Turns out I am a "very dominant and critical personality." haha
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Turns out I am a "very dominant and critical personality." haha
I am not entirely sure why they made me take it. They made everyone in my department take it. Everyone knows my results -- HR, bosses, coworkers.
There was one other person with a dominant personality, but she did not also come up critical. She came up as "influential."
Mine was all dominant and critical.
Would you like to change, to be dominant and influential?
I'm pretty sure your results came as no surprise to your co-workers. :D
Im guessing it was the DISC test.
In it, "Dominant" means " determined, decisive, independent, persistant, direct, focuses n goals not on people."
these are not bad thngs.
They made my department take the Myers Briggs one time and 7 out of 8 of us came back as introverts.
Two of us, who shared an office, were INFJ, which is supposed to be rare, but a bunch of us on SL are INFJ.
I did not like that we all had to take the test; it seemed wrong somehow.
During one of my employer's downsizing events, they gave us all a bunch of employment-type screening tests. Mostly what I learned was that I should never, ever be a pediatric nurse. (No s*, Sherlock! :devil:.) They also gave us the Myers-Briggs test. As I remember, the few women in my job classification, without exception, scored IN-something or other. That was no surprise either. What was a surprise was their suggestion of good job match for me: standup comedian. Yeah, there's a lucrative field. Where's that rolling on the floor emoji when you need it? I survived that and subsequent downsizings. A pity, because by that time, my severance package, the downsizing bonus, and my retirement would have made a handsome golden handshake.
Prior to a mercifully brief stint in retail, I also had to take a pre-employment test. It seemed to ask thousands of questions, many of them the same ones, designed to trip up liars, I guess. At any rate, I must have scored admirably, because the two departments they offered me were children's clothing (patience, I suppose) and fine jewelry (honesty, no doubt). Naturally, I jumped at jewelry (see pediatric nurse reference :~) ) I lasted some four months, until a big promotion came through at my primary job.
I am an INFJ too...
I am INFJ, probably not as rare as they suggest or we all just hang out in one place. I have a couple friends who are INFJ or have tested that in the past.
UA do you want to talk about it? Like are you fine with this feedback? Does it prompt an urge to make some changes? I don't find the many INFJ's I am around to also test like you did so it sets up a disconnect for me,
Myers-Briggs is passe now anyway.
On to the next pop psyche trend.
The MBTI can be useful not only in looking at suitable jobs but also in marriage counseling and when co-workers are having conflict. WE all tend to think that others see the world as we do when we are close to people. It be useful to open dialogue and help resolve conflict when you realize that others have such a different view of things.
[QUOTE=UltraliteAngler;236169
Superficially, probably. But I am too long in the tooth to want to make any more fundamental personality changes.
Why is that?[/QUOTE]
This is going into my personal area based on years of work, so you can take it or leave it as you see fit. I see a difference in INFJ types based on the level of ground-ness they may have. INFJ describes a set of characteristics by one model, there are other models but it does tell me a few things about how you may operate in the world. On the introvert side you may notice and feel things in a sensitive way, may be more affected by loud noises or sensing emotions in others. This can be more draining than envigorating like it would be for an extrovert. So managing outside stimulus is a big deal with people who are introverted and intuitive. When we get hit with so much that is overwhelming to our systems we have a couple ways to deal with it. Many times we put up a lot of barriers and protections so that we are not drained. That works but it can also come across as cold or aloof to others, a bit lonely to ourselves. I learned through looking at the Meyers Briggs information that other people were simply not having the same experience which was the most valuable thing about the types for me. My experiences are very connected to other people, highly empathetic to people and environment, and sensitive.
I did a lot of blocking myself off to deal with it and it didn't work that well. What has worked well is working on 'grounding' myself and building that up with meditation techniques. Being highly empathetic (which is a quality I see in other INFJ's) can be difficult to manage and painful. If you don't have support and/or skills to work with it then comes out more as a protect the self at all costs more than having connections with other people. I wouldn't suggest changes as a way to appease someone else or as a response to criticism, but there is a lot that can be done to increase your comfort in the world and with your self that is based on who you are already (not a personality transplant).
Okay if you have more interest let me know,
Personality tests at work or for hiring should be illegal. It's the misuse of psychology IMO. Employees need to protected from this type of stuff as a basic employee protection. But unfortunately that is not the law at present.
Much is not scientific (but nonetheless I do like Meyer's Briggs as an explanatory system - but not for employment - anymore than your sexual life is your employers business, but use personality tests for personal curiosity or therapy or career counseling, ok I don't have a problem with these more VOLUNTARY uses of them ...). And that which is scientific is mostly heritable, a lot of personalities traits are fairly heritable. So like I say it has no place in employment.
Now this doesn't mean their intent in giving the test was evil, they may just want coworkers to work together better despite different personality types, or bosses to motivate various types of employees better etc.. The problem is most organizations are too busy trying to get actual work done (maybe inefficiently but nonetheless) to really bother with HR and whatever theory they have come up with today. Management and organization and personnel theories are a dime a dozen and mostly pretty useless from what I've seen.
I had a friend who was forced to take a personality test for a job she was being considered for, and she was highly hurt and insulted when it said that she lacked empathy.
The test was spot on. She was mean and gossipy and I guess she couldn't hide it from the test. Too bad she she couldn't take a lesson from it.
The intent would interest me. I love personality tests on my own. I have had the highest hope for these used at work as a way to value each other or work together better through understanding. I think they are really trying in my organization to do this. Recently they have given us more options for giving feedback, written, in person, survey, etc. based on our style. That is nice, I still feel like the odd one out and misunderstood a lot of the time. So having a shorthand like INFJ that says something like I will talk in small groups and not in larger ones, prefer some solo projects, and am empathetic really can help. I have one supervisor who tends to react to things with 'fix-it' mentality so I don't feel so comfortable talking to her about wanting a solo project or other things,
The only time I didn't like doing this was an exercise with about 20 of us. We self-selected in 4 areas and what a surprise! I was the only one in my section. Then we talked to each other (myself) about some things and presented out to the group. No one I had worked with for very long was surprised that I was alone, but then they asked which group others felt they needed and no one said my group. That was embarrassing (and says a lot about my career). I went to the organizer of the meeting who had participated in this at a national conference I was so concerned. He said that at the national conference there were others in my group and he thought it was because they had a lot of organizational leaders who had my group characteristics. I think it was valuable in some ways, we learned a little about how to work with people who were more authoritarian or feeling focused, how we may come across working together, just fell flat for me.
The MBTI has successfully assisted to resolve work place conflict when all the participants have voluntarily agreed to take it and you have a career counselor then work with the group of employees to discuss and understand the results.
There has been a fair amount of debunking of the MBTI in the recent past.
Maybe I am an INFJ, and maybe I ain't really.
I don't put a lot of stock in this stuff.
It reminds me of horoscopes. Hand them out to a group of ten people but switch the names (Cancers are Scorpios today) and everyone will rationalize how "right" the horoscope is.
Tell someone they are an ENTJ and they will find ways they fit into it. And where they don't fit, they will call it an exception or some such.
I'm an INTJ and I'm sure my partner is an ESFP. I doubt that I've ever dated an introvert.
Myers-Briggs is a fun scale, interesting to see how the different types relate to work and people, and it's very accessible.
ETA: I agree with Apathetic No More as far as employment goes.
It's funny how people are so sensitive when this subject comes up. Those of use who have used personality tests (three decades now, personally) can already tell most things with just a few questions and spending 30-minutes with someone, and you don't even need to use a formal "test". I've used personality tests for decades in order to determine which volunteer would work best in the different areas of volunteer work. I can tell you which personality types work best together, and which don't. This helps prevent a lot of distress before it becomes a crisis. I was trained using this method, and I have successfully used it doing field work in volunteer networks all over Kansas.
One place it helps is how to settle conflicts with different personality types, but if you do your program well, you won't need to settle conflicts.
Lessibest, I have one of my grad degrees in psychological testing,etc and have used them extensively to help people find jobs, marriage counseling, conflict resolution etc. They can be very useful if used correctly and by someone trained to do so. I also find it amazing how many people object to them.
I thought it might give you all a laugh at my expense. Call me charitable. ;)
Here is the distinction that you don't get, Zoe Girl. And it would behoove you to start getting it.
There is a difference between being a prick and being critical. Sure, one can do both at the same time. But one doesn't have to.
Me asking for some proof to back up a heavy-handed statement is purely critical. It is also legitimate.
If I told you I could flap my arms like wings and fly, would you say "show me" or would you just accept it to be true?
You ask for back up or proof or something a lot of the time. It sounds like she did this work professionally, and was speaking from her own experience. It is a very big difference to question a random comment for proof as compared to something spoken from years of professional experience. That is kinda being a prick.
If you were a flight engineer or astronaut or circus performer I would probably have some trust in what you said, Would be interesting to watch however
People read palms professionally, some do it for their entire career. That does not make it evidence-based.
What would make it evidence-based? Evidence. See how this works?
Now, since Terry is educated, a professional, and strongly supports these personality tests then I am sure she has no problem providing compelling evidence to support her claim. Stay tuned!
Evidence that supports whatever your opinion is, I bet.
Tbe expression "evidence-based" just makes me laugh. Whose evidence? Whose "facts?"
Again, this is science illiteracy.
I can explain to you, but really, it would be better to research this yourself. Though I doubt you will. Remaining ignorant to things often feels comfortable.
Let's look at something like penicillin. How do we have evidence that it works as an antibiotic?
Jane's viewpoint: "Some doctor had an opinion that it would destroy bacteria and cure diseases. So he gave it to people and by golly, it worked. Well, that was just his opinion anyway" There was no testing under lab conditions. They did not test it under field conditions. There were no experiments. And since their were no experiments the experiment was never repeated.
Reality (where things are evidence-based): Researchers made discoveries of penicillin and its antibiotic uses. They tested it in labs. They tested it in the field. They experimented. Experiments were repeated. Then because of all sorts of evidence that it worked as an antibiotic that cured disease we consider this to be a fact.
That is all in layman's terms and meant to illustrate how evidence works.
But you may poo-poo evidence, but when the rubber meets the road I bet you bow down to it.
Have you ever taken antibiotics?
You can now thank me for enlightening you.
I doubt I'm particularly scientifically illiterate--I studied various sciences both in high school and in college--there's some evidence for you. Do you require transcripts?
As I suggested, the quality of evidence is what matters, and whether it stands the test of time. I could present you with a two-volume book meticulously researched by Dr. Ian Stevenson, in which he painstakingly documented instance after instance of reincarnation, rife with footnotes. Convinced yet? I thought not.
Do his footnotes stand up to the rigor of the scientific method?
What makes you doubt Dr. Stevenson's book and evidence? My guess is that you doubt because the "evidence" has been debunked. But debunked how?
We'll get you there soon, Jane! You can do this. :)
Keep going. :)