Job Discussion Forums

[amnesty]

Anyone heard of the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator test? Anyone know what their type is? There are many websites where you can take the test and learn your personality type - just search "Myers-Briggs test".

I thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone's type is and also how much they enjoy teaching. I expect that teachers would be clustered within just a few types, but I don't know.

Also, does anyone know if there's a correlation between introversion and depression? There would seem to be, but I've never seen the two related before.

[blue jay]

Hi amnesty,

I took the Myers-Briggs Test & I'm INFP...meaning I'm introverted, intuitive, feeling & perceiving.

I don't know if my personality is suited to teaching. Perhaps being intuitive helps but because I'm introverted I thought maybe teaching wasn't that suitable for me.

However...I don't know how seriously you should take the test.

I'd be intereted in knowing if introversion & depression are linked as well...

blue jay

[frijolita]

Hi,

I remember that there was a Myers-briggs discussion on this forum a while ago. You might want to do search.

Ciao!
Frijolita

[nolefan]

here you go:

here's the thread [/url]

[Lynn]

INFJ

introvert
intuitve
feeling
judging

[moonraven]

Depression is anger turned inward. Probably there is a higher incidence of depression among introverts, as they are less likely to express their feelings to other people.

[moonraven]

I am also INFJ (Counselor Idealist)

I believe that the factor of Intuition is critical in a teacher--which does not mean that planning should go out the window (I have been teaching for many years, and never enter a classroom without a written plan)--it gives one a sense of the organic flow of the educational process, and which strategies are best for different groups of students.

The most important thing, however, is to know your students--not by their Jungian typology but whether they are visual, audial or kinesthetic learners. I have been making profiles of my groups for a number of years now, and feel that I have enough data to give this approximate breakdown of any group (at least in Western hemisphere):

65% Visual
25% Kinesthetic
10% Audial

It's easy to see where a lot of problems have developed, given that 80% of classrooms have teachers using a dominantly audial approach.

I am teaching a Learning Strategies class in Spanish that I developed for incoming university students--and they were given the task yesterday of coming up with solutions to the above problem. About half (Mexican students tend to be passive) came up with ways to adapt in order to learn, while the other half suggested initiating a dialog with the professor to accomodate the other learning styles that are the majority.

[Capergirl]

I'm ENFJ (a.k.a. "The Teacher").

extrovert
intuitive
feeling
judging

Am I the only extrovert here? I find that hard to believe!

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[moonraven]

Tim,
There is a certain situational factor in these Jungian typology profiles, but I have found it to be fairly small in scale. You included the raw numbers for each of your categories, and although we have the same typology, INFJ, your score for introversion is my score for feeling and vice-versa, so even within the same typology there are different profiles. I have checked my profile a number of times over about 25 years, and the first three elements have always been about the same--but the fourth element--in both of our cases, judging--has sometimes changed to preceiving. I attributed that to checking the profile when I had just started a new project or job.

I think in classroom situations, which are (or should be) dialectical, the factor of introversion or extroversion has less influence than the second and third factors. In this case, intuition and feeling become dominant modes in the classroom dynamic.

[droptheworld]

I had to take the test during an interview, i was scored ENJF, which is the teacher personality. Well, i didn't get the job, ha. anyways, it's an interesting test.

[tarzaninchina]

I'm a dude, so don't let the subject heading to my reply confuse you.

I'm ENTJ

- extrovert
- intuitive
- thinker
- judge

I agree that intuition is extremely inportant for a teacher. You need to have some umph when it comes to understanding your students and finding ways to impart understanding in general. Plus it's a great easer for lesson plans as you can go with the flow a little better, pending on your style of course.

My Thinker/Feeler scores are close, so it's hard to say which one is better. I'm not all that much for massive amounts of empathy, plus you gotta be able to think fast and be a bit diplomatic. In my opinion, you gotta have an edge with what to do in class and then go gung ho on insuring understanding. How, well, those are teaching techniques, wouldn't you say?

[chushki2]

Sorry to come to the discussion late.

The term "introvert" is commonly misunderstood. Introverts are not necessarily anti-social or shy. As far as I remember, "introvert" (as far as Meyers-Briggs type) refers to those who look inward for self worth rather than outward. Therefore, there is no reason for introverts to be more depressed than extroverts (unless one argues that the world is in control of extroverts and introverts are discriminated against, as was argued in a column I read in the Atlantic Monthly last year--sorry I don't have the date of publication right now). In my own experience (and of course this is an unprofessional subjective opinion) I've seen more depression in extroverts, because they rely on others to boost their self esteem.

For the record, I'm an

Introvert
Intuitive
Thinking (although my feeling score was almost as high)
Perceptive

(perhaps my extremely low score on "judging" is what makes it so painful for me to assign grades)

Plenty of teachers are introverted, this is not a drawback! Especially in language teaching, being able to listen is important as well as being eager to talk. Plus, most of us introverts have no trouble speaking as long as there is something worth saying.

[chushki2]

Ok, the article I mentioned is "Caring for Your Introvert"
Atlantic Monthly, March 2003
by Jonathan Rauch.

[zaneth]

Interesting comment about depression being anger turned inward. I'm an introvert, I'm depressed. I remember once meeting someone I'd known a few years before and they commented on how angry a person I'd been. This really surprised me.

Though an introvert, I still find myself rather dependent on my outside circumstances. If I can't travel, move, see new things, I have major problems. I feel other people's personalities sometimes impinge painfully on my inner world.

There are also different kinds of introverts.