Putting people in boxes limits our perception and experience of the world.
It makes it easier to tax or find excuses for some types of behavior we observe in others as we, in an insecure and untruthful way… shine up through contrast or find excuses for bias in our self. Categorizing is a safe model of predicting a secure comfortable outcome with the price of a labeling limitation. We like it when it’s done to us and it’s offering a part of our super ego perfect definition and we hate it when it shrinks our shade to a color we don’t have or even more… when we do have it and fail to admit it.
Personality tests are a great tool to get to know our self and discover the layers of people around us. They offer a matrix, a framework for paying attention to a deeper understanding of human nature and, paradoxically, staying awake from fake assumptions. They help us be more conscious of who we are, why we became the way we are and how to become who we want to be. Personality tests offer a language to connect with the otherness of the other. There is no such thing as a perfect test to find who we are. We can only use categorization to find the overlapping patterns of different boxes to define our unique model of being aware of others. Therefore, this is a great start to have deeper connections and a fluid artistic tool to model our experiences to a desired outcome. The better we know our self, the better is our decision making and creating our tribe by understanding group dynamics, so we can thrive together!
Myer Briggs Type Indicator is a great tool to play with, my favorite one being projective personality tests though, because they are based on ambiguous stimuli, offering a quick scan of raw real life content on a deeper level. The proficiency of the evaluator is in this case crucial to eliminate bias. Below are some links of websites and YouTube channels where you can find out more about MBTI profiles:
P.S.: The act of trying to discover who we are is actually a real way of modelling our self, as we can never define a constant art in progress! So… just out of curiosity, what’s your box?
