The Personality Test

At Meredith’s journal, (Another Country Heard From), I came across this abbreviated version of the Meyers-Briggs personality test as part of her responses to Patrick’s Saturday Six. I haven’t participated in the Saturday Six, though I do enjoy reading others’ answers to the great questions Patrick hatches. And from time to time I will put in my two cents in the comment section of someone who HAS participated. However, I just couldn’t resist this link to the personality test. Had to go there and see what would come of it.

Let me preface my result by saying that these personality tests have always bothered me. Probably because the only place I ever encountered them was at job interviews. I always felt there was something overly invasive about requiring a prospective employee to submit to one of these tests; and that there was something suspect about an employer that would base its hiring decisions on the results. I just felt there was too large a degree of removal from the human aspect of a job interview if one of these tests was put in front of me. And it seemed to me that the results of my "personality test" might cancel out any responses I gave to actual verbal interview questions. So, what was the point?

But, this time, since I was not being forced to submit to the test in an employment situation, my curiosity got the better of me. I thought, "Might as well go and see what all the hoopla is about…"

So, what am I?

INFJ

Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging

Beneath the quiet exterior, INFJs hold deep convictions about the weightier matters of life. Those who are activists -- INFJs gravitate toward such a role -- are there for the cause, not for personal glory or political power.

INFJs are champions of the oppressed and downtrodden. They often are found in the wake of an emergency, rescuing those who are in acute distress. INFJs may fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless. The concept of 'poetic justice' is appealing to the INFJ.

"There's something rotten in Denmark." Accurately suspicious about others' motives, INFJs are not easily led. These are the people that you can rarely fool any of the time. Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends. Such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words.

INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication. In addition, nonverbal sensitivity enables the INFJ to know and be known by others intimately.

Writing, counseling, public service and even politics are areas where INFJs frequently find their niche.

This is supposedly a "rare" personality type. Well, I don’t know how rare I am….I do know that I often feel like a square peg.

I have to say, though, that most of the above description is right on. Much of it describes what I am, what I have been my entire life. The part about being suspicious of others’ motives, though…that has definitely been a learned behavior. I used to be the biggest sap in the world. Would believe anything anybody told me, simply because I do not lie, so it’s not in my nature to expect untruth from others. However, I have been healed of that unfortunate foible. Sad. But one must learn from one’s mistakes. Once burned, twice shy; in my case it was more like six or seven times burned. But eventually, I got the picture.

And, in view of the first part of the above description, could I be anything other than a bleeding heart liberal? I guess that certainly put the old dart in the center of the bull’s-eye… I’ll have to grudgingly concede that this particular abbreviated test seems to have produced an accurate result. Still, I wonder what it would mean to a prospective employer. I can’t believe that any kind of an introvert would be a desirable employee…