Everyone knows that MBTI is pseudoscience, barely better than astrology - with too-vague descriptions and "well most of these sorta fit me" personality descriptions. Well, you're only halfway right! Buckle up kids, I'm gonna take us on an overly-detailed steelman of MBTI.
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Anyway. So actually understanding Jung's ideas and how they relate to function stacks takes a while to do, and involves a theory of mind that focuses a lot on modes on internal and external sliding scales. This is why advanced MBTI stuff says you can't figure out your type based
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on internet tests - ideally you'd interview with a trained professional. So - you took an internet test and it 'kinda fits'? But other descriptions fit too? MBTI steelman says you took a shit test and the descriptions are overly simplified, and the reality is a granular system.
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Now, all of this being said, and even though I've read way too fucking much about MBTI, I still think it's got some weaknesses. For example, there's a rule that one type of function must be followed by a certain type of other function (e.g., no "Ni-Fi-Se-Ne"). I don't understand.
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I've never come across any reasoning for why this rule is the case. Maybe Jung wrote about it somewhere? But it seems kind of arbitrary to me, and possible explanations aren't compelling. And it makes up a big basis of the theory behind MBTI. I'm pretty suspicious.
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And while different MBTI types do have pretty strong correlations to different stuff like GPA or income, it doesn't feel as strongly predictive as something like the Big 5 (even though it's also strongly correlated to Big 5!)
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Anyway, in conclusion, MBTI doesn't really deserve all the shit it's getting. It's actually a pretty cool, predictive, and beautiful system, when you look deeply. Its actual flaws are that the beautiful system is closer to a work of art than our best tool for mapping personality.
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End of conversation
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