Today was a professional development day at work, and we learned what our Myers-Briggs personality type is and how we can use it to work harmoniously with one another.
And it was utter bull.
If you aren’t familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality types, you are categorized on four areas and given a unique combination code. For example, I am an ESTP.
If you are super interested and/or have 15 minutes to kill, you can take the authentic (translation: paid) test here, and a knock-off here.
There are two wonderful things about this assessment. First, it is a great bonding experience to look at the person you are sitting next to and say, “Oh, you thrive under deadlines too?” I got to talk with so many people at work, whose maximum level of interaction I ever have with is a polite nod in the hallway. The second reason I like it, is I see it as a wonderful gateway for people who have a harder time putting their feelings into words. *Cough*myhusband*cough*.
That being said...
This test functions as an either/or. You are either an extrovert, or an introvert. A thinker, or a feeler. There is NO middle ground. This does not work for so many reasons! Ask me how I relax after work? I like to sit alone on the couch and quietly read. Classic introvert right? But ask me how I relax on the weekends? Let’s go out shopping, to the driving range, or to my cousin’s adoption party! What an extroverted response. There is an exclamation point and everything! And this shifts contextually, too. On the same night, I could pass on a party thrown by my husbands coworker who I barely know, but I will still meet up with my best friend to hang out at our favorite beach and eat caramel apples. Don’t judge. Furthermore, some of the answer options were comparing apples to oranges! It easy to select: a) I prefer to make itineraries for my vacations, to b) I like to be spontaneous and see where the wind takes me. How about: a) I take responsibilities seriously, to b) I am playful and casual. AN ACTUAL QUESTION. I can be silly and make jokes, but still pay my rent on time. They are not mutually exclusive attributes. This test is also astoundingly vague. “I feel impacted by the words of other people.” What people?? What did they say?? I don’t care how independent you are, sippin’ on the “haterade”. We are all impacted by one another.
The worst feature of this test is that it fundamentally operated on labels. What is with the obsessive need for labels? Why are we so hung up on whether a person is straight, gay, transsexual, republican, extroverted, etc.? Labels are divisive and troublesome. I am a wonderful, multi-faceted human being that cannot be boiled down into a sequence of four letters. I am me, and that is enough.
