Posted by Laurence on January 29, 2000 at 05:38:43:
In Reply to: Questions Regarding MBTI posted by Jason on January 28, 2000 at 19:05:48:
> Okay - I've seen a lot of XXXX posts and read enough about the "Kiersey" types to ask a few questions without sounding like a total idiot.
> First of all, I'd like to know how many of you find the MBTI stuff to be worthwhile? I had some mixed answers when I first queried - some found it to be a useful adjunct to enneagrammic typing; others said it was less accurate and not really useful.
> Next, if I want to understand the typing as quickly and efficiently as possible on the Web, what's a good place to look? I took a test that typed me as ISTJ (which I believe means "introvert/sensing/thinking/ judging" - is this right?), but the description I read of that wasn't really accurate in the way Riso's 5w4 description is.
> Ummm...now what about this Big 5 stuff? Is it worth my while to look
into that as well? Didn't seem real useful from the posts I read, and, if
(whoever it was?)'s theory is right and it correlates fairly well to MBTI,
then there's no benefit to typing myself there, right?
I look at it from a different angle : a swiss friend of mine, a Psychologist working as a consultant for swiss firms, has used the MBTI in his practice for years. When we first met, he had never heard of the Enneagram, which is still a very confidential odd thing here on the "old" continent. He instantly got fascinated by it, yet found it much too complex and hard to grasp at ones and is going to wait till he has enough time to really study it. The MBTI has simply been around for a lot more time, has been widely used in the human resources field, is quite easy to teach and apply. Yet, it is'nt a real "system", it is more a typology, a combinaison of factors designed to sort out peoples' professional capacities and never had the ambition to be a spiritual path.
Done my best to reply as clearly and precisely as I could, I still have a lot more to say on the subject.
> Now, if you think MBTI is a useful addition to enneagrammic typing... what is the UTILITY? Does it just help me "understand myself," or is it useful in understanding others, or what, exactly?
> Thanks for any input on this.