Meyers Briggs and SOF
 

Hello Sirs,

Yesterday my parents sat me down and made me take a Meyers Briggs personality test in an attempt to "Help me find my path" because dislike my decision to join the military and are trying to find something else that I might be interested in. I had never heard of this type of test before so I started researching it a little bit and it struck me that this could possibly be used to categorize soldiers and as a potential screening tool for soldiers. One thing that I have been musing over for quite some time is that given the fact that there is such a wide variety of SOF in the Armed Forces what makes certain people choose to pursue a career in one over the other. Everyone has their own varying reasons for picking their career path i'm sure, however I began to wonder if different SOF were simply better fits for different personality types. So my question you is which personality types to you would seem to fit the different SOF such as Special Forces, Air force PJs, Seals, Rangers, and Combat Controllers.

Here is a list of the personality types scroll down and mouse over them to get a brief overview of each.

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-p...e/mbti-basics/


I did some searching and came across this thread back from 2009. The overwhelming result from this seemed to point to SF guys being INTJ's.

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...+briggs&page=2

It's not always the test score, it's what your willing to do with what you have.

We have been taking that test and other similar tests for years. This is how I explained it to some regular Army senior NCOs awhile back. We (SF) want Soldiers that are twisted enough to do the job that is required of them...but not so twisted that we then have to explain their actions on the 6:00 news. It's a balancing act. For the most part we do well...occasionally one slips through and it's news at the national level.

Reminds me of that "we won't have any Crazy Harold running around" video.


NO MORE CRAZY HAROLD!!

http://professionalsoldiers.com/foru...highlight=INTJ
If you ain't INTJ you ain't . . .

This should be the least of your worries.

TR

Or one -or more- slips thru who need to be on testosterone replacement therapy to get their nuts to drop...

Crip

Im not worried about it at all. Simply more of a curiosity. What really peaked my interest on this was the fact that of my HS class of 49 guys we have two who are now post buds, one in the 75th, one going through the selection course in the near future, and one in PJ training. We all have very similar backgrounds yet for some reason we all chose different paths.

We often place too much emphasis on tests and testing. Try this one - it only has four questions and tells us whether or not you are qualified to be a "QP". The questions are not that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
(Tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.)

2. How do you put an elephant into the refrigerator?
(Tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.)

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
(Tests your memory.)

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?
(Tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.)

Good luck!

Richard :munchin

** Let me know when you want the answers.

.

Apparently following simple instructions was not stressed.

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...58&postcount=1

WE:

You should be picking up advice, not passing it out just yet.

Crip

This piques my interest...

1. Open door, place giraffe in refrigerator, close door
2. Open door, remove giraffe, place elephant in refrigerator, close door
3. The elephant
4. Open door, remove elephant, place elephant in river, use refrigerator as raft

You scored a 75.

Richard :munchin

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
(Tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.)
1. Kill giraffe, butcher, wrap, stack neatly, close door.

2. How do you put an elephant into the refrigerator?
(Tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.)
2. Open door, cook and eat giraffe steaks. Kill elephant, butcher, wrap, stack neatly, close door.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
(tests your memory.)
3. Me, I'm not going. The lion king will be pissed I ate all the giraffe

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?
(Tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.)
4. Manage by delegating . . . YOU can do it.

You can reapply at a later date when all of your Rx meds are out of your system; in the meantime, you should consider going to BUDS enroute to JSOC.

Richard :munchin

Normal people take no pride in being normal. Those of us two and three standard deviations from normal, enjoy the status of being abnormal. That is why we respond to the question of "how abnormal are you".

MBTI is not a “test”; there is no right or wrong. Recommend reading “Profiles of the 16 Personality Types” and “Still True to Type” to get context and a deeper understanding of the indicator. Both books were authored by William C. Jeffries who is an authority on MBTI and its application. Bill is a USMA grad and former member 5th SFG. He is retained and consults for all branches of service, government agencies, and many private organizations, such as the NY Yankees. As a student I had the honor of being “coined” by him in the middle of one of his lectures at Carnegie Mellon…it was a first…case of beer.

There is no single perfect or ideal “type” for SF. Also there are various versions of MBTI that you can take. The effective ones depict your true tendencies. You may be an “E” as viewed by others and you display outgoing behavior, but your true tendencies and desires may lean towards “I” and you would be more at ease as the silent one in the back of the room. The effective versions of the indicator will bring that out in the results.

I would be interested in

• Why did your parents use this test?
• What were the results of the test?
• How did your parents interpret the results and did they accept the conclusion?
• How did you interpret the results and did it support your decision to enlist?

As both of my parents were vets, this type of parental influence is foreign to me.

:munchin

Thank you for that Richard; I will enjoy passing this along to my 11yo grand-daughter. She is becoming quite the interesting young person. Then we can get her dad in the room and play the professionalsoldiers.com version of "Are you smarter than..." (Although after the "stick & shadow" tutorial in the backyard he might think she's piling on.)

My parents didn't force me to do the test I am 20 years old and they no longer have any real control over me. They simply asked me to take it and given that they are my parents and I love and respect them I took it to appease them. My parents used this test because they don't want me to put myself in harms way (join the military) I understand their concern but I have made up my mind about it and nothing they do or say will change that. They know that given my grades/college I attend that I could if I wanted to go to either law or medical school when I graduate and to them that it the MUCH more preferable line of work for me. I came out an INTP/J I guess the P and J were so borderline it gave me both. After completing the test it spit out along with my personality type a number of potential careers for me which is why they had me take the test. Im sorry if somehow this question seemed like it referred to me but my intention in asking it was more to try and gain a better understanding of the differences between the SOF soldiers as people I guess thats "The Thinker" in me coming out haha. I will try to make myself more clear in the future if I ask another question.

I've had several requests for the unofficially official answers, so here they are.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
(Tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.)
A: Open door, place giraffe in refrigerator, close door.

2. How do you put an elephant into the refrigerator?
(Tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.)
A: Open door, take out giraffe, place elephant in refrigerator, close door.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
(Tests your memory.)
A: The elephant; he's in the refrigerator.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?
(Tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.)
A: Simply swim the river because the crocodiles are attending the animal conference with all the animals (except the elephant).

Richard :munchin

TMI..

I ask because I was interested in the results,, not you or your parents personal reasons.

And if you think the INTP/J results support your choice or support your parents disdain for the military?

Remember, as has been stated, there no pass/fail. The results are just a data point that may or may not be of some value in your decision process..

When I took the interview and found I was INTJ, it was long after most of my life decisions were make. But I was able to go back and see that some if not most of the attributes were in fact accurate,, FOR ME..

I am still ambivalent about mental test such as the MBTI. I don't know if they alter perception in a positive manner.

PS: If you post again,, stop with the personalization..

:munchin

INTJ:
Thomas Edison
Richard Nixon
Dick Cheney
Condoleezza Rice
Roslyn Carter
Al Gore
Katherine Hepburn
Tommy Lee Jones
Jack Welsh
David Letterman
Katie Couric

INTP:
Albert Einstein
Carl Jung
Woodrow Wilson
David Keirsey
Immanuel Kant
Abraham Lincoln
Meryl Streep
Bob Newhart
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

It’s a very diverse range of careers and the paths taken to get there I’d say.

Chuckarthy, this is solid advice from Bill and something you should take to heart. The “world is your oyster”, regardless of your personality type. Many men and women on this board have sacrificed and served our Nation either in uniform, as a family member, in public service, or as a proactive and supportive citizen to ensure we continue to live in a free country where we have the opportunity to achieve…whether that is serving in the Armed Forces, or becoming an MD. Pick a path, set your sights and just do it to the best of your ability! Good luck!

That IS essentially what I said.

If you need a test to tell you what career path you should follow, you definitely should join the Marines.

AAR

Subject #1: 11-yo grand-daughter (gd), home-schooled, asked that responses be given orally rather than written, having hurt her wrist learning valuable lesson in tree-climbing which she will no doubt apply later. Her father was isolated from the backporch test facility, listening to incredible distracting racket as neighbor down the street wrestled with tiller to get his wife's garden in. Interest in testing this subject piqued by previous discussion awhile back during Easter gathering regarding the importance & specificity of words; to wit, we established that words like 'some' or 'many' were often insufficient, but if she told her 4-yo male cousin to "put ALL the eggs in the blue basket" the task was defined and easily completed. Responses follow:

1. "I guess I must have a pretty big refrigerator so I would just open the door and put him in."

2. (furrowed brow) "I suppose... if we're talking about the same refrigerator then I have to let the giraffe out first and then I can put the elephant in."

3. "Well, the elephant 'cause he's still in that refrigerator."

4. "I guess I would just distract them & swim really fast."

4th response did not meet standard; I give her a 75, with some unofficial pride at least for her approach (distract, then execute). She will be going bass fishing with partner & self and there will be more land-nav/crawling the hunting property for her. She has also expressed interest in Morse; I might have to find her one of my spare J-37's to go with the practice oscillator sitting on the bench.

Subject #2: Subject #1's dad, mid-30's, very in-demand savvy computer tech, smart fellow, all-around good-guy, public education, incl post-secondary.

1. "Well, I suppose you could make the word 'giraffe' out of 'refrigerator'."
At this point I paused the test and pointed out:

- there are insufficient characters in the 2nd word to correctly spell the first,
- I don't currently have in the house a trigraph, OTP, or a Dell puzzle book and,
- reread the instructions, including the actual aspect being tested, take a deep breath, and begin again. This is your mulligan.

1. "I would butcher him up and put him in the fridge."

2. "Ditto."

3. "Well, the Lion; technically he's CONVENING the conference, so he's not attending."

4. "A boat."

Maintaining best smiling objective demeanor, they were thanked (and gd hugged) and sent on their way to plant strawberries. One calls me 'papa' while the other calls me a curmudgeon; I am livin' large.

Thanks again, Richard.
[BT] [AR] K

1) tie the giraffe up when he is asleep and put him in.

2) wouldnt do that refirigarator wouldnt suffice,would need a meat freezer for the big fella.

3)the giraffe he is in my refrigarator.

4) would come with a big supply of fish and keep throwing it to the crocs while crossing and after crossing run the fastest ever sprint.

You need to move as far away from your mommy and daddy as you can. Quickly.

A very good way to 'get away' from one's over-protective parents is by joining the military. :D

FWIW- I am INTP. When do I get to meet the twins?

Aragorn... I'll go with that. :D

Me and Gandalf? He is much too serious for me...

Interesting. Me too.

sometimes INTJ other times INTP. Frequently get into arguments with self. Good thing is one of us is sure to win. :D

So here's a question for you guys, is Batman INTJ or INTP? Is Bruce Wayne INTJ or INTP?