I had lunch with a friend of mine yesterday, and referred her to this site: www.keirsey.com, the home of Meyers-Briggs type personality test.

She e-mailed me with her results and I called her immediately. In my best "Ladies Man"-voice, I said, "Ummm, yeah, that explains a lot."

Take the test! Share your results. Discuss if you agree or disagree.

-- Brad (brad@scriptbrads.tv), March 01, 2001

Answers

Okay, I'll go first. I did take the actual Meyers-Briggs test (at my old workplace). Supposedly, this test is helpful in career placement as the results indicate what type of work environment is best suited for you. As far as I can tell, it won't be able to predict who will go postal. But I'm sure that's coming soon.

I'm an INTJ. According to the scores, I'm wayyyy INT, but only a point difference separates me from J or P. This explains a LOT about me.

-- Brad (javagirl@scriptbrads.tv), March 01, 2001.

Well, I've taken some various Keirsey versions over the years and some other Meyers-Briggs derivations too (they tested me too much when I was a gifted kidlet and gave me a fascination with tests). I come out XNFP. Every freaking time. And if the tester retests me to try and worm an I or an E out of me, I still come out 50/50. Hee hee. Pretty stubborn, I am.

-- Marianne (marseillaise@hotmail.com), March 02, 2001.

Apparently, this Squirrel is an Idealist. According to Keirsey:

"* Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom.  "* Idealists  pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic.  "* Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials.  "* Idealists make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders.

"Idealists are rare, making up no more than 8 to 10 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers."

Guess that explains my plans to move to find shack in Montana somewhere and start writing my manifesto. In c

-- Reginald Squirrel (rsquirrels@prodigy.net), March 03, 2001.

Back when there were free and complete versions of the test online, I think I remember being an INTP (architect), but the current test said I was a ISTJ (inspector).

Those two types are pretty different, so I wonder what the real assesment would say about me. Hopefully the questions are less ambiguous; I had a hard time picking answers to some of them. There are traits in both descriptions that either begrudgingly or proudly apply to me. Maybe my anal retentive side is just more dominant than it used to be?

-- Jared (jared@jaredg.org), March 03, 2001.

hey, are you guys taking the personality sorter or the temperament sorter II? When I click on the personality sorter on the link Brad provided, it takes me to a page saying that test is undergoing changes (or the page is, I forget which) and it directs me to the second test, which is longer. (I, apparently, have no personality, only temperament.) Which tells me I'm a Guardian. Which test is all this IMTPQWEERTY stuff to be found?

-- toni (toni@la-lagniappe.com), March 04, 2001.

Good question, Toni. I want to be one of those IMTPQWEERTY things, too.

-- Reginald Squirrel (rsquirrels@prodigy.net), March 08, 2001.

You'd probably have to pay the Kiersey.com people to take the whole Temerament Sorter test (which gives you all four letters); there don't seem to be free ones available any more.

The other possibility is to pilgrimage to the local library (if it doesn't suck) and look for his little book, Please Understand Me. On your way back, stop by the airport and use the TDD to terrorize relatives you don't like.

-- Jared (jared@jaredg.org), March 10, 2001.

Personally, methings the M-B is a crock. Once, I was dating a girl who believed strongly that such tests were sacrosanct. I forget exactly what her score was, but in order to prove that they are easily tweaked, I took the test as "her," answering the test as I thought she would. I scored exactly the same she did. Then I took it as a number of other folks I knew well and had them try the test. I matched all their scores. IMHO, a test that easy to beat ain't worth much. And all I had going for me was a college minor in Psych.

Cheers.

-- notfamous (notfamous@notfamous.com), March 15, 2001.

I had published five novels when I took the Myers-Briggs (administered by a psychologist to our entire wscreenwriting class, as a favor to the instructor, and just to see what we would all turn out to be). Mind you, I have ADD, and that was diagnosed separately first by a psychologist then by a psychiatrist, and so that also figures into all this, I'd think.

Anyway, I tested out an extreme ENFP. Extreme in every area. And the woman who gave me the test said, "You know what's interesting is, INFPs tend to be novelists and ENFPs tend to be screenwriters." (I was just starting my first screenplay at the time.)

Well, here's the deal. Both doctors who diagnosed me with ADD had said the exact same thing -- they were astonished, no, almost disbelieving, to know that I had ever completed a single novel, much less written enough to finally sell some. The type of concentration required is something that I don't have in large supplies.

And both times, I almost cried, I was so relieved. Because writing was so HARD for me. I know, it's hard for everybody. But somehow, when I talked about the problems I was having, I could always tell that the friends I was talking to didn't comprehend the level of my frustration and exhaustion and distress.

It was such a relief, finally having somebody confirm to me, "What you did was absolutely phenomenal." In fact, so phenomenal, that both doctors questioned me about it as if they didn't believe me, until I said I'd actually published. It was that "validation" that seemed to prove to them that I wasn't just blowing smoke when I said I wrote novels.

Anyway, to get back to the Myers-Briggs, when I tested out as an ENFP and the psycho-chick told me that ENFPs were usually screenwriters, more or less joking, I told her that I had ADD. And the expression on her face softened and she said, "You are going to be so much happier writing screenplays."

I didn't know what to make of all that then, but I do now. I will someday write novels again, I know that. But the thought of it makes me tense up. I just can't go there again now. But screenplays? I love them. Even though I have yet to sell a freaking one.

So yeah, I'm pretty much a believer in Myers Briggs, because not only did it nail my personality, but it also pointed the way to writing that was better suited to me, and believe me, I can feel the difference.

-- pooks (TexasTrish@aol.com), March 23, 2001.