Type Casting

Posted by hornlo on November 26th, 2008 filed in Life-Society

Having seen Typealyzer[site is gone] mentioned on several blogs recently, I thought I’d give it a try. It purports to classify a blog’s writing style into one of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator types (INTP, ESTJ, etc.).

I didn’t really expect anything other than an amusing random result since there’s not enough original content here to be significant. However, I received the much more surprising response

Detected language Chinese (Traditional). The only supported languages are English and Swedish. But stay tuned, we are expanding.

Hmmph.

It’s been a while since I’ve played with personality tests (other than ones instigated from HR departments), but some quick Googling came up with the following. All this should be taken with a grain of salt; however it is interesting and entertaining.

Myers-Briggs

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator describes how one perceives the world and makes decisions, summarised in a four-letter code that indicates attitude (Extraversion / Introversion), perception (Sensing / iNtuition), judging (Thinking / Feeling), and lifestyle (Judgement / Perception). According to the The Gray-Wheelwright-Winer 4-letter Type Indicator Test, I’m an INTP, with the following scores

• E/I : 0/10
• S/N : 4/16
• T/F : 15/5
• J/P : 7/13

The most detailed description of an INTP is at An INTP Profile, but these are other interesting descriptions: INTP (Wikipedia), INTP Profile (Typelogic), and Description of an INTP (intp.org).

Keirsey

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is similar to the MBTI but takes a different interpretive approach, categorizing personalities into four temperaments: artisans, guardians, idealists, and rationals. According to the free test at Keirsey website, I’m a Rational. Under that, based on my MBTI code, I’m an Architect (short, longer).

Big 5

The Big Five personality traits are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness. The Internet Personality Inventory Survey is an Internet-based study of personality that offers an online test to determine one’s standing in the Big 5 dimensions. My profile (explained here) percentiles are

• extraversion: 1 (low)
• agreeableness: 21 (low)
• conscientiousness: 31 (average)
• emotional stability: 79 (high)
• openness: 92 (high)

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “That explains a lot!”.