Personality types of sailors

[SpillTheWine]

To write that the Meyers Briggs is discredited, meaningless, misleading, (all show up on the first page of a Google search) misses the point entirely.

It's an assessment tool, not a theory. And the field is Psychology, not math. So you have a soft tool in a soft discipline in a country that believes in Disney, Chemtrails, and that anyone can be President.

The MB assessment is very useful to anyone who understands what the assessment is. No doubt a Fluke Meter is crap when you think it's gonna check your tire pressure and are greatly disappointed. Same for people who take the test and don't get their bias reinforced about how truly special and exceptional they are. Unfortunately, the test doesn't measure self-awareness.

There are several outstanding uses for the MB assessment. I'll offer one that is perfectly useful today. When anyone is looking for a job some of the most difficult elements to master are the resume, and the cover letters that change a bit depending on the employer. By giving yourself the MB you can get an idea as to how others might describe your strengths and skills, and more important, how will your personality fit in? Then you can look in the books that explain and expound on MB results to find the most complimentary words that describe your MB results. Those words and phrases can then populate your employment application documents.

As a guy who does Information Design for a living, I've used this to help a ton of my friends get work. I've had to fire a few people and I used the MB to help some find a better job! In the books describing the results, we can find more than enough phrases to describe a person in positive but realistic ways for an employer to appreciate. I cna find good writing that will give me options when I want to be a bit general and others for descriptions that can be checked in a metric. More important, the phrases feel true so they are easy for the applicant to support and explain.

I learned this use of the MB from a friend in Marin who makes a killing with life coaching, job recruiting, and executive placement.

One of the best watermen I've ever known once told me "A man is only as good as his tools." And the MB can be a very good tool for anyone willing to do the thinking and research on just what it's good for.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by SpillTheWine

To write that the Meyers Briggs is discredited, meaningless, misleading, (all show up on the first page of a Google search) misses the point entirely.

It's an assessment tool, not a theory. And the field is Psychology, not math. So you have a soft tool in a soft discipline in a country that believes in Disney, Chemtrails, and that anyone can be President.

The MB assessment is very useful to anyone who understands what the assessment is. No doubt a Fluke Meter is crap when you think it's gonna check your tire pressure and are greatly disappointed. Same for people who take the test and don't get their bias reinforced about how truly special and exceptional they are. Unfortunately, the test doesn't measure self-awareness….

Geeze, chill out buddy.

I’m the one that mentioned that the MB has been generally discredited. That’s b/c the research shows it isn’t very reliable. There’s a mountain of research on this topic. I’m sure you’re aware of this … I hope.

Here’s one quote from someone who has studied it:

"There's just no evidence behind it," says Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who's written about the shortcomings of the Myers-Briggs previously. "The characteristics measured by the test have almost no predictive power on how happy you'll be in a situation, how you'll perform at your job, or how happy you'll be in your marriage."

Still is fun though, but not to be taken seriously.

BTW, I’m Canadian. My country doesn’t have Disney, few believe in chemtrails, and no one can be President b/c we elect a Prime Minister (actually, we don’t elect him/her. We elect MPs.).

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by daletournier

In my early twenties i applied for the police force and got knocked back. I then did a couple of years at uni. During a psychology subject i was introduced to brigs myer personality profiling. By memory I was a ENFP, I remember it very clearly stated that I was not suitable for institutional based careers, this explained not getting into the police force as they were using the same personality profiling test. I must say the profiling was right! Im 100% not suited for that line of work or University..lol. I haven't worked for anyone since i was 25.

Hey! We're half way between CR and Wloo. Sail at lake Rathbun in the three seasons. Hoping to get south in the winters starting next year. Where are you sailing now on the 470?

[WingRyder]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Well, we all know Myers-Briggs has long been discredited. But it’s still fun. I’ll play

I actually swing two ways: ISTP or INTP (S/N: I like practical info, but I appreciate, and revel in, the Big Picture).

^^^ THIS! I had to do this for work about 20 years ago. It feels too much like a horoscope, loosely disguised as psychology.

Like you, the categories are too narrowly defined, and all paint too a rosy picture. I wonder what category Ted Bundy would be in?

FWIW, I would consider myself to be ISTJ, with an eye on the big picture.

[lk240]

FWIW, some thoughts on the matter from a psychologist.

The MBTI is based on Carl Jung's theory of personality types and like many psychological assessment tools has a role in the toolkit, especially for normal functioning personalities, but it is limited and obviously won't predict marital happiness or lots of other things.

I think one of the primary limits is that it dichotomizes personality features when they should be conceptualized on a continuum.

It does measure Introversion-Extraversion which has been recognized since ancient times as a fundamental personality trait that is quite important, very stable and measurable (as is neuroticism). It doesn't measure neuroticism.

The main contemporary model of personality used in clinical psychology is the NEO-PI. It has a great acronym for sailors to remember the personality factors: OCEAN. (A "factor" (based on factor analysis) is a fundamental dimension, generally stable personality feature, not situational behavior or tendency that varies considerably across situations).

You can take a version of it here and see your results:

https://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/IPIP/

It'd hypothesize that sailors generally are typically higher on Openness and tend to be lower on Neuroticism. Introversion/Extraversion would likely predict if you like to sail alone or with others (perhaps obvious). Most of the sailors I've met are quite agreeable but I'm sure there others who are not! Generally, I’d prefer to sail with people high on conscientiousness.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, RKay.



There is a Doctoral thesis (love the title) that examines the psychology of cruising & cruisers.

“Ocean cruising: a study of affirmative deviance” ~ by Dr. James Macbeth
➥ http://researchrepository.murdoch.ed.../3/02Whole.pdf

See also:

The Cultures of Alternative Mobilities: Routes Less Travelled ~ edited by Phillip Vannini
Chapter 10 "Solitude at sea or social sailing? The constitution and perception of the cruising community" ~​ Martina Kleinert
➥ https://books.google.ca/books?id=8Om...ailing&f=false

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by lk240

FWIW, some thoughts on the matter from a psychologist...

If history is a teacher your knowledge accrued through years of dedicated study and intimate experience, itself an experience resting on the shoulders of history, doesn't stand a chance with the sea lawyers who can dispatch with entire spectra of the human experience with a sentence or two based on their simplistic fanciful conclusions.

But of course this is job security.

[zeehag]

there are as many types of personalities as there are people sailing.
and there are those of us refusing to be pigeonholed. yaaaay boatie

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I actually swing two ways: ISTP or INTP (S/N: I like practical info, but I appreciate, and revel in, the Big Picture).

Ive seen that before
what it means is you are on the cusp between Sensory and iNtuitive

I used to have a copy of the test as it was positioned for commercial use. Friends I tested gave the same results either fresh and a little worried about the result, or quite drunk

Myers Briggs is a great team building tool as it is easy to understand and explains some of the minor things in working relationships. Like, why is she always late, why do those guys dress funny, why dont some people understand that the rules are the RULES! !

A place for everything and everything in its place

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by ZULU40

Ive seen that before
what it means is you are on the cusp between Sensory and iNtuitive

I used to have a copy of the test as it was positioned for commercial use. Friends I tested gave the same results either fresh and a little worried about the result, or quite drunk

Myers Briggs is a great team building tool as it is easy to understand and explains some of the minor things in working relationships. Like, why is she always late, why do those guys dress funny, why dont some people understand that the rules are the RULES! !

A place for everything and everything in its place

Ahh.. A yes man..
Rules are there to be broken or stretched.. else why have rules..

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Ahh.. A yes man..
Rules are there to be broken or stretched.. else why have rules..

its not that, its just that you dont get it and cant see sensible partition
and dont ever call me a f yes man

[sagablu]

I am an inconsiderate douche it seems. I came to this moment of self-realization when I loudly complained (trying to be funny to my girl) that I spent an outrageous $31US on diesel for the season. The fellow putting 220 gallons into his powerboat did not see the humor at all.

Kinda felt bad...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by ZULU40

its not that, its just that you dont get it and cant see sensible partition
and dont ever call me a f yes man

Oh I get it.. Would f conformist suit you better..

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Oh I get it.. Would f conformist suit you better..

what has always amazed me about this place is how the ppl bent on baiting you always get away with their BS, get you sanctioned when you respond in kind, and generally are smug shitters. They forget you supported them when no one else would, and dont give a damn about you because they pretend theyre funny

I made an opinionated statement not about you that doesnt require of this, withdraw

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by ZULU40

what has always amazed me about this place is how the ppl bent on baiting you always get away with their BS, get you sanctioned when you respond in kind, and generally are smug shitters. They forget you supported them when no one else would, and dont give a damn about you because they pretend theyre funny

I made an opinionated statement not about you that doesnt require of this, withdraw

If your that serious about a leg pull.. I withdraw..
And on reflection my apologies.. no malice intended..