Subject:
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Re: Is this an overreaction and a violation of rights?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 24 Sep 2002 17:28:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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652 times
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Dave Schuler wrote:
> Ah, but then you've fallen into the trap already! The whole point of
> these Myers-Briggs (or Voigt-Kampf, if you prefer) tests is that they're
> designed to yield apparently "correct" personality assessments, no matter
> how the answers come out. However, since the questions are subjective and
> since you determine for yourself how "correct" the evaluation is, there's no
> objective validity at all. People tend to accept even very vague and
> non-specific characterizations if they seem generally accurate, and people
> also tend to ignore or disregard characterizations that are perceived as
> less accurate.
I think we have to understand when subjective measurements are being
used, but I don't think we need to reject them. Food preferences are
totally subjective, but should someone ignore them because they don't
have the objective data on why they hate chocolate and love broccoli? On
the other hand, one shouldn't ignore more objective data such as
allergies and calories and such. I like onions, but I don't eat them
anymore because every time I do, I stay awake all night with my stomach
churning.
Psychology is based almost exclusively on subjective measurements.
Should we completely reject it and treat everyone the same no matter
what they appear to prefer? I think not. I'd have to see a lot better
reasons to ignore the MBTI before completely dismissing it. While it
uses subjective questions, they are at least questions asking me MY
preferences in a variety of situations. It seems likely to be valid to
predict my reactions to other situations based on my reactions to one
set.
> The really scandalous thing is that this test is apparently administered
> by a number of schools as a means of assessing a person's aptitude and
> career outlook! Those same schools would do just as well to employ a bunch
> of palm-readers and entrail-diviners!
> The only thing the test can really tell you is what you want to hear.
> Well, it might also be a reminder to approach these pseudoscientific
> evaluations with a healthy dose of skepticism and a grain of salt!
I think it would be bad to chose a career based on a personality test.
On the other hand, it may be useful to know that most people who pursue
the career you are interested have a different personality type. Almost
all careers can benefit from people of varying personality types (you
need innovators, people who can meet schedules, etc.).
I think they key to anything like this is to use it as a tool, and like
any tool, constantly examine yourself to see if you are using the tool
appropriately. And that goes for all tools, even pretty objective ones
like hammers.
Frank
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