how do you all know what percent i,n,t or p you are?

[Shai Gar]

ive looked around but i dont know where to find it, is it an online test that shows you? help me please.

[Edmond Zedo]

I can help you in a different way. The percentages are meaningless. No test is reliable enough alone to be trusted. Those percentages are based on the questions you answered pertaining to each scale. The questions were designed to hopefully show a preference, not to construct a model of how far you lean to one side. It irritates me that online tests show people that percentage, because it is so often considered relevant.

[Shai Gar]

thank you

[Helios]

my number are always about the same, the ones I use are randon to the moment I took the test, but typical of what I get

[Lee]

I can help you in a different way. The percentages are meaningless. No test is reliable enough alone to be trusted. Those percentages are based on the questions you answered pertaining to each scale. The questions were designed to hopefully show a preference, not to construct a model of how far you lean to one side. It irritates me that online tests show people that percentage, because it is so often considered relevant.

Exactly!

It annoys me too.

[Warrior413]

That warrants a sig change. I think the main importance is whether it's under maybe 10%, or another margin of error.

[MacGuffin]

I think anyone that looks at the percentages as some sort of hard-line rule is a fool.

They are merely guideposts. If you are near 100% in one category it merely means you are probably on the extreme end of that category.

[booyalab]

It is dumb. How can you quantify it like that? I mean sure, some introverts are closer to the ambivert boundary than others, but in a test that would measure percentages...the basis of comparing #s of one type of answer over another is so arbitrary. It would be accurate if someone had multiple personalities and maybe alternated between different personas when answering the questions.

[Arioch]

I think anyone that looks at the percentages as some sort of hard-line rule is a fool.

They are merely guideposts. If you are near 100% in one category it merely means you are probably on the extreme end of that category.

Actually more often then not the percentage just measures how sure you are that your a I or whatnot. Not how much you are of a certain function. This makes sense because INTP is actually just a way of saying what functions you have and in what order.

Therefor one can not say that one has a very strong N (for example) but rather that ones Ne is very well developed

[Phenylethylene]

I believe the percentages do serve a purpose, in a somewhat seperate way than the four letter score. If the type is an indicator of the inner workings of the mind in regards to personality, then the percentages can serve as an indicator to external behaviors in a concise fashion, since that tends to be what many tests base their results on.

For example, with I/E, the percentage itself may be largely irrelevant when determining whether an individual prefers their energy to flow to the internal world or external world. We can, however, use the percentage score to makes estimates on how often one may choose to, say, socialize. This is why I report mine in my signature.

[booyalab]

I believe the percentages do serve a purpose, in a somewhat seperate way than the four letter score. If the type is an indicator of the inner workings of the mind in regards to personality, then the percentages can serve as an indicator to external behaviors in a concise fashion, since that tends to be what many tests base their results on.

For example, with I/E, the percentage itself may be largely irrelevant when determining whether an individual prefers their energy to flow to the internal world or external world. We can, however, use the percentage score to makes estimates on how often one may choose to, say, socialize. This is why I report mine in my signature.

but people don't choose their answers based on an impeccable knowledge of their behavioral averages. "oh this seems kinda right...this is sometimes right.." and people will alternate between extremes because they have a bad memory, not because they have comprehensive set of data to draw from, or they could be in a weird mood, or their personality can affect what types of answers they choose (other things besides the substance of the answer), etc.

[Phenylethylene]

Certainly. In that line of thinking, we could also take this to an extreme and say that the four letter code is also too subjective and thus meaningless. I have taken the humanmetrics test several times, as I imagine many of us have, and I find that my scores don't tend to change too much. Perhaps the scores in my signature indicate a higher precision than actually exists and I could have rounded off to tens, but they are certainly characteristic. If my environment were to change significantly, I would probably receive different percentage values, but these would still be an indicator of my likely behaviors at that time in that environment.

In short, I understand what you and others are saying about the percentages, but they don't bother me. In fact, I appreciate the extra speculation the percentage scores can fuel. I don't fixate on them or place extra importance in them -- they're just bonus content for thought.

[cjs55]

I agree. When I had percentages in my sig, I had simply used my own mind to come up with them, no online test. Much more accurate, but still obviously not entirely 'correct' (as if percentages could be correct in this case)

That said, I got rid of them because Zedo's 100%s scared me straight!

YOU ARE AN INTP! (no more, no less)

Of course thats bullshit, but there's a bit of truth to it, so I decided that I'm too undecided about the whole thing to leave em down there.

I do like having 5w4 SX down there though, as I find that personality desciption to fit me even better than INTP.

[Geoff]

When I was assessed for the MBTI (and this took a couple of days on and off from a qualified person over a couple of away days) I was told that it is only meaningful when you are naive to the meaning.
Those of you taking the tests multiple times, or looking for a percentage test now, isnt it a bit difficult to be objective? If the question says "Do you prefer to ignore logical arguments?" aren't you going to answer "NO!" because you already know what that means in relation to MBTI, and that you are INTP rather than fooling yourself you dont and thinking carefully about the answer.
-Geoff

[Phenylethylene]

Those of you taking the tests multiple times...isnt it a bit difficult to be objective?

No. In fact, just the opposite. If I were to attempt to "beat" the test, I would expect that my scores would be much more polarized -- e.g. 100% 100% 100% 100%.

[songbird36]

Perhaps playing the devil's advocate here, I actually find the percentage scores quite useful. Although I'm not sure what my own are (as I haven't taken an administered test recently) I would suspect that I am "mildly I", "strongly N", "mildly T" and strongly "J". The I and T factors have moderated in me as I have got older.

And what is interesting to me is that I have noticed that the extremity of people's MBTI preferences seems to correlate quite closely with their age, as reported on this sit. Younger people tend to have more extreme MBTI percentages, and also, tend to express more extreme views on issues that correlate with those percentage preferences.

So I find on here that the percentage scores provide a reasonably accurate guide as to how a person is likely to respond on a particular issue that has a link to MBTI preferences.

[misutii]

I agree with songbird. A person who averages a 60 for I tends to act outwardly different than a person who scores a 90. As well someone who is closer to borderline F will gravitate more towards enneagram 4 ive tended to notice. That's why I post my scores..... and it also shows what I think is correct.. but maybe liable to change. and if im stupid for jotting down my percentages then you are stupid for not, in the end everything is relative

[QrioCT]

The percentages are meaningless. No test is reliable enough alone to be trusted. Those percentages are based on the questions you answered pertaining to each scale. The questions were designed to hopefully show a preference, not to construct a model of how far you lean to one side. It irritates me that online tests show people that percentage, because it is so often considered relevant.

in the original MBTI, your P actually comes with your N(*extroverted* intuition) and T(*introverted* thinking). the percentages might show to a certain degree how overlapped your functions are(read MBTI/Jung if you dont know what im talking about) but yes they dont make a lot of sense.

i have a question: how can someone be on the border of T/F for IN*P, because T/F are the first and the last function? for EN*Ps it might be understandable because their T/F are right next to each other, but can your primary introverted T/F really be a "mixture"?

[misutii]

in the original MBTI, your P actually comes with your N(*extroverted* intuition) and T(*introverted* thinking). the percentages might show to a certain degree how overlapped your functions are(read MBTI/Jung if you dont know what im talking about) but yes they dont make a lot of sense.

i have a question: how can someone be on the border of T/F for IN*P, because T/F are the first and the last function? for EN*Ps it might be understandable because their T/F are right next to each other, but can your primary introverted T/F really be a "mixture"?

i think it's more a matter of for example.... an INFP who is borderline T being able to better communicate + think logically than an all out INFP and an INTP borderline F being more prone to emotional episodes and idealism vs. an all out INTP.......... well atleast that's how I understand it

edit: just to add, my T is not very high whenever I take the test and this is shown in my character. I would consider myself more of a romantic intp in a confusing way (i know romantic intp wtf? ahhh) but whatever. I'd imagine a person having more T as seeming colder and less affectionate to those they love, probably finding things like romance as stupid (and as romance is defined by most SJs and SPs i agree its stupid)

[earwax]

YOU ARE AN INTP! (no more, no less)

Could you poke a few airholes in the top of my box before you close the lid?

[Edmond Zedo]

in the original MBTI, your P actually comes with your N(*extroverted* intuition) and T(*introverted* thinking). the percentages might show to a certain degree how overlapped your functions are(read MBTI/Jung if you dont know what im talking about) but yes they dont make a lot of sense.

i have a question: how can someone be on the border of T/F for IN*P, because T/F are the first and the last function? for EN*Ps it might be understandable because their T/F are right next to each other, but can your primary introverted T/F really be a "mixture"?
Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. Good one!

The reason why people wrongly think they're INxP is that they're using the wrong criteria. They SHOULD read Jung's descriptions of The Intraverted Thinking type and The Intraverted Feeling type. It should be clear as an unmuddied lake vs. roundabout test questions.

On the other hand, I don't consider there to be ultra-clean lines between types when translating among Jung, MBTI, and Socionics. I read Intraverted Thinking and Intraverted Intuiting, and I know I'm split between them to a degree. Socionics has INTps as Introverted Intuiting, unlike MBTI, but that doesn't change the fact that I perceive, and am more socionics INTp than INTj. I fit best into the MBTI INTP description overall. Ti-Ne-Si-Fe.