# Questionnaire 2.0



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

*THIS QUESTIONNAIRE IS NOW RELEASED:* http://personalitycafe.com/whats-my-personality-type/145423-questionnaire-2-0-a.html

I've been thinking about introducing a new questionnaire and I will write it here progressively as I get input and/or find other good questions.

I'd especially like the opinions and submissions of @_Spades_ (since I admire a lot from yours), @_arkigos_, @_NighTi_, @_Ellis Bell_ and @_Herp_.

I will add notes in blue that will explain the purpose of the question. It will be removed once I feel like it is done.

*Contributors: *Spades, arkigos, NighTi, Ellis Bell, Herp.
*Testers: *FreeBeer, NighTi, amatsuki, DJeter, asellus

1. Is there anything that may affect the way you answer the questions? For example, a stressful time, mental illness, medications, special life circumstances? Other useful information includes sex, age, and current state of mind.

The critical question that always is asked. 

2. What type(s) do you usually score as on tests?

Might get a sense of where the person either is, or where the bias of the person is.

3. Click on this link: Flickr: Explore! Choose 2 photos and look at each for as long as you feel that you need. Copy and paste the photos here (or write the link like example: www[dot]flickr[dot]com/photos/jacoboson/8697480741/in/explore-2013-05-01), and write your impression of each of them.

I chose 2 instead of 1 because a single photo might just be unlucky and get something that completely deactivates the person. Less probability of error that is. 

4. You are on the clock to fix something, a friend of yours sits beside you and gives a lot of interesting ideas, none of them actually help or are related to your situation, but they are still something you find interesting. What is your reaction? What do you say? What do you do? What's your train of thought?

This question is made to find Ti vs Te and possibility for Ne vs Ni. Question is also known to find F vs T.

5a. What are some of your most important values? 



5b. Can they change? What would be the reason if they changed?

I put this one before question 6 to "warm up" their mind with what might be some of their values. Also, strong Fi often pulls the classic "I know you are right, but I won't change my values".

6. You are in a car with some other people, the people in the car are talking. Someone makes a claim that you see as immoral/rude/cruel. What is your inward reaction? What do you think? What do you say?

I wanted to keep this one because how people react to having their values challenged could help find their feeling function. I also made this more open as to whom you are in the car with (Even FPs will have a lot of patience to people questioning their values if the people are really close).

7. a) What activities energizes you the most? Why?



7. b) What activities drains you the most? Why?

Both this one and the one above is extraversion vs introversion, but might also catch the sensing function.

8. Do you believe you are introverted or extraverted? Why exactly do you believe that? (Please be as detailed as possible)


Might as well ask them directly 


9. Please describe yourself, what do you see as your greatest strengths and what do you see as your greatest weaknesses?


This is more of a bias check/finding some information that might indicate inferior function.

10. Please describe yourself when you are feeling stressed. How do you act and why? Real life experiences are welcome.

Inferior function here again, the real life examples would really help to find the inferior function and that would help in the goal of finding the type of the person.

11. What is your "soft spot" (the area that makes you upset if people mess with)?

Changed this one a bit.

12. What are most of the ideas/thoughts you get centered around?

This is question is thanks to my ex who said that all my ideas were about things, in contrast to hers which are about people (she being an NF).

13. What's your opinion of getting frequent feedback on what you do? (Someone pointing out what is good, what is bad, what and how to improve) Is there a limit to how often you want feedback? If so, what is the limit?

This question tries to pin down Ti vs Te and possibility for inferior thinking. A Te user would be really open to input whereas an IFP or EFJ for example might be very sensitive to it and a TP might completely ignore "that useless external input" so to speak.


----------



## Spades (Aug 31, 2011)

Hey, I haven't read through it thoroughly at all, but one thing that stood out to me was #11. I don't think that's useful for the functions at all. I/E is a false dichotomy in terms of the way you've described it. Also, that situation is really vague. What function someone leads with will have little to no effect on the answer. Furthermore, it's more about spontaneity than anything, but I still think it should be removed entirely.

Also, #6 when I originally wrote it wasn't about I/E. Again, it was about trying to get at the dominant and inferior functions themselves. Will return with more if I have time =)


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Spades;bt32989 said:


> Hey, I haven't read through it thoroughly at all, but one thing that stood out to me was #11. I don't think that's useful for the functions at all. I/E is a false dichotomy in terms of the way you've described it. Also, that situation is really vague. What function someone leads with will have little to no effect on the answer. Furthermore, it's more about spontaneity than anything, but I still think it should be removed entirely.
> 
> Also, #6 when I originally wrote it wasn't about I/E. Again, it was about trying to get at the dominant and inferior functions themselves. Will return with more if I have time =)


Thanks, I will have #11 removed. Ironically #6 turned out to be I/E when put into practice due to the to the formulation. I think I got too many inferior function questions already however.
I wanted some I/E because even tho the dichotomy then some people claim that they are definitely not extraverts and then they write that they love to engage with people etc. and if I'd give any of the dichotomies credit then it is the I/E one (the others are far too general).
I also wanted an option 2 to finding out if the dominant function is introverted or extraverted. Kinda engaging things from multiple points.


----------



## Herp (Nov 25, 2010)

I like the way you're taking with this.

One of my pet peeves with questionnaires is that there are some people answer these questions almost monosyllabically, which doesn't help anyone - It doesn't help the person wanted to be typed nor the person willing to help them figure out their type. I think that, if we're going to use a definite questionnaire, we have to add some kind of disclaimer to encourage people willing to be typed to disclose their inner workings in the most ample way possible. That's one of my suggestions.

The other one has to do more with the S/N divide. As a Dominant sensor, I tend to take things for what they are - I don't take much time spectulating on what could happen. I just take an imagined scenario and prepare for it. And for me, that is what's going to happen. That's the natural workflow for me.

But take things out of my control and I start to wonder about many possiblities, so I can prepare for anything that life may throw out of my way (Notice the negative connotation of this approach). I think you could add a question that adds something along these lines:

"When under stress, do you tend to be overwhelmed by multiple viewpoints (which could be Ni or Ne) or do a relentless reality overwhelms you (which could be Si or Se)?"

I'm not entirely sure about how Ji/Je dominants would relate to this, but I think it could give us a better look on N versus S preference of the person looking for their type.

I have something with the Sixth question. A person may be energized by the same activity, but for different reasons, couldn't they? For instance, I can imagine an ISTP enjoying snowboarding for the challenge of improving their grasp on this activity and an ESTP enjoying snowboarding for the challenge of overcoming the environment in itself (Sorry for the stereotypes). Point is - while the ISTP is looking for refinement of their inner world, the ESTP is looking for engaging in the outer world. I don't know.

What if you tried something like:

"What makes you feel energized? What is your reason for this?"
"What makes you feel depleted? What is your reason for this?

(Which is basically the same, but doesn't point out to activities, but events instead)

Question #9 and #10 can get mixed with the enneagram. As a six, I can relate to both sharing my ideas and looking for feedback. But then, I also use Te and Ne in my functional stacking.

That's my feedback for now.


----------



## Psychopomp (Oct 3, 2012)

0. Great. This is useful.

1. (describe yourself) I like this - I wonder if it's inviting wordiness... but, meh, I like it.

2. (pictures) I have actually thought about this. I find this question to be one of the least useful to me. But sometimes it's very useful. My idea was to just let them pick, for the same reason as you - often they just shut down on it because it doesn't trigger anything in them. That is what happened to me when I recently took it. My response was 'it's a lame picture'... anyway, I don't like this question but I like it more if they have a choice. I like 2 because maybe they will give their reasons and that's good. Still, not a lot of high hopes.

3. (car scenario) I don't think there is a good way to guarantee inferior function. For example, I don't think this scenario would trigger mine. That is because this very thing has happened to me on a few occasions and I have fond memories. Even in the worst situation this wouldn't trigger my inferior. I usually get the first two functions out of this one... it all depends on how the individual imagines it. You hear everything from "I solve it with my all-powerful skillz and drink a beer," to "I curl up in a ball and puke." Nevertheless, I find I get a lot out of this question... but less than half the time is it their inferior. Half is pretty good, though, I guess.

4. (values) I like the re-ordering. It makes sense. This brings up my main complaint on this questionnaire (and the original). Too much 'what' and not enough 'why' &#8212; also, most types value similar things and even for similar reasons. "My values are x, y, z" is an all but useless answer. I think this can be a powerful question if it can really get a handle on what it intends to get. I am not certain what would accomplish that. LOL.

5. (drive back) No after party question? I like the after party question! I even like the drinking thing... Anyway, I like the change to explicitly state immoral/rude/cruel. It controls the question, which was previously too open to interpretation. Often, that interpretation was useful, however. Different types tended to interpret it differently. Nevertheless, this question will cut to the quick of J (F) function use.

6. (energy) This should get at the strongest extraverted function. It's a good question. I would make it specific with 'social activities'? Meh, They usually answer that way anyway, I guess. If I were wording this: "What sorts of social activities energize you? Why?" and it's inverse. 

7. (stressed) Redundant with #3 and also just as likely to show tertiary, I think... or even a re-assertion of stronger functions to defeat the problem. If you want to get at inferior, go for the throat: "Think of a time, usually a time of great stress, where you have behaved in a way you can't understand or couldn't control. What were you like? What did you do?" Or something like that.

8. (inferior) Terrible question for going after the inferior... because of the highly interpretable nature of the word. Or worse, they know what it is meant to mean. Nevertheless, I've seen good results from it because it gets them talking about meaty stuff.

9. (new idea) I like the idea of this but it may fall victim to whether they are introverts or extraverts and what they interpret you as meaning by 'have an idea'... can they view this as 'have worked out an idea in your mind'? Hrm...

10. (feedback) Again open to interpretation on the kind of feedback or the kind of thing being commented on. Not necessarily a bad thing, but this is a looser net than might be thought. It's a good question, though. I like these KIND of questions.

11. (party/friend) I agree with Spades' critique... however, I think this question will get them talking meatily. For example, your blue text is a dichotomy that might come of this.. of many dichotomies. I'd ask 'Why?' at the end, though.


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

@arkigos, I've been trying to keep it small so people don't lose interest yet also make the questions specific and asking about the same functions from different point of views (all for the purpose to dig deeper into their reasoning).

In one thread I made an example of how open questions or free-writing could lead to people answering a question in a certain way that would mislead the people typing


> I really love helping people, I am studying to become a social worker so I will be able to work with people in harsh situations and help them out of it. In games I prefer to be the healer, I've never liked the aspect of running around shooting as much as being the one that heals and supports the team.
> I love group activities because that kind of activity energize me.


vs


> I love helping people because it feels rewarding to have people respect you for having helped them. I am studying to become a social worker so that I can be better than many other people who deal with people that I've seen.In games I prefer to be the healer because that way I don't have to do much, yet I can be part of the action and get a lot of prestige from the team members. The support is the backbone of team play.
> I love group activities because most of them requires me to cooperatively solve puzzles.


Which were both actual statements from me in questionnaires. The first one was when I had my bias for INFJ where I dodged the why and went on more effect than cause.

My point in this questionnaire is to remove the possibility for someone to overcome the questions in such a way to serve their bias.
My questionnaire was made as a collection of the best questions from the different stickied questionnaires. LeaT's questionnaire was ignored since it was honestly a very hostile and accusing questionnaire etc. etc. and focused on enneagram questions rather than type questions.

But to your different points.


> 1. (describe yourself) I like this - I wonder if it's inviting wordiness... but, meh, I like it.


This is a bit of a warm up question actually. People tend to get more relaxed when you ask about them as people than when you just throw questions right at them. I dare to say, especially IFPs might have problems with the pushy nature of many other questions.
Also like I said, when people are asked to describe themselves then their bias is really out in the open and you can get a reference to how they see themselves and how they are etc.
Really just meant to help them get started.



> 2. (pictures) I have actually thought about this. I find this question to be one of the least useful to me. But sometimes it's very useful. My idea was to just let them pick, for the same reason as you - often they just shut down on it because it doesn't trigger anything in them. That is what happened to me when I recently took it. My response was 'it's a lame picture'... anyway, I don't like this question but I like it more if they have a choice. I like 2 because maybe they will give their reasons and that's good. Still, not a lot of high hopes.


Interesting; yes, I do see the advantage of a person choosing the pictures. Especially since certain types are more likely to choose pictures that makes them feel good inside or that sparks their sense of adventure etc.
I also really like this question because usually gives a lead to whether the person is a sensor or an intuitive. 2 pictures because it is easier to color the answer of 1 picture to seem like you are a sensor or intuitive than 2. 2 is also a good number. Maybe a comparative question? Such as "why did you choose these specific pictures"?



> 3. (car scenario) I don't think there is a good way to guarantee inferior function. For example, I don't think this scenario would trigger mine. That is because this very thing has happened to me on a few occasions and I have fond memories. Even in the worst situation this wouldn't trigger my inferior. I usually get the first two functions out of this one... it all depends on how the individual imagines it. You hear everything from "I solve it with my all-powerful skillz and drink a beer," to "I curl up in a ball and puke." Nevertheless, I find I get a lot out of this question... but less than half the time is it their inferior. Half is pretty good, though, I guess.


Well, I have many times been able to spot the inferior function in this question. It is more something you'd see from inferior intuition or inferior thinking (the former more often than the latter). I've also seen an interesting tendency (without too much generalization) for Ts to try and assess the situation whereas Fs seem to lean towards calming the situation.



> 4. (values) I like the re-ordering. It makes sense. This brings up my main complaint on this questionnaire (and the original). Too much 'what' and not enough 'why' &#8212; also, most types value similar things and even for similar reasons. "My values are x, y, z" is an all but useless answer. I think this can be a powerful question if it can really get a handle on what it intends to get. I am not certain what would accomplish that. LOL.


This question is normally good with the F vs T. It also sparked my interest due to chwoey who claimed to not have any real values and then she started talking about how she's pro-choice and how she would never even consider the thought of changing her opinion on that no matter what evidence was put forth.
I kinda wanted to make this question catch such things.



> 5. (drive back) No after party question? I like the after party question! I even like the drinking thing... Anyway, I like the change to explicitly state immoral/rude/cruel. It controls the question, which was previously too open to interpretation. Often, that interpretation was useful, however. Different types tended to interpret it differently. Nevertheless, this question will cut to the quick of J (F) function use.


I donno, the after party question kinda confused many people due to the car breaking down in question 2. I wanted to make the opening more general that they had to fill the gap on their own and more specific rather about the values part. It originally talks about "beliefs" which to me is interpreted as religious or equal (which ofc wasn't the intention).



> 6. (energy) This should get at the strongest extraverted function. It's a good question. I would make it specific with 'social activities'? Meh, They usually answer that way anyway, I guess. If I were wording this: "What sorts of social activities energize you? Why?" and it's inverse.


The risk with that is that some extraverts will by reaction say that they don't like it but then say that they love being all their friends etc.
But truth is that I wanted this one open. I like how it led some to say that they were energized by spending time in front of the computer whereas others said they were drained by such activities etc.
Also, doesn't hurt to ask a fairly direct question. :wink:



> 7. (stressed) Redundant with #3 and also just as likely to show tertiary, I think... or even a re-assertion of stronger functions to defeat the problem. If you want to get at inferior, go for the throat: "Think of a time, usually a time of great stress, where you have behaved in a way you can't understand or couldn't control. What were you like? What did you do?" Or something like that.


Yes, I will try to find a better way to formulate it. 
It's also that this question might capture the stronger functions.



> 8. (inferior) Terrible question for going after the inferior... because of the highly interpretable nature of the word. Or worse, they know what it is meant to mean. Nevertheless, I've seen good results from it because it gets them talking about meaty stuff.


Well, I can't find any better formulation at this time and some people prefer to have direct questions.
Also to a bit of what @Herp said:


> As a Dominant sensor, I tend to take things for what they are - I don't take much time spectulating on what could happen.


Then a less dodgy question might be good.



> 9. (new idea) I like the idea of this but it may fall victim to whether they are introverts or extraverts and what they interpret you as meaning by 'have an idea'... can they view this as 'have worked out an idea in your mind'? Hrm...


Needs more work, haha. However it is true that when an INTP and an INTJ are discussing then the INTP will theorize openly whereas the INTJ theorize internally. Which is why INTJs sound like we are stuck up because we share our judgement and not how we got there.
Maybe that's a better formulation...


> 9. When you got a new interesting idea, do you tend to theorize for yourself and tell people about it first when you feel like it is complete or do you tend to open up your theory for others to hear?


It's very hard to do Ni vs Ne without doing Ti vs Te.



> 10. (feedback) Again open to interpretation on the kind of feedback or the kind of thing being commented on. Not necessarily a bad thing, but this is a looser net than might be thought. It's a good question, though. I like these KIND of questions.


Well, this needs to be reformulated.
Maybe I should cut off the feedback part and just say:


> What's your opinion of people frequently pointing out what is good, what is bad, what and how to improve something you are working on?





> 11. (party/friend) I agree with Spades' critique... however, I think this question will get them talking meatily. For example, your blue text is a dichotomy that might come of this.. of many dichotomies. I'd ask 'Why?' at the end, though.


Well, that question was a bit problematic in its content and goal so I decided to remove it unless I find some better way to describe it.


----------



## Spades (Aug 31, 2011)

Acerbusvenator;bt32994 said:


> Thanks, I will have #11 removed. Ironically #6 turned out to be I/E when put into practice due to the to the formulation. I think I got too many inferior function questions already however.
> I wanted some I/E because even tho the dichotomy then some people claim that they are definitely not extraverts and then they write that they love to engage with people etc. and if I'd give any of the dichotomies credit then it is the I/E one (the others are far too general).
> I also wanted an option 2 to finding out if the dominant function is introverted or extraverted. Kinda engaging things from multiple points.


I actually disagree completely. I think I/E is the hardest to nail down after J/P because there are just so many varying definitions out there, and even more stereotypes. We are social beings and we all need human contact and alone time. For I/E I find that peoples' background and how they grew up plays a much bigger role in how they interact with people later on. There are also far too many dimensions regarding I/E than just a single spectrum. For example, some extroverts are not people-oriented at all, but more action-oriented, while some introverts are very people-oriented but not much action-oriented.


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

@arkigos, @_Spades_, @_Herp_, @_NighTi_, @_Ellis Bell_.

We have now seen a test run with the questionnaire: http://personalitycafe.com/whats-my-personality-type/141991-isfp-infp-how-tell-difference.html
What do you think is good, what is bad? What should be improved, what should be added and what should be removed?


----------



## Ellis Bell (Mar 16, 2012)

(Yes, I agree with you in that LeaT&#8217;s questionnaire was a bit aggressive; there were so many questions that I think the length might have put people off from choosing to fill it out).

Question 0, good. Always good to have some context or background.

With question 1, it&#8217;s good to have a sort of a lead-in question; most people don&#8217;t know where to start talking about themselves. However, you could run into the pitfall of people listing a bunch of adjectives about themselves, without explaining why they see themselves that way (also, there&#8217;s a huge difference between how we see ourselves and how we actually are).

With the picture questions, I can see their benefit, but sometimes I think people try to get poetic with them in order to make it sound better. Whereas I like the idea of having two pictures to choose from and then have the responder explain why they prefer one over the other. I think with a questionnaire, there has to be a focus on the way for people&#8217;s actions.

I have never really liked the car scenario question, honestly. I think a lot of people answer the way they&#8217;d like to answer in that situation, especially if they&#8217;ve never been in it before. A lot of people have trouble projecting themselves into this type of situation too, especially with the way it was worded before (&#8220;I doubt I&#8217;d be in this situation with a bunch of strangers,&#8221; etc). (Me personally, I doubt my inferior would come out here, more of my Enneagram disintegration type, which could seem like inferior Pe if you&#8217;re not careful).

Question 4, values. (I think I&#8217;d probably answer this question with an &#8220;ummmm&#8230;&#8221. Again, I like the focus on the why. It might also be a good idea to ask again how those values came about.

Question 5, I like how you try to get specific; however, you might run into a problem with Ti doms on this, as the word choice is iffy.

Question 6 is good, but as a determinant of sensing vs intuition, I&#8217;m not sure.

For question 7, I like arkigos&#8217;s suggestion; make it specific.

Question 9, I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s the best indicator of Ne/Ni. For example, in theversion that FreeBeer filled out, I wouldn&#8217;t have seen ISFP from that question. It might even be indicative of Fe/Fi or Te/Ti; Fe doms especially want to talk an idea out, get feedback from others. 

I like the possibility for question 10.

You&#8217;re going in a good direction with this questionnaire; it&#8217;s hard to find a really good way to distinguish perceiving functions, so maybe if you have one or two more that address it, that might be helpful. Also, if might be good to have people provide specific examples in more of the questions.

Hope this helps!


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Control questions added for further ease of typing.


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Ellis Bell;bt33310 said:


> With question 1, it’s good to have a sort of a lead-in question; most people don’t know where to start talking about themselves. However, you could run into the pitfall of people listing a bunch of adjectives about themselves, without explaining why they see themselves that way (also, there’s a huge difference between how we see ourselves and how we actually are).


Yea, but that was also the point, the more words they can make up, the more their thinking will flow (FPs might also have an easier time with this due to their closeness to their values). It's also good to know how they see themselves so you know where they are trying to go.



> With the picture questions, I can see their benefit, but sometimes I think people try to get poetic with them in order to make it sound better. Whereas I like the idea of having two pictures to choose from and then have the responder explain why they prefer one over the other. I think with a questionnaire, there has to be a focus on the way for people’s actions.


However, I find that their choice of picture is equally important as their description of it.

(just realized that I forgot to write "choose 2 pictures" instead of "look at 2 random pictures")



> I have never really liked the car scenario question, honestly. I think a lot of people answer the way they’d like to answer in that situation, especially if they’ve never been in it before. A lot of people have trouble projecting themselves into this type of situation too, especially with the way it was worded before (“I doubt I’d be in this situation with a bunch of strangers,” etc). (Me personally, I doubt my inferior would come out here, more of my Enneagram disintegration type, which could seem like inferior Pe if you’re not careful).


Well, this has proven useful in many occasions, especially when finding ISJs. Considering that they make up about 15-20% or something like that then it is important to have a good question to find them and most ISJs react strongly to this scenario.
Also, it's hard to find something that fits everyone, it's easier to make different questions that works for different people.



> Question 4, values. (I think I’d probably answer this question with an “ummmm…”). Again, I like the focus on the why. It might also be a good idea to ask again how those values came about.


 Right, but it's more about the fluency of the values.
Suppose I can always ask for the cause as well tho.



> Question 5, I like how you try to get specific; however, you might run into a problem with Ti doms on this, as the word choice is iffy.


Iffy? 
I suppose that if Ti doms get problems with the question then we have a way of detecting Ti doms? 



> Question 6 is good, but as a determinant of sensing vs intuition, I’m not sure.


Well, every questionnaire got to have this question, it's a trending thing 
Also, I've always been annoyed at how the opposites are connected as a single question so I decided to split them up.



> For question 7, I like arkigos’s suggestion; make it specific.


hah, I knew there was something I forgot. I was about to fix something, but then I took a break from the questionnaire and forgot.



> Question 9, I don’t know if it’s the best indicator of Ne/Ni. For example, in theversion that FreeBeer filled out, I wouldn’t have seen ISFP from that question. It might even be indicative of Fe/Fi or Te/Ti; Fe doms especially want to talk an idea out, get feedback from others.


Yes, I realized it when he answered it. I almost thought he was an ESFP for a while when I read his answer to it.



> Hope this helps!


Thanks!


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Ellis Bell;bt33310 said:


> For question 7, I like arkigos’s suggestion; make it specific.





> 7. Please describe yourself when you are feeling stressed. How do you act and why? Real life experiences are welcome.


Now I remember!
I didn't make it so specific because the more specific you make it the more controlled the question is and the further from the truth you get.
Also, this works really well for inferior thinking and inferior perceiving functions if answered correctly, but that's a risk with all questions.
People with inferior thinking when stressed will become self-critical.
People with inferior intuition becomes doomsday prophets
People with inferior sensing becomes disoriented.


----------



## Herp (Nov 25, 2010)

I really want to help, but I just keep seeing enneagram everywhere.

I don't think I'm able to give a proper feedback right now. However, what I can say is:

Question #2 is apparently losing its strenght. I just can't see anything specific. If there's something to see it's either objective-guided descriptions and subjective-guided descriptions, which could loosely be correlated with E/I. I also agree with @Ellis Bell on this one - given the stereotypes based on the sensing types, there could exist a possibility that a user may make their descriptions more poetic to avoid being pegged as sensors.

Question #3, again, I'm with Elis in this - I really have a hard time trying to project myself in this situation. I keep asking myself who are the persons I'm with or portraying an ideal
me in that question.

For now, I'll abstain from further analysis, since I'm clouded with enneagram biases.

(I'm currently getting the feeling that these questionnaires should be taken after a person has arrived at a certain degree of self-awarenes. Otherwise there's just too much projection and ego disguises there that it is actually harmful to the person. How many of us spent years trying to find their true type?

But then, I ask: How are we going to achieve a higher degree of self-awareness in new members? The questionnaires and tests help people find a possible type, but it also creates a kind of a barrier to self-learning and growth, where whatever doesn't fit a type expected behavior is questioned again and another questionnaire/test is taken, giving more chance to mistypes and the perpetuation of type stereotypes.

It helps, certainly, but it demands a self-awareness that only experience brings. And that's a problem in this forum that I have no idea on how to handle)


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

@Herp and @Ellis Bell, would it be better if question 3 was made more general?

Something like:



> 3. You are with a group of people in a car, heading to a different town for an event you have all been anticipating. Suddenly, the car breaks down for an unknown reason in the middle of nowhere. What is your immediate reaction? What are your internal and external reactions? What's your train of thought?


I want exactly 10 questions (not including the ones that just catches the basic information).

I'm wondering if I should completely convert question 3 to something else:



> 3. You are on the clock to fix something, a friend of yours sits beside you and gives a lot of interesting ideas, none of them actually help or are related to your situation, but they are still something you find interesting. What is your reaction? What do you say? What do you do? What's your train of thought?


With larger likelihood, a thinker (a (strong) Te user) would be annoyed at the consistent interrupting and would want to focus on the objective. A Se and Ni user would find it distracting and might even burst out due to the ideas being unhelpful and distracting. A feeler would be more likely to not want to offend the person, and a Ne user would likely find it interesting to listen to the friend (as they prefer to deal with many ideas at a time).

A bit stereotypical maybe, but what do you think?

I should invite @FreeBeer here as well since he has participated in the beta of the questionnaire and because we currently don't have any IFPs that have been directly invited here.


----------



## Herp (Nov 25, 2010)

I like the potential of this new question. 

If I had to answer, I would say something like:

"Internally, I'd be like "Stop fucking interrupting me. I already know what I want to do - it will be finished regardless of your influence. Thanks for the interest, though. Externally, i'd be fixing the problem while pretending to listen to them. I have been noticed to press unfocused people to give me related information to a problem when they divagate."

Which kind of correlates with your expectations for a Te user.


----------



## NighTi (Jan 1, 2013)

I haven't yet read through all of the comments. Before I finish, I'd like to focus on this one.



> Which were both actual statements from me in questionnaires. The first one was when I had my bias for INFJ where I dodged the why and went on more effect than cause.


I think this nails the problem I have when trying to interpret the answers. When we answer questions about ourselves while thinking about our (mis)understanding of the MBTI, we introduce all kinds of noise. I often have trouble discriminating the noise from the signal. Sometimes, the answers even look to me like regurgitated whole-type profiles.

For this reason, I prefer the photograph ("what do you think when you see this?") and the hypothetical scenario ("what would you think if you encountered that?") questions over the self-analysis questions. Most of the time, the self-analysis turns into a repetition of stereotype expectations or self-beliefs that don't provide much contrast. Look over the history of the "most important values" question and you'll see what I mean. Everyone values honesty, justice, and being kind to animals.

If we want to learn about someone's values, perhaps we should force a choice between two good things or two bad things. Then, ask about the basis on which she made the choice.


----------



## NighTi (Jan 1, 2013)

> 3. You are on the clock to fix something, a friend of yours sits beside you and gives a lot of interesting ideas, none of them actually help or are related to your situation, but they are still something you find interesting. What is your reaction? What do you say? What do you do? What's your train of thought?


The more I think about this, the more I like it. @Acerbusvenator sent it to me in a private message without context, so I gave him an answer untainted by thoughts of psyche-type and questionnaires. It's even better that I've been away for a while and completely wrapped up in unrelated issues:



> A couple of years ago, a human resources lady asked me a similar question as part of her standard candidate screening routine. The only difference was that she did not state it as a hypothetical. She wanted a concrete example of a technique I used to manage valuable interruptions. I got the job and then spent most of my energy teaching the team how to stay on target. I wonder how much she knew.
> 
> Sometimes, I do allow myself to be distracted. That's the wrong answer, but it's the truth. The right answer is to have some place for recording interesting but irrelevant ideas. I like the idea of a project backlog which contains nothing more than requests to consider some need or develop an idea. On one job many years ago, I was on a small team that managed several unrelated projects. We maintained a backlog for the whole program, and we followed a well-defined process for developing concepts into projects and projects into products. At each stage, we documented the project at increasing levels of detail. Ideas were just a couple of sentences in a database, but before we considered actually working on something, we produced a formal charter. Before we started work, we got the charter approved and prioritized relative to the other chartered projects. The system worked because we exposed the way we set our priorities so stakeholders could control which ideas were being actively developed and why. Ideas are a fine thing, but if we don't control what we actually work on, it's unlikely that we will get the most important things done in a timely manner.
> 
> ...


Note the (spontaneous) appearance of both Ti and Fe. I interpreted the question as a technical one, a problem about workflows. I answered it in a systematic way, from theory to application. My love of systems shows throughout. The Fe is more subtle. It appears toward the end with my concern about politics and how others might feel about being cut off or ignored.

If I were a dispassionate analyst, I'd say that T comes out much stronger than F. The answer focused on mechanics first and only later worked its way toward politics, and didn't stay there long. The ordering is consistent with my INTJ test results, but the attitude is not. A close look at the answer to this one question reveals Ti/Fe, neither of which is likely inferior. From that, we can infer that neither is dominant. Therefore, this one question reduces the possible types to four: NeTiFeSi (ENTP), NiFeTiSe (INFJ), SeTiFeNi (ESTP), SiFeTiNe (ISFJ).

That's quite a lot of information from just one question. It even gives you some fodder for further speculation. Does the external organization reveal J over P? As much as I dislike the J/P dichotomy, it seems to fit here. What about the passion for systems_ design_. Does that show N over S? If you already knew I was an introvert, you could solve the whole puzzle from this one answer.

It worked well for me. How does it work for others?


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

I tested it out for myself:
http://personalitycafe.com/whats-my...secret-hidden-thread-press-here-find-out.html


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Alright, @Spades, @arkigos, @NighTi, @Ellis Bell and @Herp. It feels like this should be done soon, so I did some more editing. What do you think about it now?

Please point out any grammatical error or such since I want it to be as understandable as possible for the people taking it.


----------



## Spades (Aug 31, 2011)

Sorry I haven't been actively involved. My mind has moved away from typology. Where is the most updated version? If you want me to have a look, it might be a couple of days (I'm in the process of moving).


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Spades;bt33582 said:


> Sorry I haven't been actively involved. My mind has moved away from typology. Where is the most updated version? If you want me to have a look, it might be a couple of days (I'm in the process of moving).


No worries then. I updated the OP, but take the time you need.
If I get other replies I could still finish it, so no worries. :happy:


----------



## Herp (Nov 25, 2010)

@Acerbusvenator

I'm liking it. While you kind of cheated to get to make it ten questions long (Control questions 1, 2 ,3 and so on - Don't take this statement seriously!), it's very interestingly made. Your answers made me unsure whether you could be an INTJ or INTP, to be fair, even though that, like Ellis Bell, I assume you made some tailoring with your answers to fit your needs in that questionnaire. Regardless, it's a well-thought-out questionnaire.

Like I said in my previous reply, I'm having a rough time separating Enneagram from MBTI. I could see type 6 all over your answers, but even then, it didn't stop me from seeing possible MBTI types.

Nice job! :happy:


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Herp;bt33605 said:


> @_Acerbusvenator_
> 
> I'm liking it. While you kind of cheated to get to make it ten questions long (Control questions 1, 2 ,3 and so on - Don't take this statement seriously!), it's very interestingly made. Your answers made me unsure whether you could be an INTJ or INTP, to be fair, even though that, like Ellis Bell, I assume you made some tailoring with your answers to fit your needs in that questionnaire. Regardless, it's a well-thought-out questionnaire.
> 
> ...


Renamed the control questions to just another question. 
I also suppose that the biggest problem with answering your own questionnaire is that you know what it asks for all the time so your results can get a bit too perfect.

In general tho, I wanted to know that it would work well at finding all types without a bias, so I wanted something that people could agree on. Would go a lot faster if I was the only judge of it, but wouldn't be as well made. 
I also know that since I made the questionnaire then I got an easier time finding the functions in people who answer it, so I really want input from others who have used to type others or themselves to get their opinion on how well it works for them and what they think might need to be fixed or improved. etc.

Thanks for responding. :crazy:


----------



## NighTi (Jan 1, 2013)

I'd roll it out and see what happens. There's nothing like contact with reality.

If I would make one change, it would be to shift the self-analysis questions (especially 3 and 4) toward the end, perhaps after question 8. My concern is that premature introspection could contaminate other answers, especially 5 and 6. I would rather people focus on answering the question instead of _how_ they are answering the question. One level of indirection can produce a lot of smoke.


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

NighTi;bt33607 said:


> I'd roll it out and see what happens. There's nothing like contact with reality.
> 
> If I would make one change, it would be to shift the self-analysis questions (especially 3 and 4) toward the end, perhaps after question 8. My concern is that premature introspection could contaminate other answers, especially 5 and 6. I would rather people focus on answering the question instead of _how_ they are answering the question. One level of indirection can produce a lot of smoke.


Hm, yea. I just want to create a flow in the questionnaire, asking introspective questions in the middle might make it seem a bit.. off? I will sleep on this and maybe I'll switch some of the questions around to not contaminate other questions.


----------



## Acerbusvenator (Apr 12, 2011)

Acerbusvenator;bt33608 said:


> Hm, yea. I just want to create a flow in the questionnaire, asking introspective questions in the middle might make it seem a bit.. off? I will sleep on this and maybe I'll switch some of the questions around to not contaminate other questions.


Switched their place now. :happy: (now they don't contaminate the "what energizes you" question)


----------

