WHat got you interested in MBTI?

[animenagai]

i was reading cimmaron's sig and it basically says that he/she's here so he/she can communicate with other types better. that's a big gap from why i'm here. sure, i like the practicality of MBTI and i was drawn by its accuracy, but to be honest, i'm just here cos i'm obsessed with the theory and want to exchange ideas for the sake of it.

why are you here?

[substitute]

Ironically enough, it explained why I was introverted... hahahahah

No, really. I was going through all kinds of mental hell because after years of isolation, a friend took it on himself to try to socialize me - his way. I mentioned it at more length in the thread Bringing you out of your shell (http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/other-psychology-topics/8723-bringing-you-out-your-shell.html).

I was feeling really confused because I wasn't responding very well at all to his efforts, and his interpretations of that were giving me all kinds of hell. I started desperately researching anything I could find that might help explain to me - and hopefully to my friend - why he really needed to just leave me alone to do it at my own pace, why his approach was not having its desired effect. I was Googling key words like "social anxiety" and "personal space" and stuff like that, and eventually a chain of links led me to an MBTI test on the humanmetrics website.

I did the test and came out as INTP, then read loads of explanations and stuff about introversion and it seemed a plausible explanation of why I was feeling so upset about all this socializing.

Of course later on I realized I was barking up the wrong tree - in fact I'm a strong extravert but wasn't liking ESFP style socializing, and besides, my social skills were stunted due to an isolated life.

It has helped me to get a sort of ball-park figure as it were, as to where I'm going wrong and what areas I need to improve on and possible sources of misunderstanding between myself and others - I wasn't willing to accept that when I was doing my best with good intentions, the reason I was having problems could be that I was just an asshole or a social retard :laugh: cos I could get on with most people just fine. But I don't take it as comprehensive... it's pop psychology really, but still useful in a limited way.

[ajblaise]

Reading literature online about extroversion/introversion->reading about Jung->then MBTI->took the test->read the INTP description->googled INTP.. i think->found INTPc

[INTJMom]

My INFP sister first got me interested in MBTT, much like almost everything else in my life. I got my first computer because of her, got the internet because of her, etc. Anywho...

It was about 18 years ago. I started out with the book by Barron and Tieger called Do What You Are (http://www.amazon.com/Do-What-You-Are-Personality/dp/0316167266/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223466905&sr=8-1). After 3 months, I was still agonizing over what type I was. I wanted to be an INFJ, but I turned out to be an INTJ.

It has been extremely useful knowing which parts of my behavior are considered typical INTJ behaviors. I decided to stop beating myself up for being that way. It helped me accept myself.

Their book Nurture By Nature (http://www.amazon.com/Nurture-Nature-Responsible-Children-Personality/dp/0316845132/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223467423&sr=8-1) has been also hugely helpful to me in understanding my kids. I was even consulting it last night concerning my 14 year old.

Those two books and Naomi Quenk's book Beside Ourselves (http://www.amazon.com/Beside-Ourselves-Hidden-Personality-Everyday/dp/0891060626/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223467554&sr=8-5) are the three I consult the most.

I guess INTJs tend to be extra relationally-challenged so INTJs apparently benefit a lot more from these tools than regular people. :newwink:

[Night]

Like substitute, I was trying to find some information on introversion v. extroversion.

I tripped over the MBTI while doing so. Seemed too sugary and rooted in an ecosystem of personal, arbitrary bias at first.

As a credible system for predicting behavior, I haven't had much in the way of positive experiences with it. As breezy source material for interacting with others during my down-time, I like it just fine.


The MBTI is more of a conversation piece to me. A knick-knack.

[Jeffster]

i was reading cimmaron's sig and it basically says that he/she's here so he/she can communicate with other types better. that's a big gap from why i'm here. sure, i like the practicality of MBTI and i was drawn by its accuracy, but to be honest, i'm just here cos i'm obsessed with the theory and want to exchange ideas for the sake of it.

why are you here?

Are you asking 1)how I got interested in personality types stuff or 2)why I'm currently a member of this forum?, because those are two different questions.

Oh heck, I guess I'll answer both.

1) I'd like to say it had something to do with hot chicks, but I think it was some online quiz I came across.

2) It has something to do with hot chicks.

[am_i_evil666]

my mom showed me the test on the internet. i had no idea what my resul meantt, so i searched a little more. i gave it to my friends, out of curiosity. then, suddenly i felt the urge to know what type was everyone around me.......

[Cimarron]

i was reading cimmaron's sig and it basically says that he/she's here so he/she can communicate with other types better. Haha

I chose that because I figured that that was the best positive use for MBTI, and just went from there.

[Jennifer]

I became interested in MBTI back in 1996 (I think), as a way to understand myself and more easily understand others. So it was a big part of my self-acceptance journey, to realize I was not screwed up (necessarily) just because I was different, and that I actually "made sense" in my own way.

So it also helped me chart where to go next, what a viable road looked like for me, what careers might be good to pursue. It also helped accept others who followed different values and processes, rather than being critical of them because they didn't uniformly follow my way of dealing with life.

Aside from that, I like tinkering with systems... especially ones that mix a healthy dose of abstraction with real-life data and are as complex as people seem to be.

[wolfy]

I became interested in MBTI because I am into personal growth and thought it would be a good tool to help me learn more about myself.
I came here to get answers to a few questions. I stayed 'cause it's fun.

[Flush]

I just felt like searching for "personality types" on google.

Then I was stuck.

[Hirsch63]

I ended up here after I had been exploring MBTI (and other tests) both on-line, through reading and administered tests. I was hoping to use it as a way to understand my interactions with others and the (unproductive, largely) results I had been getting. I stumbled upon this forum and it seemed to offer a great mix of well thought out insights and amusing distraction. I knew that I could learn from these forum members and I have. Thanks!

[Colors]

I think I found it while I was taking random quizzes on the internet on day.

Why did I get interested? Cimaron's answer is pretty accurate for me...

People are intensely confusing. (I've got me down pretty well.) Once I got old enough to get that I wasn't the center of the universe and enough experience to figure out that people are weird... I've been trying to figure them out ever since.

[burkeus]

Like substitute, I was trying to find some information on introversion v. extroversion.

I tripped over the MBTI while doing so.

"Tripped" ain't the word.

[phoenix13]

What got you interested in MBTI?
A drive to understand myself.

Why are you here?
The chance to learn. I don't like to socialize with strangers IRL which means I'm not exposed to a wide range of people. Here, I get to learn about different types of people and how to interact with them. Most meaningful, however, are the mistakes I make, and what I learn of my own weaknesses through them.

I don't think I could make that any cheesier...

[edcoaching]

I've used type for a long time both personally and professionally (thanks, INTJMom for reminding me I should pull out the Tieger book for some advice about our 18-year old). A type friend directed me to this forum, impressed by the volume of knowledgeable users, and I've stuck around to learn and dialogue...

[Eric B]

I had mentioned my story here:
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/what-s-my-type/6989-typing-yourself-before-learning-about-type.html#post257583 (and I thought there was another thread like this one as well).
Basically, my wife decided to get a counseling license with the NAtional Christian Counselor's Association. They use basically a modified version of the FIRO-B, but with inborn temperament measured. I find it accurate and learn how that works.
Then, a friend introduces us to the Keirsey test online. We take it, and I become determined to find out how it corresponds to our test. I had remembered earlier seeing the MBTI codes and the four functions, from time to time, and wondering how they worked, but didn't have the time to figure it out. This time, having learned a little about personality theory, I had a basis to compare from. Plus, I find that cognitive dynamics was a useful addition to temperament theory (particularly seeing how Linda Berens integrated them).

[Aimahn]

I think I relate to some of the NTP stories earlier on in the thread. I had a lot of mental turmoil going on and I somehow went through a method similar to ajblaise and researched it and thought about it for a while. I think though that it was the first thing that really sort of captured how I felt personally and it was somewhat refreshing not knowing I wasn't crazy and extremely lazy.

[placebo]

All of a sudden people kind of almost made sense.

[bbites]

My Psychology class talked about it. I got into it because I'm always trying to figure out why I am the way I am. Personal growth and all that.

[sade]

I'd been interested in psychology, different personalities and so on for a long time, but the initial thing that drove me to MBTI was the drive to understand myself and others better. Also I needed some sort of justification for being, well, 'like this'. It had never really satisfied me that I'd gotten strange or rare results from personality tests. It never explained anything of complete personality aka how it manifested in a person's mind, behavior.. I'd always felt that there was something wrong with me and I've been told that many times. Too complex, untraditional, and the thing that I didn't 'work' the way others did. The fact that I couldn't settle for what I supposed to settle for. The drive for understanding, meaning, something more, I wanted justification that that was normal and acceptable. The fact that I can't settle for an okay job, an average place in society and family somewhere in the future and keep repeating what's been repeated for years. That'd kill me. I was always the odd one in the family, the one who thought too much or in a wrong way.

I think the temperament model was what effected me the most and drove towards MBTI. I always longed to be understood.

I still get nagged at a lot at home, partly because I tend to destruy their thought of security with travelling and etc. That place will never change and they're happy like that, but at least I know how to answer to them now.

Rant over and out. I always do get carried away..

[Eryndil]

I've always been interested in what makes people the way they are. Then, about 18 months ago, I was randomly surfing the net and found a personality test - it turned out to be for enneagrams but I found the results intriguing and that lead me into further research.

MBTI interests me for two reasons - 1. after so many years, I have discovered that I am not the only person 'like this' and that it really is OK to be different and 2. the theory is fascinating and worthy of further research. So I guess my reasons are both practical and intellectual, which is probably to be expected of an INTx!

[gomi]

I was introduced to MBTI at the Advanced Military Source Operations Course (AMSOC) and again at the Dept of Defense Strategic Debriefing Course (DSDC). Both courses open with an overview of MBTI as a tool that can be used for approaching/assessing sources/subjects, however neither seem to delve deeply enough into it to really round it out as the 'tool for your toolbox' they said it is. I found myself deeply interested in it, as most everything regardling INTPs applied to me and my experiences. I wanted to see how far I could take it beyond what the instructors presented, delving into the psyches/habits/drives of others. It's still a work in progress.

[Sinister Scribe]

I enjoy writing and examining various personality types and traits has helped me develop some of my characters better.

Oddly enough, many of my prominent characters seem to be NTs of various types.

[Jack Flak]

It might have been Keirsey's site I was introduced to after a friend e-mailed me a custom test in 1997. I found it alarmingly accurate, and eventually useful for situations like hearing "So I'm talking to my XXXX friend...."

And feeling that I know the stranger a bit before the end of the sentence. If there's another way to describe someone so quickly and effortlessly, I am unaware of it.

[heart]

I got into because of always feeling odd, out of step, wrong, and not being able to communicate with people in ways that go smoothly. Now I understand a lot better why I rub to raw with some people and I am not so sure that it's always the horrible thing I thought it was before. It is sort of funny, but finding out what people don't like about me I am like "that's what you don't like? Out of all the things that are wrong with me, you pick that? Well, pffft!"

Also it help me to understand my own lack of clarity at times and how I've tried to run from what I am.

The need for it as a tool is waning now, but I stay here because I like the mix of people.

It is a good tool for self-discovery if not taken too extremes or too seriously but I see it also has a potiential for making society a nightmare of control where people are boxed and catagorized. I don't like to see workplaces and such using it, especially if mandatory or peer pressure. It should only be used by individuals in private searching for self knowledge.

[Beat]

It was totally random for me. I think I was bored one day and wanted to find a "introverts" message board to see what people were talking about (Yeah, random...). I stumbled on INTPc or whatever that place was and registered and thought I was one of them because I figured it was just general for "introverts" (n00b alert). They told me I probably wasn't an INTP (lol) and sent me here, then I actually found out what the hell MBTI was. Now I'm constantly trying to type people I know/meet. It's actually to the point of annoyance. This place has ruined my life.

I just haven't decided to leave yet... There's some cool people here. :nice:

[Jeffster]

Now I'm constantly trying to type people I know/meet. It's actually to the point of annoyance. This place has ruined my life.

I can relate. I already knew I sucked before I read this stuff. Now that I know WHY I suck, it's like I'm trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I just haven't decided to leave yet... There's some cool people here. :nice:

True.

[Hmm]

It was one of the few times I was really bored, so I took a personality test. :D

I sometimes imagine how things would be different if I hadn't. :huh:

[Randomnity]

I found out about it when assigned a presentation on it for a former job.

I'm here because I like the forum and I see possibilities for using the theory to better understand my own impulses as well as the bizarre thinking patterns of others.

And because I'm often procrastinating/bored, and this site works well for that.

[Into It]

i was reading cimmaron's sig and it basically says that he/she's here so he/she can communicate with other types better. that's a big gap from why i'm here. sure, i like the practicality of MBTI and i was drawn by its accuracy, but to be honest, i'm just here cos i'm obsessed with the theory and want to exchange ideas for the sake of it.

why are you here?

That I was typed an ENTP and read a long article on ENTP and ADD shortly after.

It took me a while to find out I was an ENFP instead. I behave a lot like an NT at times.

[bluemonday]

An ENFJ.

I was out at a pub with some work colleagues, we got talking about human potential and what it is that we are all looking for. We talked about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The ENFJ thought Love was the answer to everything. I disagreed. Eventually all the other S people melted away and we didn't even notice.

I came home believing I'd met my soulmate.

I started researching some of the topics we'd discussed. I found Kiersey's site. I bought Please Understand Me II. I read about Rationals.
I cried.
I've been hooked ever since.

[ArbiterDewey]

I don't remember exactly how I found out about it, but I think I came across one test and had read my type description, then ISTP. It was close, but not accurate. I showed it to my friends, Meta/Hexis/Evan/etc. We've been hooked ever since. I love how occasionally a conversation can lead to the statement, "pfft...typical NF..." lol I do remember being the first of us to stumble on it.

[locke]

I've had an obsession with the letters M, B, T and I all my life. I'd see them in dreams, I'd see them in my soup. One day while investigating the Internets I decided I'd plug them into a search engine. These crazy personality theories came up and intrigued me.