Echoes in a Hollow Space

Please note the dust on the shelf. That is an important accuracy in any of my self-portraits. In this case, the “art” tag should definitely be in quotes.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Or maybe not, but the Meyers-Briggs personality test has been around a loooooong time. It used to be administered only by therapists and other mental health professionals of a Jungian bent (as it's based on Carl Jung's philosophy), but it's all over the place now. It's become just another meme—or perhaps the granddaddy of all memes.

I've taken it three times in my life, with several years between each takeage, because a therapist friend of mine once told me that it can sometimes shift as the years go by. It hasn't much for me. The first time, when I was pretty young, I was almost evenly split between Extrovert and Introvert, but it looks like I've gotten more introverted as time has gone by. I guess that's kind of natural. Being young is all about "social networking," even if one sucks at it, as I mostly have. One thing that was no surprise to me was that INFJ's are about 1% of the population. I'd known for some time that I wasn't like most of the people I knew. I didn't find it isolating so much as I found it liberating.

We did an amusing experiment back on the OWW mailing list some years back: everybody took the Meyers-Briggs to see what results came back. I seem to recall that most people came back as INFJ or INTJ. I guess they aren't lying when they say that one of the frequent professions for INFJ is that of writer.

This is one of those sites that requires you to register. "It's free!" Click on the graphic if you want to take the test.



INFJ - The "Confidant" Jungian Personality Types
INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs.

(I had the "tell me what's wrong" sign removed from my forehead. When I was younger I thought it my duty to listen to every tale of woe, but I reached such a point of saturation that it threatened my own sanity. I like to think I'm still a sympathetic listener, but I'm a bit more selective who I listen to these days. Self-protection is not a sin.)