I took child psychology in my sophomore year of college. The one thing I’ll never forget about that class is taking Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for the first time along with other personality and learning style tests. The result? ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). And I’ve tested ISTJ every time since then.
Even my daughter is into the personality test and came close with her guess that I was an ISFJ. She probably thought we were opposites since she’s an ENTP (Extroversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Perceiving). Introversion and extroversion don’t mean you’re shy or outgoing. Instead, they represent where you draw more energy from. Check out the 16 type descriptions. If you don’t know yours, this might give you a clue.
“The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life” at Lifehack introduces another test where you can learn more about yourself and multiple intelligences. This shows what areas we tend to easily understand and what areas are harder. The website explains, “For some of us it is relatively easy to understand how a flower grows but it is immensely difficult for us to understand and use a musical instrument. For others music might be easy but playing football is difficult.”
I test strong on intrapersonal and logical. Zilch on musical (no surprise). The only surprise is the linguistic score. These results reveal your stronger and weaker learning styles. For a good explanation of the intelligences, visit Family Education.
All of these assessments help us understand ourselves better and how you can better work with others once you figure out what they are. “The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life” gives an example of a teacher discussing the topic of “the law of supply and demand” and how the teacher can best reach a child from each of the different intelligences.
Fascinating stuff. Here’s another to check out: True Colors.
Have you ever taken a personality or style assessment? What was it? What did you learn?
And now for your weekly links …
Brain food …
- Grammar Lesson – The Mistake That Bugs Me the Most. Good explanation of objects and subjects.
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule. Excellent tips that most people can implement to manage social media time.
- 5 email newsletters worth reading. And of course, I recommend Professional Services Journal from InternetViZ. (Disclaimer: OK, so the guy behind the company is one of my first clients and I’m a contributor. Seriously, it aims to deliver valuable info professional services providers can use. Want an email newsletter? Contact Hank.)
- A World Map Created from Recycled Computer Parts. Geekingly cool.
- Free Summarizer. Shorten text in seconds. Couldn’t decide if this was brain food or fun stuff … you be the judge. [Link: Tweetsmarter]
- RecordSetter. Everyone can be the best at something. Here’s your chance to set a world record.
- Goodnight iPad. Yes, this is a take off of Goodnight Moon. I’d like the real thing, but this works for me!
- What are some of the most mind-blowing facts. A great discussion from Quora. Here’s one: “If you properly shuffle a deck of cards, in all likelihood, the resulting deck has never been seen before in the history of the world.”
Hi Meryl, I have taken the MB test a few times and come out right on the border between INTJ and INTP. What I’ve found most helpful about these tests is what they can tell you about someone else. We used them within work teams a couple times to help team members get a better idea of where their co-workers were coming from.
Brad, I think teams is a great use of these tools especially when they’re struggling. Good thing I took it so I know how to deal with myself 🙂
I heard about Myers-Briggs about five years ago. Now my son and daughter are taking them in school (10th and 8th grades). I think the first and best lesson is that people can be different without being worse or better. I usually test INTP but other letters have emerged.
For a real hoot, google-image your type with “poster” (as in motivational posters) such as … http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=ISTJ+poster
Bob, absolutely! They’re a fun way to learn about our differences and how we can work with them. They also show every type has good and bad points. Heh — in cleaning my organized files (!) (ack, I used !!!) I found prayers for each type. Here they are: http://www.bouldertherapist.com/html/humor/MentalHealthHumor/prayermyersbriggs.html
Hi Meryl!
There is a great (and free!) Color Style Personality Test by Mary Miscisin at:
http://www.ColorLingoPerosnalityTest.com
Enjoy!