Thanks Montanero
And thanks Naro for enriching the discussion.

I do believe the MBTI type changes a bit with age
I am now softer and warmer than I was in my younger years
A little bit like INFJ, but still predominantly INTJ, a wiser INTJ, I would say.

Reference to the 5 factor putting people in scales, some MBTI tests I have taken a few years back do in fact give you results like : 50% INTJ, 30% INFJ, 20% ISTJ. And I think it is a good way to describe a person more accurately.

Question to the psychological experts

Why is the MBTI so well known while the Big 5 Trait (or 5 factor model) is less mentioned around ?? Is it that MBTI is popular among the general public and the 5FM is more popular among professionals ???

You may have mentioned that a few years ago. If you did, I'm sorry for forgetting.

I do know you brought it up earlier this month in the "Castaway" thread.

Edit: I found it. It is at least one of the posts in which you mention this.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=256507#Post256507

Jeanette Isabelle

Chisel, that's sort of my take on this. The MBTI seems more in use in human resources and organizational situations. The evidence-based standard for psychometric instruments is more relaxed in those usages. In the Clinical and the Forensic arenas the empirical soundness of the instrument is more often challenged, so different instruments tend to be more accepted.

A major issue here, really (IMHO) is that our views about personality are constantly in flux. My perception is that there was a "medicalization" movement some years ago which popularized the concept of personality "disorders" and re-vitalized the notion of personality "types". With the last edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic manual the committee which was moving away from "disorders" and "types" ran into a political wall and was sidelined in favor of the "medical model" retaining the idea of "disorders" and "types." This wasn't science. It was ....something else.

Currently there is a very strong movement (which I believe will be codified in the next diagnostic manual) to the notion of "facets" or "traits"...newly named "dimensions." The Big 5, the NEO 5, and the PSY 5 all look at personality (even pathology) as a conglomeration of sliders along each of those scales.

Finally...(whew)... I have to defend my opinions and evaluations in highly contentious arenas (legal, Threat Assessment, etc.) and I never talk about personality types or personality disorders. Only varying degrees of the menu (of 5) of factors/traits.

Thanks NAro

Looks like my needs for analyzing people are much less critical than yours. Mostly I need to know people's personality in general in order to figure out how to best deal with them. Case in point, the narcissist personality. Although outside our discussion in this thread, and not part of the MBTI system, but learning about narcissism has greatly helped me sort things out and deal with things in much more relaxed manner. Very briefly, I was dealing with a covert narcissist and it made my thinking very blurred and blood pressure go through the roof. Now, it's behind me.

I would appreciate any further input about MBTI, and the Big 5 and where to use them best for an average guy.

Many thanks