who are you? part two!
In my freshman year at Virginia Tech, we were required to take many different personality assessments and leadership style surveys. The one that I understood the most, and learned from was the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. More information about the assessment can be found here. Below are the letter results that I received (INTJ), and a short description of each personality characteristic. I have also included various ways in which I see this trait show through my work.
The MBTI was developed by Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs as a survey that indicates differences in people based on their source of internal energy (introversion/ extroversion), how they perceive/ take in information (intuition/ sensing), how they prefer to make decisions (thinking/ feeling), and how they orient themselves to the external world (judging/ perceiving). They used this classification to understand how people develop behavioral patterns, skills, and attitudes, coupled with their environmental influences. It approximates a person's preferences in these areas by placing him/ her on a scale for each of the four letters, showing a person's preference between the two personality qualities.
1. Introversion
Introverted people are oriented inward, and receive their energy from personal time, where extroverts gain energy from social interaction. This does not mean that I dislikes social crowds, or an extroverted person dislikes solitude (there can be appreciation from both sides), but it better represents how I would choose to "decompress" after a long day.
2. Intuition
The second letter refers to a person's perception of information. An INTJ tends to be more abstract than concrete. Intuition refers to my ability to see the big picture, focus long-term, and understand complex abstractions.
3. Thinking
Thinking is the process by which a person comes by a decision. Being a T means that I tend to value objective criteria, logistical arguments, and pros/ cons versus an attraction to personal preference or social considerations.
4. Judging
The final letter in my MBTI suvery is Judging. This does not mean we walk around with a gavel at the ready, but represents a devotion to action and decisiveness. People who identify with J derive a sense of control through predictability and tend to plan activities.
Collective Analysis: INTJ "Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals. Quickly see patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives. When committed, organize a job and carry it through. Skeptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance – for themselves and others".
"INTJs are attentive to the inner world of possibilities, images, abstractions, and thoughts. They are analytical, critical, complex and ingenious. Quiet insight combined with logical analysis is the essence of an INTJ's approach to the world; they think systemically. INTJs are original, skeptical, and independent, but are restrained and organized in their outer life. Ideas are the substance of life for INTJs; they have a driving need to understand and to demonstrate competence in their areas of interest. INTJs trust their insights. With their intent and task focus they will work determinedly to make their visions into realities to improve human knowledge and systems."
All of these character attributes make up a generalized overview of my personality, and each is pretty darn accurate. The most accurate statement is that I would define myself as skeptical and independent, but restrained and organized in my outer life. I have a quiet, stable, and insightful mind with a heavy reliance on logical analysis. It was really awesome to see results for a personality test that I could identify with. I also read all of the other ones out of curiosity and I am happy to say that I believe my results to be an accurate reflection of myself.
.
