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by stasbar 1310 days ago
Internet, LinkedIn, Tinder, Reddit, Discords are full of people labeling themselves using strange letters like ENTP, ISTJ, ENFP, INTJ, HDMI, USB, WTF?

In this article I explain what are personality types, how they work, and why people are so obsessed about them.
1 comments
junkypuppet 1310 days ago
I’ve always had a hard time taking the accuracy of personality tests seriously. I think the mood you’re in at the time of the test greatly influences not only how you read the test but how you respond as well. I also tend to lean on the side of personality not being permanent. I see you touched on that in the article but I’m curious as to your thoughts on whether personality changes or stays the same during the course of a persons life.
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stasbar 1306 days ago
Good point. That's why a lot of people (who use online tests only) get mistyped and cross out the theory.

Many cognitive biases hinder revealing our true selves and so our true personality type. That's why finding out your true personality type is hard, and usually takes much longer than 5 min online test.

According to Jung, the personality type does not change. Your whole personality does change, but the personality type does not. Over time, you try different attitudes but always get back to your default state, you may revisit your values and beliefs, and you may loosen social inhibitions, but your default patterns of thoughts and actions stay the same.

The problem with personality types is that people understand i.e. extrovert as someone who loves parties and charges being with people, and introvert as someone who is depressed and reads a lot of books.

Personality type is much deeper. Personality type explains: - why do some people tend to focus on the future more than the present moment; - why do some people focus more on making good things happen than preventing bad things from happening; - why do some people are prone to generalisation before collecting enough facts, while others can not say anything more than the facts they gathered; - why do some people are more focused on themselves while others on influencing others?

and many more. At its core, it has nothing to do with shyness, depression, social skills, intelligence, etc. Those are just results of following your strengths or neglecting your weaknesses. Personality type can help you with spotting your strengths and weaknesses and better understanding others, so you communicate using their prefered language, not yours.

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