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Is Personality Typing Used In IT?
Hades- writes: "I'm a dual major at Penn State in a dual major consisting of Computer Engineering and the IST. In one of the entry-level courses of the IST program we have been discussing the Meyers Briggs Personality Indicator and its usefulness. I've written a brief paper on the subject over the past week and now I wanted to see what you, the Slashdot community thinks of this test. The test judges your personality type by answering quite a few questions. The result is a 4-letter personality type. These results can give you some sort of guidance towards a career. However, in this class we've been concentrating on group work. These tests can show who the leader, and what parts other people should be fitting to in the model. My real question is, are any of the technology companies actually using these tests? Are they optional or required? It also brings up a good point in how it would work on different kinds of open source projects by placing some people into positions and the like." Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators [?] have been around for quite a while, however I'm not aware of anyone using the results of these tests in any form of project management. Do you think these tests have any value and should they have any impact on the direction of one's career?
It was my understanding that personality tests, such as the MMPI were used to help diagnosis of family or employer problems. I doubt taking one of these tests would be helpful for employment purposes as the critiquing results these tests provide are prefect tools that can and will be used to discriminate for lower evaluations. In the course of evaluations, even the most favorable test results could be damning.
While such tests may be used to help one be humble, they can provide discriminating evidence. Its just like talking endlessly after an officer arrests someone and states the right to remain silent. These tests allow someone to talk so much and gives a powerful set of tools to the prosecution. Why volunteer irrelevant material when it has not direct advantage to your job?
<I>What was the conclusion in your paper? Was there a predominant M-B type in your class? Anybody else out there want to throw out their M-B type that works in IT/Sys-Net Admin? I am INFP</I><P>
The paper mostly consisted of a few basic things, such as a formal definition of the MBPI, how it's used in career paths, team projects, and elaborating more on your own personality type.
<P>
BTW, I'm a INFP also! Infact, probably a lot of us here on Slashdot are INFP's. A lot of mathematics, scientists, etc usually have this personality type. I believe it also makes up 1% of the population according to the results.
Make sure you tell people what it is, and what you hope to get out of it. If possible show them some sample questions before they commit to taking it, so that they have more trust you're not going to sneak in any really personal stuff. Explain to them what the results mean. There's plenty of literature out there describing the major MBTI types. People that I know (I was a sociology major) usually enjoyed knowing what type they were, even if they didn't necessarily believe that it was very indicative of them as people.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
But that was about it. The results weren't used beyond the occasional joke, or keeping tucked in the back of one's mind "he's always quiet in these meetings because he's an INTP." Never used in project management (our projects are primarly 1-3 programmers at a time, dealing with clients), but at times I wish the results were looked at by people. It would make it a lot easier, for example, for me to deal with some of my clients if I knew roughly what to expect based on their M-B test. As opposed to finding out the hard way over several months.
The tests are a crock of road apples.
Now that I've enraged everyone I'll elaborate.
The tests are long and vague, relying on a persona's ability to understand themselves. The tests attempt at weeding out self serving answers (I want to seem more sensitive so I'll pick this option on question 23) by having redundant questions, but the bottom line is they are pretty much useless.
Go ahead and read the descriptions the tests give of the different personality types. You'll find that your personality is probably reflected to some degree in each one of them. It's like a horoscope. It's incredibly vague to the point where anyone can see some kernel of how it relates to them. You might as well read your horoscope on www.theonion.com as rely on the MB tests.
As a final note, there are classes on how to "beat" the tests. It's not as much fun as the courses on throwing off lie detector tests but it does show how the MB is only good for entertainment purposes.
In my opinion, any PHB who even bothers to give his staff the bloody test should be fired ASAP for incompetence.
BTW: I'd do the same to anyone who uses a horoscope in the workplace too.
www.matthewmiller.net
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
There are lots of posts talking about how MBTI, the various descriptions and Jungian psychology in general are a lot like astrology, pigeonholing, etc. Psychology is not an objective science, and you have to take context into account whenever you're using it.
If you take it at face value then it mostly is, and a lot of people take take it at face value - employers included - which is why a lot of people will be disillusioned about it. There are some definitely incorrect perceptions though, so I'll try to outline some that I've noticed.
The linked site has the spelling wrong. It's actually spelt "myers-briggs", not "meyers-briggs". Actually I think they know because I saw this site about a year ago and they commented on it that they spelt it that way because myers-briggs.com was already taken.
The official myers-briggs test can ONLY be administered by a trained psychologist, for good reason. The main reason for this is already hilighted in several of the gripey comments posted in reply to this story. Either people misunderstand the results, people misunderstand the questions, people misunderstand the interpretation, or (most annoyingly) other people misunderstand all of the above. Even when it is administered properly you can bet people will start reading rubbish from the results at the first opportunity to get things wrong.
Most people probably got their first and (likely) only impression of MBTI from the Keirsey sorter (note the word "sorter"), or something like it. Keirsey is not a test and it's not supposed to be. It's a multi choice sorter intended to give people a pointer towards their likely personality type. It's not always correct though. This sorter is really the product of a guy who made it so he could sell more copies of his book. It's free and openly available for people to misunderstand, which is why it's so popular.
Type descriptions are absolutes. People have been complaining that they fit at least partly under every description, and this is no surprise. Personally though, I'm definitely much more similar to an INTP than an ESFJ... for whatever it's worth. It doesn't mean I can't or won't act like an ESFJ description under some circumstances. It also doesn't mean I can't be really good at a "typical ESFJ job", or the reverse... even though I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as someone who relates closer.
MBTI is intended to describe how people act.. not why they act that way, or what's going on inside their head.
(easily most important): One of the most useful things about Jungian psychology is not to slot people into boxes, but to demonstrate that there are different types of people.
Before Myers and Briggs brought Jungian psychology out of the closet, the central view in psychology was that anyone could be wired into electrodes and people could be conditioned to any form wanted by electrocuting them. (or something metaphorically equivalent.)
Either can be argued depending on the context and circumstances. If nothing else, Jungian psychology has introduced an alternative viewpoint to be argued that people's personalities are hard-coded, and there are limits to how much you can be changed. (Consider this the next time you're accepted for the way you are outside of social norms instead of being thrown in a mental institution to be "cured".)
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-Cyclopatra
"We can't all, and some of us don't." -- Eeyore
I'm a sysadmin with a degree in Psychology. The Meyers Briggs personality inventory, while fun to play with, is about as accurate and incisive as a horoscope. It is an overly simplified and extremely large grained multiple choice personality inventory that can place the subject into one of 16 personality 'types' based on 4 broad categories (introverted / extroverted, thinking / feeling etc) and is prone to subject induced biases as well.
If you are looking for a comprensive personality inventory, this is not it. Try an MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) as well as TIT and TAT (thematic inventories that do not rely on multiple choice answers, rather a psychologist grades respsonses to set images to deduce one's personality traits)
Would I use the results of an MB inventory in a hiring decision? No way. It may be more useful in finding an intial 'place' for someone, but I would be very cautious so as not to pigeonhole them based on what a personality inventory thinks they would do best in.
Jordan
I took a Meyers-Briggs test on the web a while ago, just out of curiosity, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of the result. I read a couple of pages long description of my personality type, and I definitely recognized myself in it. It really helped me in some ways, since I've always thought of my own personality as very different from most others. I'm an INTJ, and although they say that's a rare type, I take comfort in knowing that 1% of the population is at least somewhat similar to myself.
Of course, it may not be quite so accurate for everyone. Either way, I personally wouldn't condone using it in any professional situation, for the simple reason that it would create an unnatural work environment. If all employees know that they've been selected for their task based on a supposedly accurate test, they might (consciously or subconsciously) end up with a way too optimistic attitude, in a way trusting their personalities to do the work for them. (Frankly, I'm in danger of becoming too cocky myself, with a personality type dubbed 'Mastermind' by the Keirsey personality sorter.)
-- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
If the test is going to be used for anything serious, I hope (a) the test is a long one (many questions, better stats), and (b) the *scores* are presented for each scale, not just the final set of four numbers.
-Erf C.
-Erf C.
Cthulu always calls collect...
You can take the Meyers-Briggs online at: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm and a bunch of other places. This is just the first one I could find.
The Meyers-Briggs is based on self-reporting of mental dispositions, which makes it immediately dubious psychometry. It can only be safely said that the Meyers-Briggs describes what people THINK they are like, rather than being a good indicator of any true nature. (This being said, while people are frequently unreliable self-reporters, they often get it right.) Likewise, the simple fact that it's based on the work of Carl Jung causes a hail of red flags as well.
The Meyers-Briggs gives you four attributes with polar axes. If your boss is keen to discriminate against you because you're an ESTJ or an INFP, you have bigger problems than personality tests. Take the test for the sole purpose of humoring your boss. If you don't like the process, wrench the data. If you think you're going to be reassigned based on the results of the test, do yourself a favor and reassign yourself to another employer.