Myers-Briggs Character Development

[kittysbecute]

Does anyone use Myers-Briggs to help with their character development?

I haven't really used it... but I desided to see if I could figure out what a few of my already developed characters were... so I figured out what two of my characters were. One an ESTJ, and one an ESTP.... I read the descriptions of those personality types... and it was amazing how they fit my characters personality and tendencies....

I'm going to work on figuring out my other characters Myers Briggs type... because it might be helpful a little bit.

 

[sunstruckdream]

Hm...I've actually never heard of it. Would you mind elaborating on what this method of development is? Thanks

 

[Tariel]

Myers-Briggs is a personality test that is often fairly accurate (but also has it's ridiculous moments). I haven't used it for my characters, but I have taken it myself. Apparently I have psychic powers

 

[kittysbecute]

Hm...I've actually never heard of it. Would you mind elaborating on what this method of development is? Thanks

Oh... it's a system of saying what kind of personality you have, and tendencies and stuff...

Introvert or Extrovert (I or E)
Intuition or Sensing (N or S)
Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
Perception or Judging (P or J)

It's kinda complex to understand I guess...


Maybe someone else could do a better explanation of what it is...

 

[sunstruckdream]

That's interesting...it actually made sense thus far, I think. Is there a certain criteria you're given for each of those categories, or is it a pretty general judgment made by the writer? Sorry for all the questions...

 

[kittysbecute]

That's interesting...it actually made sense thus far, I think. Is there a certain criteria you're given for each of those categories, or is it a pretty general judgment made by the writer? Sorry for all the questions...

Yeah there is different criteria for each of the letters... I actually have papers from a class I took a few years ago and I look at that... but there's probably some stuff online somewhere that explains each letter indepth.

Mine is INFP.

and I think this site has pretty good descriptions of the different types
http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html

but I only look at this when I already know a certain combination of letters because then it would be too much information.

There are 16 combinations in all.

of course there are times when each letter is on the boarderline... so it can be hard to label everyone with these... some of my characters are easier to label then others... I'm having a bit of trouble with a few of my introverted ones..

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

You fill out a form answering questions. The answers you give are weighted for one (or more) of the "seesaw" categories above. In the end, you'll wind up with and alphabetic designation like Kitty's ESTJ or ESTP.

Enhanced versions of the test also supply a numeric designation which rates the strength of each criteria. "E8", for example, would be a strong extrovert, while "I1" would be a hermit hiding in a deep cavern.

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

Hmmm... according the the Wikipedia article, less than 50% of those who re-take the test get the same results. It may be interesting to assign one set M-B values to a character at the beginning of a story, and another set at the story's conclusion.

 

[kittysbecute]

Hmmm... according the the Wikipedia article, less than 50% of those who re-take the test get the same results. It may be interesting to assign one set M-B values to a character at the beginning of a story, and another set at the story's conclusion.

but are they retaking the actual test or just the artificial online ones... most of the online ones don't work for me... I learned how to decipher which one I was in a class I had, and then I took the actual test and it confirmed it.

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

but are they retaking the actual test or just the artificial online ones... most of the online ones don't work for me... I learned how to decipher which one I was in a class I had, and then I took the actual test and it confirmed it.

The article lists the factoid under criticisms of the test, so I assume that it's only referring to those who take the bonafide survey.

 

[Kokopelli]

I've taken it for management classes, but never actually used it for character development. Would be a nice starting point to use though.

 

[kittysbecute]

I've taken it for management classes, but never actually used it for character development. Would be a nice starting point to use though.

It's kinda exciting because I sat down and worked on choicing the right letters for my main character because she was harder than some... and once I found the letters I looked it up online and it was amazing how well it described her. I'm thinking this may help a bit in understanding my characters more.... I think it's so amazing that I could make up characters and them be like real people like this...

My main character is an INTJ.

Here's the description I read about INTJ.
http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html

 

[Tariel]

I just did my two main characters, and I have an ISTP and an ESTJ - apparently these two personality types are "natural partners" in a relationship, which I could have told you about the characters without a personality test

 

[kittysbecute]

I just did my two main characters, and I have an ISTP and an ESTJ - apparently these two personality types are "natural partners" in a relationship, which I could have told you about the characters without a personality test

awesome

 

[Kokopelli]

Ok, I'll have to try this out. Where can one take the test? Me = computer illerate

 

[kittysbecute]

Ok, I'll have to try this out. Where can one take the test? Me = computer illerate

I took the test through my school, and they sent it in to get it scored.

But here's a similar one that's online that you can take
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

my sister took that online one a few days ago.... When I took it it gave me the wrong results though...

 

[Kokopelli]

I'll have to play around with it a bit, but it returned ISTP for my main, who is based off my own personality.

However, I think I might have to retake it as the description doesn't seem to fit me well.

 

[Radagast]

Does anyone use Myers-Briggs to help with their character development?

Wow, I never thought of that!

The best analysis is at www.typelogic.com

Things to remember: (1) the type measures preference, not skill (any list that says INFP's are good at .... but not good at .... is probably wrong)

(2) introverts often talk least about what's most important to them. So INFP's for example, are driven by feelings (F), but keep them inside. Their public face is intuition (N). From the typelogic site: "what the observer usually sees is creativity with implied good will." Definitely a start to character development there -- and not surprising, since the Myers-Briggs idea is taken from Jung, who in turn took some of his ideas from character types in fiction.

 

[Tariel]

I have a sudden desire to make a magic system based around the Myers-Briggs personality test.

 

[SkyArk17]

Myers-Briggs is initially wrong in many many ways. Try the Color Code and the Character Code by Dr. Hartman instead. I guarantee you that your characters in your stories will be a lot my clear to you and everyone else.