Reply #34: The problem with personality typing [View All]

[TrogL]

such as Myers-Brigss, is that it has the potential for people use the same methodology as racism.

I'm a musician and at one point I was spending a lot of time with the Carribean community. Most were black, most had a good sense of rhythm, most danced well. I could make the case for "black people have rhythm".

Here's the problem. There was no way of predicting the rhythmic aptitude of the next black person walking through the door. We had one black dude who would get drunk, insist upon getting up on stage and doing something he called "dancing" and the rest of us called "get off the fucking stage - moron".

The sixteen classifications of Myers-Briggs, especially hanging names off them can lead to the same abuses. Several of the types mention being "creative". Once labelled with that type, one could easily get told, "oh, you're such-and-such a type so you must be creative that means you must be a really good painter, could you do my portrait?"

Yes, I'm INTX, I'm intensively creative musicially but put me in front of a canvas and a kindergartener's got me beat.