Very interesting: My so-called Bloginality was determined to be INTP.
This is based on the Myers-Briggs personality test. You'll probably find that test worth taking: unlike most of the online quizzes, it's a respected and widely used psychological profiling tool. Although the Myers-Briggs test is said to be more accurate when administered by a professional, I've found that I come out the same in every such test I've ever taken.
Well, until now:
The "bloginality" test puts me as an INTP, but every lengthy test I've ever taken puts me as an INTJ.
Just as interesting, however, is that whenever I've taken any Myers-Briggs test, my results are invariably about the same: I come down very, very close to the middle on the Perceiving/Judging axis. I always fall just a tiny hair over on the "Judging" side. Every single time. I have cultivated the habit of questioning my own judgement and worked hard to learn how to say "I was wrong," which may explain that. Also, perhaps I've shifted a bit as I've aged--most people do, and I've made a conscious effort to round off the sharp edges of my personality over the last 10 years.
Also, just by way of comparison, look at how a personality type opposite mine is described. Anyone who knows me can tell you, that's not me at all. It may describe a very interesting and positive person, but there's just no way that could describe Dean Esmay. Which helps explain why I think Myers-Briggs works pretty well, whatever its flaws.
I'm not going on about all of this to just talk about me, though. I'm just fascinated by the fact that with only a couple of questions, this "bloginality" test should be so accurate. If you're a blogger, maybe you should take the bloginality test, but I recommend the longer Myers-Briggs test more highly.
*Update* Ha! I took the longer Myers-Briggs test and came out INTP. I've shifted as I've aged. Very interesting indeed, and an even more impressive result for the "Bloginality" test.No, in case you're wondering, I didn't shift the test results on purpose. I'm not even sure how I would do that if I wanted to.
I also notice that I used to score on the extreme ends of the "I" and "T" scales, and now I'm considered moderate/near center on all of them.
Fascinating.
I'm an INTP too, as these just confirmed. Architect subtype of a Creator on a full Myers-Briggs test.
Prolly has something to do with why I'm so fond of Dean's World!
For over 20 years now, I've always come out as an ENTJ, though it wouldn't surprise me if one of these times I came up INTJ. I usually peg the needle on both N and T.
ISTP...pretty close to my old Myers-Briggs results. It said I'd be best suited to computer/engineering/detective type work, which is interesting since that's the direction of my career change.
Looks like Mike was right again.
INTP, which is fairly accurate, at least as of last testing. The test works so well because it provides good descriptions for each axis and asks you to self-evaluate. As long as you know yourself it will work quite well.
Thanks for pointing to that test. It did indeed catch me precisely (ISTJ, the Inspector); not only that, all the questions were instantly answerable and sensible. Many personality tests are full of questions that I can't even figure out. (Well, that statement fits ISTJ too.) Now let me get back to debugging!!!!!
If I remember correctly from my old psych classes, the Myers-Briggs test is based on Jungian archetypes.
Imagine see-saw that has four axes (sp? - multiple of axis). Everyone has a tilt that makes one side more dominant. The goal over a person's lifetime is to bring them all into balance. One of the flaws in this scenario is that you can be equally balanced between say P and J, but not expressing either in a healthy way. i.e., a control freak who creates chaos...
And as a side note, I wonder what the percentages of change over the years are for each of the categories? I would think that it is more likely that a person would change between J and P and be less likely to change between the N and S. And I wonder if we can teach ourselves to be more T than F?
I once attended a management training course, at which a Jungian psychologist explained Myers-Briggs and gave everyone the test. His main message was: as an executive, don't fill your organization exclusively with people of your own type. For if you do, you will all have the same blind spots, and will happily march off the cliff together..
Hey Christi:
I've heard that people often soften or cross over as they age. Idealistic liberals become more "T" and "J" as reality hits them, and senior executives become more "F" and "P" as they look back on their lives and shift priorities.
I am an EXTJ (borderline between N and S): a jerk in perpetual recovery.
INTJ here with J/P 55/45%. Judging is better characterised as decisive. Between P and J you have data gatherers and data users.
dean - i'm an INTJ, too!
what DOES it all mean????
A J wants a watch: Looks at a few candidates and buys one. Done.
A P wants a watch: Looks at a few candidates and buys one. Keeps lookng at watches. Ya never know, might find something neat. Buys second watch.
A J wants to know what time it is: Looks at watch. Done.
A P wants to know what time it is: Looks at watch. Looks at second watch. They don't match. Can't decide. Need more data!
I used to be ISTJ. This time I came out ISTP. Both descriptions make a lot of sense. I think the difference is the "work" me and the "personal" me are different in certain aspects and since I haven't worked in a good long while, the "personal" me came out more in my answers.
Am I the only ENFP who reads this freakin' blog?!?!?
I took the test several months ago, and I've also taken the longer M-B, and a host of other four quadrant adaptations. This one is pretty accurate, but I also have spoofed these tests and come out with a different answer. I've also taken tests at different times when my mood was different and got different outcomes.
I know you're not *supposed* to be able to do that, but I must have been channeling Zeilig. :-)
David - I think I've attended the same management course.
Jonathan - That would make sense, that people tend to soften as they age. I know I was the family communist in my teens and early twenties. I was very much ENFP. (See, you aren't alone Bryan!) As I've gotten older I'm still ENFP, but much more balanced.
But again, I think that what is most important is not necessarily what characteristic we have, but how and when we express it.
Your comments do not seem to retain my info? Does it work on IP addresses or cookies? Probably either would mess it up.
I have gotten into this this where every time I see one of these I take it. I HATE you. Just kidding.
On the short test I got INTJ but the longer one had me pegged as ENTJ. The E part was only 1% as was the J, which might explain something.
Jonathan,
You are no longer alone.
I am not sure I would characterize myself the way you do. Humm, Maybe 20 or 30 years ago I might have.
Starhawk: I have gathered that ENTJs and to a lesser extent ESTJs tend to be very hard on their friends, and tend to argue as a means of conversing. People on the "F" side of the spectrum tend to get bruised by us.
I recommend "Type Talk" and "Type Talk at Work" for those who want to gain insights as to how their MBTI type best interacts with the other fifteen. It's been a lifesaver for me.
Yeh i came out as an INTP which i found to be quite a disappointment. I wanna be a sensitive new age man, not a hyper-critical scientist :{. I think that i am a bit more balanced than most INTP's.
Using Hate, Hypocrisy and Insults to attack Dean
The same Individuals who awarded Dean one of the highest grades on CATO's Fiscal Report Card on the Governors were also behind this TV ad: "Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."
Club for Growth has new ad assailing Dean
Liz Sidoti, January 6, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new television ad against Howard Dean's plan to repeal President Bush's tax cuts says the Democratic presidential front-runner should take his "left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs." In the ad by the GOP-leaning Club for Growth, an announcer asks a couple leaving a barber shop, "What do you think of Howard Dean's plans to raise taxes on families by $1,900 a year?"
The man responds: "What do I think? Well, I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ...," and the woman continues, "... body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."
The 30-second ad will begin airing in Iowa on Wednesday, running in the Des Moines media market until the state's precinct caucuses on Jan. 19. It is the group's second ad to hit Dean on the tax issue. STEPHEN MOORE, president of the group, which helps elect fiscal conservatives, said Dean has "LUNATIC ECONOMIC IDEAS."
The ad describes a group of "CULTURAL ELITES across America who are the ones behind Dean," he said. "But middle-class families with middle-America values, as in Iowa, are going to be very turned off by Dean's economic program."
Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman for Dean in Iowa, said Dean has support from a diverse group of people and that Moore is off base. "It's like he's insulting the people of Iowa with his tounge-and-cheek name calling," Leonard said.
Dean has called for rolling back all of Bush's tax cuts and using the money to provide health care and to relieve the pressure on state and local taxes. Dean has not indicated he would raise taxes beyond their previous levels, but taxes undoubtedly would increase if all the cuts are repealed and rates return to levels under President Clinton.
The ad is exempt from a year-old federal election law that prohibits certain issue advertisements from mentioning federal candidates in the month before a primary contest. That is because the Club for Growth is paying for the ad with money from its PLOTICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, instead of using what is known as "soft money."
The buy is relatively small, about $75,000 worth....
See: http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1073432345217042.xml
-----------------
The Appeal of Howard Dean
by STEPHEN MOORE
September 15, 2003, Volume 9, Issue 1
form the article, "Why he could be Bush's more dangerous opponent"
SEVERAL YEARS AGO an obscure Democratic governor from the politically inconsequential state of Vermont was the guest speaker at a CATO Institute lunch. His name was Howard Dean. He had been AWARDED one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.
Dean CHARMED nearly everyone in the boardroom. He came across as ERUDITE, policy SAVVY, and, believe it or not, a friend of free markets--at least by the standards of the Tom Daschle-Dick Gephardt axis of the Democratic party. Even when challenged on issues like environmentalism, where he favored a large centralized mass of intrusive regulations, Dean remained affable.
"You folks at Cato," he told us, "should really like my views because I'm economically conservative and socially laissez-faire." Then he continued: "Believe me, I'm no big-government liberal. I believe in balanced budgets, markets, and deregulation. Look at my record in Vermont." He was scathing in his indictment of the "hyper-enthusiasm for taxes" among Democrats in Washington.
He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made BELIEVERS of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found A DEMOCRAT WE COULD WORK WITH. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone....
....Republicans are said to be salivating over the prospect of a Bush-Dean match-up. They shouldn't get carried away. Howard Dean, warns John McClaughry, has been "underestimated throughout his political career. He has an uncanny knack for finding where the political capital is stored and walking off with it." The trick for Dean is to ensure that the ultra-liberal positions he has taken in the primaries, which contradict his sometimes CENTRIST record, don't cripple his ability to reach out to Middle American voters in a general election--should he make it that far. If he does, and then finds a way to zig-zag back toward the center, Howard Dean could be George W. BUSH'S WORST NIGHTMARE.
STEPHEN MOORE is president of the Club for Growth and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
See: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/073ylkiz.asp