Dragaera

Introversion / Extraversion (was: Re: contradictions)

Steve Simmons scs at di.org
Tue Feb 8 06:37:56 PST 2005

On Tue, Feb 08, 2005 at 03:39:43AM -0600, Tsarren wrote:

> I've done Meyers-Briggs and/or Keirsey (it was several years ago and the
> results seem to be in the same format); they are the only personality tests
> I've ever found of any worth - because they told me something about myself
> and human nature that I didn't already know . . .

I've taken both M-B and Keirsey as well, and was quite surprised to
find radically different results.  I had occasion to discuss this with
a professional in the field, and she said it's uncommon but not unusual.
In one set of tests I was an 'individual contributor', ie, a person who
worked largely on his own doing self-contained technical tasks (software
development).  In another, I was the director of R&D at a rapidly growing
company.  Her opinion was that I'd taken the tests 'in the role' of the
position I was performing, and the results reflected my ability to play
the role as much as any native personality traits.

So take your own results with a grain of salt.  Which, come to think of
it, is a good idea with any personality inventory.  Including simple
introspection.
-- 
"In my darker moments I consider creating the eeyore fan club with a theme
song by Leonard Cohen, logo by Edvard Munch and costumes by Tim Burton."
   -- anonymous, forwarded by Ellen.