Pat Patterson points to this cool little site the purports to perform a Myers-Briggs personality test on the URL for your blog. Running it on this blog reveals the not too terribly surprising result that I write like an unfeeling bastard. I mean look at this “brain usage” diagram:
Based on that I would make Commander Data look an emotional wreck.
The site also shows an androgynous picture of me as a blogger. Except it shows me with hair, using a Mac, and drinking Jolt cola; instead of the bald, Windows using, Diet Coke addict that I really am:
A Myers-Briggs test is very spooky if you have every taken one. They often appear very accurate to the test taker. But this appearance is really a combination of some basic obvious traits taken from the test answers (or in this case language analysis) with a heavy dose of confirmation bias. In other words, people are very prone to believe things that are on the balance slightly complimentary. Note that there is no Meyers-Briggs category that just says: “you suck in general”.
For a while it was fashionable at many companies to subject applicants to a Myers-Briggs test to help determine how well their personality would match the requirements for the job, buying the risible notion that 16 categories can adequately represent the range of human personality.
There I go, being INTP again.
Jeff,
I remain intrigued by your post today. The idea that language analysis performed by a tool can lead to a reasonably accurate conclusion about the author’s personality to me seems somewhat naive. Judging someone by the prose they write can only come from experience, trained intuition, and wide reading. The wider the better. No substitute. As far as I know, this is one thing computers still can’t do, which is to develop a true feel for prose.
That said, I wonder if the self-consciousness that leads a blogger to run a tool like this against his/her own blog might factor into the analysis itself.
Just some thoughts. I’ve sent typalizer link to several people I know would be interested so thanks for posting it.
Pingback: Tuesday Night has shpilkes @ ian glazer's tuesdaynight
It looks like I am all of the thinking types
http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/typealizer_analyzing_your_personality_through
I am feeling all emotional here .