July 17 Assignment - Personality Testing

Every time that I've taken the MBTI previously, I've always come out as an ISTJ, and that's the same result that I got this time. It's hard to know how much this really means. As I posted in the discussion, I find the process of taking these tests to be very difficult. I always feel that many of the answers could go either way, and I also feel like I should be answering one particular way based on the way I've been previously classified. Thus, I'm not sure how accurate it really is, particularly since the introvert classification is the only one that really came out as a strong result.

The Enneagram, too, seems a little suspect. I had four or five types that came out with virtually the same number of points, and I could see myself in all of them and none (i.e., I have some traits that fall into all of the categories, and some of the traits listed did not really apply to me). All in all, although it's fun to take these tests, I am a little leery of using them to make any sort of determination about my role in the workplace/society or anyone else's role. I think the best type of employee is someone who's flexible and can step out of a predetermined role. For instance, even though I am an introvert to the core, I try to force myself to step out of this mold and be very outgoing when I need to be.

I'm also not sure how much you can actually learn about a person through these types of tests. For instance, my boyfriend has never taken the MBTI, but when I took it the other night we were looking at the categories and we decided that he would probably be the exact opposite in everything (an ENFP). However, we think and feel very similarly about most things. By contrast, a former roommate and I had the exact same MBTI types, but we had almost nothing in common.