Big Brother aka Google fed me the following article in my news feed today:
INTJ Personality: 5 Traits, Strengths, Weaknesses & More
It is not surprising at one level as I tend to at least glance at articles related to science subjects, such as psychology. I am chalking it up to coincidence that it was an exact hit on my particular Briggs-Meyers personality type. I have to, otherwise the paranoia will be too much.
Years ago, when I was around 30, I took one of these tests in a more or less medical situation. I came out INTJ then – only 2% of the population falls in this rubric. I am not sure if personality types can change with time, with age. It makes sense that it could, but I am not a p-shrink type. I will say the description in the article does seem like the DSR I am currently familiar with.
Just a a point of reference here are some famous INTJs. I have no idea how they determined their personality type with most of these folks.
-
- C. S. Lewis
- Jane Austen
- Thomas Jefferson
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Colin Powell
- Isaac Newton
- Angela Lansbury
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Isaac Asimov
- Karl Marx
- And so many more…
Just as an aside, when I worked in Tulsa at Central & Southwest Services tremors were going through the organization as American Electric Power was in the process of “buying” us out. In an attempt to keep employees in place, the organization began employee development programs, touchy-feely seminars meant to make us feel good about ourselves. One such exercise involved getting all the programmers from my extended department, and having us take what was essentially a scaled down Briggs-Meyers Personality test. Without an exception all us programmers came out, INTJ. The exception was the departmental manager, who I do not think had a technical bone in his body. I am not remembering how he charted, but not INTJ as it made an impression on all of us who had charted the same.
I could go on a bit of a riff of why so many programmers fall into this personality type, but spare you I shall.
The reality was that it was the healthy bonuses that CSW started paying us to not jump ship that kept most of us there, not the touchy-feely seminars.
And so it goes.