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It's a bit of a shame that the article goes about the history instead of the science. Personality is something that psychologists study, but they use the five-f
by chillacy 8y ago
It's a bit of a shame that the article goes about the history instead of the science. Personality is something that psychologists study, but they use the five-factor model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits
One big problem preventing the five factor model from catching on is that the five factor model seems to have value judgements built in (agreeableness friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached seems to imply that it is a good thing, so a lack of it would be bad), whereas MBTI makes both ends of the spectrum sound positive (in Thinking vs Feeling, Thinking sounds equally good, vs challenging/detached).
Another facet is that MBTI assumes bimodal distributions, but as a result they can come up with catchy characters like "The Debater" and "The Entertainer" which five-factor doesn't do.
As a result, people tend to talk MBTI, even among folks who know about the five factor model, just because it's easier. It has some amount of predictive power, much better than a horoscope or tarot cards or blood type or astrology, and the reality is that people talk about that stuff all the time.
- phoschore 8y agoYeah, the big five personality traits fall apart just as easily if you start factoring in evil, yet productive activities. How does moral relativism play into being agreeable, organized, curious, confident and outgoing? An enterprising individual interested in hooking as many people as possible on heroin? A strong individual that leads Germany out of the economic peril of crushing war debt? Being superficially agreeable, and conscientious, yet knowingly sabotaging the people you agree with, to their face? Or maybe agreeing with some people, but not with you? Outgoing, but only when met by individuals that meet certain criteria? Curious and inventive, when torturing animals? Organized, while incarcerating inmates in a private prison? Sounds like a great recipe for being productive at work, just so long as you don't think to deeply about the work being done.
- quintiles 8y agoIt doesn’t only need to be dominant, sociopathic traits expressed as the positive aspects of The Big Five trait combinations. You can be confindent in your own humility, dignified while on a dog leash. Open to eating another performer’s feces on a livestreamed webcam feed. Curious about intraveinously shooting speedballs. Organized, about giving away your life savings to a casino. Outgoing, in search of satisfying abuse at the hands of a talented mistress with a bullwhip, or while looking for more furry pals to engage in daiper play with.