Personality Type
Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based on Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's theory of eight personality types. It expands Jung's framework into four dimensions:
| Dimension | Types |
|---|---|
| Energy Direction | Introversion (I) / Extraversion (E) |
| Perception | Sensing (S) / Intuition (N) |
| Judgment | Thinking (T) / Feeling (F) |
| Lifestyle | Judging (J) / Perceiving (P) |
These four dimensions act like four scales. Each person's personality falls at some point on each scale, and whichever end you lean toward indicates your preference. Based on the preferences across these four dimensions, there are 16 personality types, grouped into four categories: SJ (Guardians), NF (Idealists), SP (Artisans), NT (Rationals):
| Code | Name | Code | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISTJ | The Logistician | ISFJ | The Defender |
| ESTJ | The Executive | ESFJ | The Consul |
| INFJ | The Advocate | INFP | The Mediator |
| ENFJ | The Protagonist | ENFP | The Campaigner |
| ISTP | The Virtuoso | ISFP | The Adventurer |
| ESTP | The Entrepreneur | ESFP | The Entertainer |
| INTJ | The Architect | INTP | The Logician |
| ENTJ | The Commander | ENTP | The Debater |
This test will determine your personality type based on your choices and provide a detailed description. The questions are based on the popular understanding of the four dichotomies, designed to be concise and intuitive. There are 40 questions in total, and it may take about 8-10 minutes.
We recommend trying the Jungian Cognitive Functions Test for a more nuanced assessment.
The Barnum effect is a psychological phenomenon named by psychologist Bertram Forer in honor of showman P.T. Barnum. People tend to rate personality descriptions as highly accurate when they believe the descriptions are vague and general, even though the descriptions are broad enough to apply to almost anyone. The Barnum effect provides a thorough explanation for the widespread acceptance of pseudosciences such as astrology, fortune-telling, and many personality tests.
In my view, however, these kinds of tests are not entirely useless. Much like a person who flips a coin to make a decision -- the point is not to let the coin decide for you, but to notice what you hoped for the moment the coin was in the air. Through these tests, you can also catch a glimpse of your subconscious expectations for your own self-image.
Therefore, I hope you won't blindly believe in the test results, but rather reflect on the results and the process. For positive psychological suggestions, once you recognize them as aspirations for yourself, take action. For negative psychological suggestions, recognize them as mere self-suggestion, and consciously avoid the influence of negative suggestions.