On the Power of Identity - a look at Myers-Briggs Type Indicators

A Story by Sylver

"Clinical. Frigid. Literal."

- a former classmate, when asked to describe me

Myers-Briggs (MBTI) personality typing is unscientific, yet when any of us first take the test we are confronted with a single profile. The profile often - depending on how accurate our answers were - fits shockingly well.

A test can only tell so much. At first I was typed as an ISFP, which was...dissapointing. The profile fit me to a point, but as my true type is ISTP, it left much to be desired. In my ignorance of the underlying structure known as Cognitive Function, I turned instead to typing via dichotomies. One letter, I or E. S or N. T or F. P or J.

I decided that I must be INFP, and stuck to the decision with a stubborness that is, at best, inadequately described by the term bull-headed.

Cognitive function stacks may sound like a total scam. The complex function of the human mind cannot possibly be so orderly, so easy to define. Well, that's why Myers-Briggs isn't science. It's simply a tool. A tool which, when used properly, can serve two functions:

A) Reminding us of our strengths and weaknesses.

B) Assuring us that yes, indeed, there is a group of other people who have something in common with us. We may be weird, but there are others who have similar attributes.

Let me use my own final realizations as proof of this.

When I finally decided to be honest with myself and admit that I didn't feel comfortable labeling myself an INFP, I was faced with a choice. I could let MBTI go or I could explore something I'd heard about but not acknowleged. That something was cognitive functions.
(I recommend, for the record, that anybody who reads this check out mbtifiction.com. Arvid, the site's moderator, is extensively knowledgable about many things and is also very passionate about MBTI theory.)

I chose, in my stubborness, to learn more. I decided that I would find my four letters and conquer once and for all the confusion that kept me from diving deeper into the unknown depths of function stacks.

In the end, Arvid's site gave me the know-how and the confidence to figure out my general modes of thought. With that came the clear understanding that enabled me to say, finally, that I knew my type.

Don't give up on MBTI. Don't write it off. Besides the usefulness of cognitive functions in writing (as a nice guideline to how a character normally thinks, for example), they really lend some clarity in day-to-day life. As a Ti-user, I don't have the natural organizational skills of a Te-user. Thus, I can devise ways to compensate when before I would have turned a blind eye to my own faults.

Good luck, and good night.