# Do you think people take personality types too seriously?



## Micro Raptor (Feb 1, 2012)

Sometimes, I wonder if it's healthy to over-analyze personality types and put too much stock into them. mbti is mostly all about stereotyping, but people can't always fit neatly into one box/category. Even if 2 people are the same mbti type, that doesn't mean all the same stereotypes will match both of them exactly and they will have all the same traits.

People seem to have positive and negative views of different personality types. EG: NT=smart SF=stupid. Person A is stupid, therefore must be SF and can't be NT. (I do not support this assumption. I'm just using it as an example of a common bias.) Does it seem to you like certain mbti types are given more credit than others? I wonder how much bias is put into typing when categorizing someone into a personality type. Of course, I suppose it's impossible to be 100% without bias when thinking, but anyways, my point is that sometimes I wonder if putting too much stock into personality types does more harm than good.

Here's a similar post I agree with: The flaws with personality testing


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

Most of the bias occurs in the descriptions (online) and attitudes and biases of those who mostly have limited understandings. MBTI is by design a quick and dirty measure of personality not an all-encompassing evaluation. So if you put all your stock in where you happen to fall in the MBTI lettering scheme, which means very little, then there are many problems to be had.

If however you can use the underlying theory and its fundamentals then there is much to be learned about yourself and about the world. Even if Jungian theory is not empirically true, I do think it is an interesting way to clarify and identify phenomenon when relating to one's self or the world around you. Thinking of things as thinking, feeling, intuition and sensing isn't in and of itself limiting, but what becomes limiting is when people choose to put themselves into a box (aided by misconceptions about what MBTI is trying to accomplish). People get far too caught up in the silly J vs P aspects or T vs F or N vs S and don't deal in depth enough with the underlying principles. It's not about being a T or an F. It's about understanding whether or not you are someone for whom external values or conceptual frameworks are appealed to, or someone who would prefer your own. This is profound. Asking 'do I think or feel?' is not. 

I think there is benefit in being able to identify the inferior parts of yourself, the parts that you may project onto other people, and the parts that you may gleefully own. To me personality theory (right or wrong philosophically) helps provide a framework from which to conceptualize my life rather than stare at it like a passive observer pressed up against the glass. I think far too many people feel like life is something that is happening to them, that they have no real influence or control over, rather than something they can take an active hand in shaping. If for no other reason all this theory and philosophizing helps us create a methodology to examine what we experience with some depth and insight.


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## Ace Face (Nov 13, 2011)

LiquidLight said:


> Most of the bias occurs in the descriptions (online) and attitudes and biases of those who mostly have limited understandings. MBTI is by design a quick and dirty measure of personality not an all-encompassing evaluation. So if you put all your stock in where you happen to fall in the MBTI lettering scheme, which means very little, then there are many problems to be had.
> 
> If however you can use the underlying theory and its fundamentals then there is much to be learned about yourself and about the world. Even if Jungian theory is not empirically true, I do think it is an interesting way to clarify and identify phenomenon when relating to one's self or the world around you. Thinking of things as thinking, feeling, intuition and sensing isn't in and of itself limiting, but what becomes limiting is when people choose to put themselves into a box (aided by misconceptions about what MBTI is trying to accomplish). People get far too caught up in the silly J vs P aspects or T vs F or N vs S and don't deal in depth enough with the underlying principles. It's not about being a T or an F. It's about understanding whether or not you are someone for whom external values or conceptual frameworks are appealed to, or someone who would prefer your own. This is profound. Asking 'do I think or feel?' is not.
> 
> I think there is benefit in being able to identify the inferior parts of yourself, the parts that you may project onto other people, and the parts that you may gleefully own. To me personality theory (right or wrong philosophically) helps provide a framework from which to conceptualize my life rather than stare at it like a passive observer pressed up against the glass. I think far too many people feel like life is something that is happening to them, that they have no real influence or control over, rather than something they can take an active hand in shaping. If for no other reason all this theory and philosophizing helps us create a methodology to examine what we experience with some depth.


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

Ace Face said:


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## RepairmanMan Man (Jan 21, 2012)

Micro Raptor said:


> Sometimes, I wonder if it's healthy to over-analyze personality types and put too much stock into them. mbti is mostly all about stereotyping, but people can't always fit neatly into one box/category. Even if 2 people are the same mbti type, that doesn't mean all the same stereotypes will match both of them exactly and they will have all the same traits.
> 
> People seem to have positive and negative views of different personality types. EG: NT=smart SF=stupid. Person A is stupid, therefore must be SF and can't be NT. (I do not support this assumption. I'm just using it as an example of a common bias.) Does it seem to you like certain mbti types are given more credit than others? I wonder how much bias is put into typing when categorizing someone into a personality type. Of course, I suppose it's impossible to be 100% without bias when thinking, but anyways, my point is that sometimes I wonder if putting too much stock into personality types does more harm than good.
> 
> Here's a similar post I agree with: The flaws with personality testing


To put it shortly: Yes. I've long felt this way.


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