Truth is, I’m painfully aware of the big hole that is the MBTI. I find that for a “extremely rare” type called INTJ, and the so-called "NT"s generally, I seem to smack face first into people who “test” as that type all the frikkin time. It doesn’t seem to add up even by my casual observation.
So why do I mention it? Because before I became critical of the whole thing, a friend linked me to a Jung test, which I took.
Now, lets just suspend the fact that I’m a skeptic for a second… In my ignorance it changed my life. It’s weird, and I can’t explain why, or how, but it did. Reading through the INTJ description, I can’t say that before that time I’d ever seen anyone, anywhere, describe me in such painful, intricate, deeply buried detail as this thing did. Let me note, I’d been to clinical child psychologists?/psychiatrists? as a kid (I was/am categorised as … above average, and testing ensued. Getting pulled out of class to do an IQ/aptitude/etc test in school was a recurring theme), and later in life I’d read through their reports and they didn’t come nearly as close as INTJ descriptions on the net - and I mean, it’s the net ffs! - , they’re freakishly accurate and specific (in my opinion) for something written by a complete stranger who has never met me.
So, I have extremely strong confirmation bias on MY OWN “type description” in the MBTI. This could be pure fluke, this could be wishful thinking, this is based on self-selection and anecdote, I realise that. BUT, after reading through some of them, and examining it more… I felt less alone in the world. My rational mind might not like how I’m feeding cognitive dissonance on this one, but that’s how it is.
I’ve seen similarities between myself and the INFJ type too, so I realise these categories aren’t set in stone, and I tend to think we can “inhabit” any personality (no I don’t mean “as categorised by Jung/MB”) we want depending on context. I’ve also seen MBTI type “professionals” on the net be VERY quick to point out the flaws in the system, so I don’t think they have “blind faith” in the methodology. I think lots of laypeople do, but I don’t think pro’s do.
Do I think it’s true because I find it useful? No. But when describing myself, I find it’s a very useful summary of how I feel “I am” that I can point other people to. And in that regard, I DO think it’s useful to paint a person in broad strokes with a succinct “label”. Kinda like labelling a species never describes an individual in full, but helps.