Can your personality be summed up in just five letters? That’s what the Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI), a questionnaire based on Dr. Carl Jung’s “Psychological Types,” attempts to do. 16Personalities, a platform that offers MBTI testing, categorized me as an INTP-T, or a Turbulent Logician. Each letter summarizes a personality trait: mind (introverted or extraverted), energy (intuitive or observant), nature (thinking or feeling), tactics (judging or prospecting) and identity (assertive or turbulent).  

Introverted (I)

“Introverted individuals prefer solitary activities and get exhausted by social interaction. They tend to be quite sensitive to external stimulation (e.g. sound, sight or smell) in general.”

While many assume that being an introvert means shying away from interactions with others, being introverted doesn’t necessarily mean being antisocial, but rather being more fulfilled by solitary activities than social activities. 

I feel perfectly satisfied reading a book or watching a movie on a Friday night alone instead of going out with friends. I also enjoy golf, which is more of a solitary sport rather than a team one, although it’s fun to play with friends. I don’t particularly have a large social circle, but I enjoy meaningful connections with the small group of friends I have. These are all examples of introversion that fit my personality well.

Intuitive (N)

“Intuitive individuals are very imaginative, open-minded and curious. They prefer novelty over stability and focus on hidden meanings and future possibilities.”

I can’t lie, this is a 50/50 situation because of the fact that I have extreme anxiety. On one hand, I am extremely uncomfortable with the unknown, relishing the idea of stability and rigidity to minimize risk. On the other hand, I hate being bored.

For example, working as an accountant would probably provide great stability, but I dread the idea of working a job that isn’t intellectually stimulating — I would prefer not to have a boring and repetitive job. That’s why I am more inclined to work in fields such as research or journalism. This is where the trait of preferring novelty might fit me. However, I wouldn’t drop out of college even if I really wanted to try a different path, because I still value stability and rigor and fear things I can’t predict or control. 

Thinking (T)

“Thinking individuals focus on objectivity and rationality, prioritizing logic over emotions. They tend to hide their feelings and see efficiency as more important than cooperation.”

Although this makes me sound robotic, I think this is 75% accurate. I can often let emotions take over in certain social situations or episodes of distress, but I find it normally leads to disaster. When I’m able, I prefer strategizing logical solutions. This can be efficient, but it isn’t always a good thing. For example, if I’m in a group project, I often feel the urge to finish everyone’s work for the sake of efficiency if I think they’re falling behind, even though that might not be the wisest solution. 

Prospecting (P)

“Prospecting individuals are very good at improvising and spotting opportunities. They tend to be flexible, relaxed nonconformists who prefer keeping their options open.”

I have never seen anything more wrong than this. I am not flexible, relaxed or a nonconformist. I have a Type A personality — perfectionistic, impatient, workaholic — and am obsessed with a straightforward path to success. This is a source of multiple anxiety disorders which took over my life for a long time, so I’m not sure how the MBTI came to this conclusion. Either way, I think the “Judging” trait fits me better. I “value clarity, predictability and closure” much more than I do spontaneity. Perhaps I was being idealistic when I took the test. 🙁

Turbulent (T)

“Turbulent (-T) individuals are self-conscious and sensitive to stress. They are likely to experience a wide range of emotions and to be success-driven, perfectionistic and eager to improve.”

Talk about saving the best for last! Thank you, Myers and Briggs, for summing up my entire personality. There’s not much more I can say but that this captures some of the less pleasing parts of my disposition to a tee — but I agree with the test on this part. I’m a control freak and can get extremely self-conscious and stressed out. I’m aware I also tend to sweat the little things and be indecisive.

Out of the five traits, I found three to be accurate — does this mean the MBTI works? The truth is, it doesn’t really matter because after a little Wikipedia diving, I found out that the creators of the MBTI —  Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers — weren’t even psychologists! Most of the studies touting the validity of the test were conducted for the Myers-Briggs Foundation, which poses a conflict of interest (there have been no significant independent studies about the test’s validity). 

So while it’s fun to fool around with personality tests, don’t take them too seriously. They’re probably just pseudoscience after all.