Myers-Briggs Testing; some thoughts

A little while ago, I underwent testing to determine my personality type according to the Myers-Briggs protocol. I did it as part of a university-based activity using a basic online tool, and then afterwards was interested enough to request a more in depth test which not only gave me my type, but where the various aspects of my personality sat on their respective continuua. I'd only ever undergone the test once before this, and I can't remember the result that test produced. These later tests designated me as an ISTJ, or Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging type. This blog will concern a bit of analysis and some thoughts concerning this result.

As far as my career goes, the little bit of reading that I've done on the subject points towards the fact that this particular personality type is what more 'traditional' librarians were, back in the day before the internet exploded and they became a much more diverse group. Nowadays, extroverted librarians do not seem to be uncommon, and every other aspect of our personalities is mutable in regards to the profession as well. This was interesting to me - not only did it show me that I wasn't too wide of the mark where my chosen career was concerned, but that I was also correct in predicting that the information sector had undergone a lot of changes in the last couple of decades.

Having said this, however, I keep coming back to the idea that the personality type test isn't meant to be some iron-clad set of rules for how someone behaves, nor is it a restriction to who can work as what. I'm sure that even in the period where my personality type was apparently the dominant one in the librarian profession, there would still have been a wide variety of personality types present there as well. Likewise, just because I'm an introvert doesn't mean that I can't function in group settings or even get into a bit of public speaking. I can even be the life of the party when I have to be (and sometimes, I've had to be).

It occurs to me that this personality type testing is only meant to give you a fairly basic idea of what your preferences are in relation to others. Introverts are capable of extroversion, and vice-versa - but for the purposes of what they actually like to do, I get the feeling that the test has helped me gain a better understanding of that. I have eschewed the test until now because I was under the impression it was an exercise in pigeon-holing, and this didn't sit well with me.

Even though I think that taking this test has been a net win for me in terms of a bit of self-discovery, I'm also conscious of its shortcomings. A cursory glance around the internet will reveal that the test itself is decidedly unscientific - I even got the feeling it was considering that most of the questions one answers to prompt a result are based purely on personal perceptions. Though based heavily on the work of Carl Jung, the test doesn't appear to be particularly provable as fact. I also wonder how many people are influenced by the test to act a certain way once they find out their type. Though it's a useful piece of information to know about oneself, it seems care needs to be exercised when figuring out exactly how useful it is.

For me, I am taking my result at face value, calling it my preference, and moving forward as I would have before I found it out anyway. Has anyone else got a take on this sort of test?