Enneagram and Myers Briggs Personality Tests

[_MementoMori_]

Anybody else into this stuff? I think it's pretty fascinating how accurately my types describe me, for both the enneagram and the Myers Briggs. I'm an enneagram type 4w5, and I'm a Myers Briggs INFJ. Which basically means I'm doomed to loneliness unless I meet other 4s or other INFJs. Haha.

If you're interested in taking the tests, here are some free links:

The Enneagram Personality Test

Which of the 9 Enneagram types fits you best? This personality test can help you to discover where you fit in among the 9 Enneagram personality types.

www.truity.com

Free Jung Personality Test (No Email Required)

Get crystal clear about who you are. Learn strengths & weaknesses. Get your Jung Personality Test results immediately. No email required. It's free.

www.onlinepersonalitytests.org

 

[Owen Bawn]

I used to work with some New Age Jesuits and feminist nuns who were really into this stuff. It wasn't for me.

 

[_MementoMori_]

I used to work with some New Age Jesuits and feminist nuns who were really into this stuff. It wasn't for me.

Yikes.

I don't know if that's a common association, but I'm definitely not into anything remotely new age or feminist.

 

[Sinnbad11]

I always enjoyed the Myers Briggs, it's interesting seeing how well my enneagram (which I have never done) and Myers Briggs results line up. I am an 8 and estp.

 

[BigFoot]

ENFJ and it nails me perfectly.

 

[Atlantic59]

Anybody else into this stuff? I think it's pretty fascinating how accurately my types describe me, for both the enneagram and the Myers Briggs. I'm an enneagram type 4w5, and I'm a Myers Briggs INFJ. Which basically means I'm doomed to loneliness unless I meet other 4s or other INFJs. Haha...

These are just models of human personality types. There are infinitely many human personality types, not just sixteen, or nine, as the case may be. If it helps you understand yourself or other people, it may be good, but you should not feel like you are defined or restricted by a particular type.

The Myers-Briggs model comes indirectly from the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The Eneagram system comes from the Arica Institute. Both these type systems appeal to people interested in "depth psychology", so that is where the New Age, mystical, etc. associations probably come from. At the same time, these type systems have been promoted within Business as a way to understand yourself and other people in the workplace.

You aren't doomed to loneliness as an INFJ type (or type 4). There is the danger that you might tend to withdraw from the external world and try to find a solid personality foundation in your own feelings, which are constantly changing and may not align with the "real world" that everyone else shares.

It is not true you would find connection only with other INFJ types. To the contrary, we tend to be attracted to those who are different from ourselves, who make up for what we lack, and make life more interesting.

 

[_MementoMori_]

These are just models of human personality types. There are infinitely many human personality types, not just sixteen, or nine, as the case may be. If it helps you understand yourself or other people, it may be good, but you should not feel like you are defined or restricted by a particular type.

The Myers-Briggs model comes indirectly from the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The Eneagram system comes from the Arica Institute. Both these type systems appeal to people interested in "depth psychology", so that is where the New Age, mystical, etc. associations probably come from. At the same time, these type systems have been promoted within Business as a way to understand yourself and other people in the workplace.

You aren't doomed to loneliness as an INFJ type (or type 4). There is the danger that you might tend to withdraw from the external world and try to find a solid personality foundation in your own feelings, which are constantly changing and may not align with the "real world" that everyone else shares.

It is not true you would find connection only with other INFJ types. To the contrary, we tend to be attracted to those who are different from ourselves, who make up for what we lack, and make life more interesting.

Good to know! You seem to know a lot about this topic.

 

[Atlantic59]

Good to know! You seem to know a lot about this topic.

I would probably test out as a Type 4, too.

For INTPs, it's important to try to understand the world. So, of course we want to investigate anything that looks interesting.

 

[The Knize]

I like the enneagram stuff a lot. I think its system of personality types provides some real insights. I actually paid real money to have my enneagram done or whatever they call it by a fully credentialed person. The type she came up with for me did not seem all that apt. I actually do not remember what it was. At least one other person who is trained in enneagrams, but to a lesser extent, and who knows me much better thinks type 6, which seems to fit in some ways to me, but not as an overall enneagram type. Enneagram does have the concept of tending to certain types other than one's primary type when one is stressed, and that makes sense to me. I feel about being an enneagram 6 about the same way I feel about being a horoscope virgo. Not really the me I think of.

As I understand it, enneagram goes way, way back in some legit middle eastern-type philosophy, maybe even Muslim (Sufi maybe) and although some New Age folks seem drawn to it, there is no reason to think of it as specifically New Agey. I sure do not think of enneagram as specifically associated with feminism and I do not know why it would be. I do not think it came up out of a very feminist leaning culture.

I do not think of Myers-Briggs as New Agey or feminist at all. My impression is that it has been promoted intensely to businesses as a way of analysing personalities in business settings. I think is promoted as an objective, scientifically-based way to test people's personalities. I think it is associated with Carl Jung in the sense of using some of his theories of personality and his nomenclature--introvert/extrovert, for instance. As I recall, however, critics have pointed out that Myers-Briggs does not have any scientific research supporting it at all and never has. It based on a theory of personality of the folks who put it together, Mssrs. Myers and Briggs, I would expect, and put forth as supported by science, when it is not, and I do not think its usefulness in a business setting has ever been tested. I think it is a favorite of business consultants, and not, for instance, of psychologists. I am sure the internet has more information on this.

That said, Myers-Briggs is a fun way to think about personality types, too. I have taken the full battery of Myers-Briggs tests, too. I cannot remember where I came out, but it did not seem too far off. Of course, when the questions are something like do you "recharge" by yourself or by being around other people, if you answer by myself, it is not a huge surprise that Myers-Briggs deems you introverted!

 

[Mick]

Yep..... been there.... done that.... promptly forgot what it said....

 

[oc_in_fw]

I am an 8 on the first one, but the second is confusing. How can I choose which dog is closer to the statement I believe when they are using a horizontal instead of a vertical row of dots? Does the top dog correspond to the statement on the left, and bottom dot to the one one the right?

 

[Toothpick]

You probably need to adjust your viewing settings. Mine were horizontal.

 

[oc_in_fw]

You probably need to adjust your viewing settings. Mine were horizontal.

Tried it on a desktop. I am ENTP. I would argue with the extravert part, but I have gotten better as I have gotten older. Maybe extravert with the guys I work with every day, and intra with those outside of our group.

 

[shavefan]

Yep..... been there.... done that.... promptly forgot what it said....

Same here. A company I used to work for went down this hole and almost everyone took the test. Hundreds of people. To what end, I'm not sure, it wasn't really ever mentioned again. I promptly forgot what my results were too.

To quote a famous sailor. . .
"I yam what I yam & dats what I yam!"

 

[never-stop-learning]

These are just models of human personality types. There are infinitely many human personality types, not just sixteen, or nine, as the case may be. If it helps you understand yourself or other people, it may be good, but you should not feel like you are defined or restricted by a particular type.

The Myers-Briggs model comes indirectly from the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The Eneagram system comes from the Arica Institute. Both these type systems appeal to people interested in "depth psychology", so that is where the New Age, mystical, etc. associations probably come from. At the same time, these type systems have been promoted within Business as a way to understand yourself and other people in the workplace.

You aren't doomed to loneliness as an INFJ type (or type 4). There is the danger that you might tend to withdraw from the external world and try to find a solid personality foundation in your own feelings, which are constantly changing and may not align with the "real world" that everyone else shares.

It is not true you would find connection only with other INFJ types. To the contrary, we tend to be attracted to those who are different from ourselves, who make up for what we lack, and make life more interesting.

+1 to this.

I've done so many of these over the years: Myers-Briggs, S4 Social Styles, Emergenetics and others.

As important as where you are on the map is your flexibility - how easily you relate to and communicate with different personality types.

Interesting stuff.

 

[The Knize]

The Wikipedia articles on both of these items seem decent. Enneagrams may not have as ancient and respectable a background as I thought, although I do not know if the Wikipedia article is accurate on that.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Same here. A company I used to work for went down this hole and almost everyone took the test. Hundreds of people. To what end, I'm not sure, it wasn't really ever mentioned again. I promptly forgot what my results were too.

To quote a famous sailor. . .
"I yam what I yam & dats what I yam!"

It’s important to know what you are. Or, as Clint Eastwood said in Magnum Force- a man has got to know his limitations

 

[TexLaw]

I got into this a good deal when I was younger. I did the extended Myers-Briggs (a number of times, actually), enneagram, and also Johnson O'Connor aptitude testing. All were fascinating and really did give me some valuable insight into myself. The better you understand yourself, the better you are able to deal with the world around you. Knowing where you are coming from and where others might be coming from, you're better enabled to work with others (especially those who do not share that understanding).

For the Myers-Briggs, I typically come up INTP, but it does vary a little because I also tend to be right on the E/I line and P/J line. I'm quite decidedly N and T, though. Just that much insight has been very valuable over the thirty-something years I've known it.

I haven't looked at or thought much about my enneagram in some time, but I recall that I was pretty much dead even for types 8 and 5 and very strong on both. I need to head to my bookshelf and see if I still have it and figure out more where I am on that.

It's interesting that someone brought up the Jesuits with regard to the M-B test. Jesuits are big on Jungian psychology. I went to a Catholic high school, and one of my 11th grade teachers was a Jesuit priest. He actually had the whole class take an abbreviated M-B test to facilitate a discussion about personality traits and differences and how to deal with them. Everyone got a kick out of it and learned a great deal. I was so taken that I visited him in his office to discuss it further. He's the one that first gave me the extended M-B. I thoroughly enjoyed those conversations.

 

[The Knize]

It based on a theory of personality of the folks who put it together, Mssrs. Myers and Briggs,

My bad. That would be Ms. Myers and Ms. Briggs, a mother-daughter team, neither of whom had any education or training in psychology, but seem to have had some involvement in business consulting. Apparently, they read Carl Jung. He was directly involved. The Wikipedia article is under the heading "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator," and, as I said before, my impression is that it is pretty good for anyone interested in this topic. The links to individual bios of Myers and Briggs are interesting, too.

I think all of this stuff is worth thinking about. I just would not take Myers-Briggs as gospel on human personality, even though a lot of business consultants have made a lot of money giving this test and applying the results over the years.

Interesting that the Jesuits put stock in the M-B. Jung was, of course, a giant in the field of psychology and personality. There are lots of Jungian psychologists and institutes around. I wonder what they think of the M-B.

 

[BigFoot]

I have also taken the DISC. I remember my I was really high. Other than that I have no clue.