Is MBTI a valid instrument?

[Victor]

Originally Posted by EffEmDoubleyou

it doesn't have any validity. None of us would be here if we thought that were the case.

Well, I'm here and I know all qualified psychometricians know that MBTI is formally Invalid and Unreliable.

I also know that MBTI was invented by a mother and daughter who had no qualifications at all - and in particular they had no psychometric qualifications and so had no way of making a Valid and Reliable personality test.

Also their test is plaigerised from, "PersonalityTypes", by Carl Jung who was a collaborator in WW II and a guru of the New Age religion.

In fact qualified psychometricians regard MBTI as Invalid and Unreliable as astrology. And all qualified astronomers know that astrology has no truth value.

In fact MBTI is used here simply to reinforce narcissism.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by Victor

Well, I'm here and I know all qualified psychometricians know that MBTI is formally Invalid and Unreliable.

That's a bold claim. All of them? formally invalid?

[Xander]

Originally Posted by Victor

Well, I'm here and I know all qualified psychometricians know that MBTI is formally Invalid and Unreliable.

I also know that MBTI was invented by a mother and daughter who had no qualifications at all - and in particular they had no psychometric qualifications and so had no way of making a Valid and Reliable personality test.

Also their test is plaigerised from, "PersonalityTypes", by Carl Jung who was a collaborator in WW II and a guru of the New Age religion.

In fact qualified psychometricians regard MBTI as Invalid and Unreliable as astrology. And all qualified astronomers know that astrology has no truth value.

In fact MBTI is used here simply to reinforce narcissism.

I'd like to see a vote made now... Should we or should we not fix Victor's user title to "wooden spoon wielder" or not?

Seriously though Victor, the MBTI is used in a quite a few businesses and I know of people who aren't at all prone to latching on to false concepts or being convinced that the sky is red who both use and promote MBTI.

Whether or not it's a proven theory is irrelevant as to whether it works or not. It seems to work and people gather in forums such as these to discuss the nuances, ins and outs of it to investigate the more "grey" areas.

[Night]

Originally Posted by Victor

formally Invalid and Unreliable.

Nice user title.

[proteanmix]

OK, I'm going to step in and say I don't want this to derail into if MBTI is psychometrically valid or not.

Please start a thread about it if people would like to discuss this topic.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Xander

I'd like to see a vote made now... Should we or should we not fix Victor's user title to "wooden spoon wielder" or not?

Seriously though Victor, the MBTI is used in a quite a few businesses and I know of people who aren't at all prone to latching on to false concepts or being convinced that the sky is red who both use and promote MBTI.

Whether or not it's a proven theory is irrelevant as to whether it works or not. It seems to work and people gather in forums such as these to discuss the nuances, ins and outs of it to investigate the more "grey" areas.

My dear Xander, yes I do realise I am a voice crying in the wilderness and I will be lucky not to be shot as a wolf.

But for two hundred thousand years we believed the sun went round the Earth. It was a belief that worked - we saw that every morning.

But when we tested our belief against the evidence we found it had no truth value.

And so when qualified psychometricians tested MBTI against the evidence they found, using their formal language, that it was Invalid and Unreliable.

And the fact that it is believed by hundreds of millions of people doesn't make it true any more than it make it true that the sun goes round the earth.

And for heaven's sake, MBTI is part of the New Age religion and to be concerned with its nuances is like being concerned about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.

Look, I am not totally unreasonable. If you are prepared to concede that MBTI is a religious belief rather than a scientific psychometric measure, I will start to look for the good side of MBTI.

This has the advantage of ridding you of cognitive dissonance and of putting me on the side of the angels.

Surely this is a tempting offer?

Victor.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Geoff

That's a bold claim.

Let me be even bolder. Let me make an even larger claim.

Almost all of science is counter-intuitive while almost all of religion is intuitive.

MBTI is delightfully, charmingly, beguilingly, irresistibly intuitive.

MBTI is appealing - it appeals to millions.

While science, and in particular psychometrics, is cold, hard-headed, precise, measurable and falsifiable.

Which would you prefer the warmth of MBTI or the cold of psychometrics?

Look Geoff, as you are a warm intuitive guy the answer is a foregone conclusion even in the wilds of Southern England.

Victor.

[Jen]

You're trolling this forum and you've been doing it since the day you joined. You've been asked to move your discussion and beliefs to another area yet you continue posting in here. Let me ask you this. Do you think its acceptable to enter a discussion on a forum about eating disorders and tell them to eat? Or a trekkie forum and call them all losers for worshiping a show that possibly sucks (these are examples btw)? I do believe that is what you're doing here. You are posting on a forum about MBTI and basically telling us it's a bunch of hooey and comparing it to astrology and you're out of place in doing this.

I would like to think that your plan was to bring us together by insulting our forum and having us defend our belief, but I doubt you've given it that much thought. Anyway, I think a viable solution to this would be stop posting altogether or post your theory in the graveyard and duke it out there.

Edit: Oh and you are such an INTJ.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Jen

I would like to think that your plan was to bring us together by insulting our forum and having us defend our belief

Well, it worked temporarily for Ozymandias in "Watchmen." (But poor Sir Kay in "Camelot 3000" got burned badly for pulling that stunt.)

[proteanmix]

Moved from Graveyard