F = feeling, J = judging, and P = perceiving. These are called "preferences", and a person "prefers" one of each letter-pair more than he/she "prefers" the other, so what you end up with are 4 letters, for example "ESTP", signifying how you deal with both your inward world as well as the outside world.
A short summary of these for a person would be:
E - Extraversion... "Charging of batteries" while interacting with people, outwardly directed.
I - Introversion... "Charging of batteries" while being alone, inwardly directed.
S - Sensing... Facts-oriented, relies on senses, practical.
N - Intuition... Hunch-oriented, relies on intuition, imaginative.
T - Thinking... Objective, ruled by logic, object-oriented.
F - Feeling... Subjective, ruled by emotions, people-oriented.
J - Judging... Planning ahead, likes to have things settled.
P - Perceiving... Taking things as they come, likes to have things open-ended.

The two middle pairs of letters are called "functions": the S/N-pair are called "Perceiving" functions, and the T/F-pair are called "Judging" functions. One from either one of those middle pairs is outward, one from the remaining one of those middle pairs is inward; one is primary, the other is secondary. (The remaining two functions are third and fourth.) The S/N-pair deals with how you take in and absorb information, and the T/F-pair deals with how you process that information, ie. make decisions. The very first letter pair tells you whether your primary function is extraverted or introverted (outward or inward), and the fourth letter pair tells you how you deal with the outside world, either in a "Judging" way; ie. more "structured" (the T/F-pair) or in a "Perceiving" way; ie. more "improvised" (the S/N-pair).
So an ESTP's primary function would be S outward with a secondary function of T inward, since the first letter signifies extraversion for a primary and the fourth letter signifies that it is the "Perceiving" function that is outward, ie. S. Thus S would be outward and primary while T would be inward and secondary. The third function is F either inward or outward, and the fourth, weakest function is N inward (opposite of primary). In contrast, an INFJ would have a primary function of N inward and a secondary function of F outward, since the first letter signifies introversion for a primary and the fourth letter signifies that it is a "Judging" function that is outward, ie. F. Since the primary is introverted, not extraverted, the primary would have to be N (inward) and the secondary would have to be F (outward). The fourth letter thus signifies the outward function whether it is primary or secondary. The third function would be T either inward or outward and the fourth, weakest function would be S outward. Quite the opposite, in fact...
I'll also mention that Keirsey operates with 4 "temperaments" as well, namely SP, SJ, NT and NF. (Dionysian, Epimethean, Promethean and Apollonian, respectively, after the Greek gods.)
Confused? Well, you should be, with this explanation. Better check out some of the links below... (Opening in new browser-windows, for your convenience...)
So what's the use of this stuff then? Well, it gives you insight into who you are and why you behave and think the way you do, as well as insight into other people. You've probably wondered why one person acts the way he/she does in a certain situation, while another person acts a totally different way. While there are of course many factors involved here, personality type is definitely a major one.
Well, I won't bore you more; I'll leave that up to others. (I'm kidding, of course; this is interesting stuff!) Anyway, down below there's a bunch of links. One way of finding out your personality type is to take one of the online tests, then reading the type descriptions not only for your type, but for all the types to see which one fits best, and to see if the test was right (only you know yourself truly, of course), and then delve more deeply into the MBTI stuff... Or you can do it the other way around... Just remember to answer the questions as honestly as possible though; the MBTI deals with who YOU really are, not who OTHER people want you to be.
It's also recommended to take the original MBTI test. You can find it at http://www.mbti.com/ along with books and other stuff.
Lastly, in case you're wondering, I'm an INFJ... ;-) (Another INFJ explanation here and here.) (Although the descriptions on these sites might not tell the whole story, they are pretty accurate.)
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