MBTI, psychological profiling, and body language interpretation?

[Anonymous]

Anyone else on here into this kind of stuff? I can't be the only one who likes to read people. I find it rather useful to be able to know almost everything about them by their posture, the way they dress, how they speak, et cetera.

[Anonymous]

I work in the military within a combative role of Special Forces. Without giving the world away, some of the training under taken is interrigation and asset assessment and postive identification. Essentially, how to read a person as if they were a book and you had the ability to rip up or cover up the pages.
I have, ever since, been interested in the field. The skills I have used outside work, mostly without thought, just reaction, and I profile and read everyone I come into contact with. It is fascinating knowing that a person is high likely to be lying to you and still sit there and listen to the bullshit. BUT, techniques used are indicative of certain behaviours and mannerisms, DO NOT rely solely on them. Always a point to remember.

[Asker]

Hey, anonymous, sounds like you and I are from the same mold. What group were you with? PM me.

[Opinion Owner]

That's interesting, are you current or former?

[GamingMouse]

I would love to master the art of "reading" people. It always makes me feel safer if I can guess what kind of person I'm talking with by their gestures, movements, speaking and so on...

[inamorata]

INFJ here. =p
I was very into personality typing, but as time passed and I got more into it, I realised MBTI lives because of its ambiguity and abstractness. It plays itself up to be something precise, but it's not, nor can it ever be practical.

Psychological profiling is major guesswork. I don't know what to tell you about this one...

Body language interpretation is what we all do unconsciously every step of the way. Making it into a learned skill can be useful, but I didn't really see much of what I didn't already know.

I WAS into that kinda stuff, but not anymore. You can say that. =)

[Asker]

I never proposed that MBTI was accurate. Actually, in some of the comments I explicitly denied its accuracy, however it is still moderately useful.

[inamorata]

How so?

[Asker]

Simply for the purpose of making educated guesses. If I can loosely pinpoint a possible personality type based on MBTI, I can quite often make educated guesses as to other aspects of this person, and most of the time, it pays off.

[inamorata]

In my experience it doesn't at all.

Maybe that works for some other generalisations like making an educated guess how a person will conduct themselves based on their culture, gender, age, dress style... And those can be correct often enough to be considered.
But MBTI simply isn't.

It only causes you to get confused and constantly retype people as you get to know them more and experience their personality more. The brain circuitry of a person in charge of one's cognition is not a machine one can deconstruct based on a few of it's parts. The functions simply don't work like MBTI claims they do.

[Asker]

You aren't seeing where I'm going with this. Refer to my second and last comment towards Levin.

[inamorata]

Your response is that it relies heavily on intuition?
You do realise intuition is irrational? You do understand using it as a tool to understand people is merely a little better than blind guessing?

I don't see what you're saying at all. It seems like you're not saying anything.

[Asker]

Intuition and logic, and no, it isn't irrational. This is what I was meaning for you to look at.

"I have screen shots of where I profiled a girl based on three pictures of her, and nothing more. What I'm getting at is similar to cold reading, but with a much more educated reasoning behind it. For example, their body language can tell me a lot about their self esteem, their current mood, if they're dominant or submissive. I can take a look at what they're wearing and make a very good stab as to what kind of music they're interested in, what type of people they hang out with. Are they within a crowd, or by themselves in a corner? A good clue as to introversion or extroversion. Et cetera, et cetera. This isn't an exact science, it has a lot to do with statistics, and a lot to do with observation of subtleties, and making use of categorizing behavioral patterns, and even elicitation if there is a conversation going on. If that makes me full of shit, well, that's your opinion"

[Asker]

That is only a shallow cover of how I work. You can believe what you want, however if you PM me, I will show you what I'm talking about, and I have several people who will vouch for me.

[inamorata]

MBTI doesn't deal with any of what you listed: body language, lifestyle, attitude, sexuality, etc.
Also many people can read that to different degree. Are you claiming some kind of expertise?

MBTI describes thinking patterns and behavioral tendencies. You have to probe a person a lot to "type" them. When you do, it's a bullshit assessment. You wasted your time.

[Asker]

If it's a bullshit assessment, pm me and I will send you screenshots

[Asker]

also, I NEVER said MBTI has anything to do with what you mentioned about body language, sexuality, or anything of the like.

[inamorata]

And the whole time I was addressing my point about MBTI

[Asker]

Clearly there was a communication cross wire.

[naturallywonderful]

Yes oh my god. I love analyzing every detail about people. The tiniest gestures can mean the most amazing things. What I've found most useful is that once you can successfully interpret body language you can control your own to convey to people whatever you want them to think.

[Asker]

There is some truth to that.

[UberTroll]

I've always been interested in the MBTI, mostly just for my own personal knowledge and understanding. I like reading body language as well because it can tell you a lot of what's under the surface but I can't say I've tried to analyze people by the way they dress.

[Anonymous]

MBTI can be useful at times, but it's not always accurate. In my experience, people "read me" mostly falsely. As much as one might like to "read" other people, you can never know everything and what you do "know" might very well be wrong. It also might very well be right. Regardless, we were born with individual minds and individual bodies for good reason.

[Anonymous]

Memememe. I'm an ENFJ. I watched and liked Discovery's The Science of Sex Appeal. Also watched how politicians shake hands and what they mean when they pat the other's back or place their hand on them and stuff. Obama does it all the time. It's definitely interesting.

[damngurl24]

Yeah. I can identify INTPs pretty well and since I'm an INFP I have a bit of a radar for those of my kind. INTP's seem to be kind of slouchy with bad posture, most of the ones I know are huge computer nerds and dress for functionality and comfort. Not the most trendy sort. INFP's are pretty quiet, some have a bit of a zany unique dress style or are super into art and poetry. I can't really think of the other types right now, sorry!

[Intelligentleman]

I'm an INTP... I concur.

[Xonen]

I've taken many different forms of the MB test and always seem to turn up the INFP result, although I feel like I'm a mixture of your INTP and INFP discriptions. I am a bit slouchy with poor posture and identify as a computer nerd, but I'm also quiet, like to have a unique dress style, and enjoy poetry and other forms of written expression.

[damngurl24]

The posture thing was a poor generalization, my boyfriend is an INTP and a few of his friends are too and i've noticed their bad posture and linked it to INTP's forgetting that my boyfriend actually has an inverted rib cage which causes a curve in his spine and that the rest of them have bad posture from being hunched over their computers all the time. Asides from that in my observations INTP's and INFP's can be socially awkward in a way and share a sort of obliviousness. Also I think INTP's tend to be flippant towards basic things such as fashion, social norms and people in general. For example my boyfriend owns no clothes that aren't hand me downs or from the good will. His fashion sense is cringe worthy. INTP's are such typical nerds, they're huge into games especially those involving complex systems and logical reasoning. I find my boyfriend picking apart games I would play for fun and teaching me how to play them more efficiently. He also makes his own video games and loves DND.

[PuppyKay]

Mee toooo! But im more of a science geek rather than psychology

[Anonymous]

reading others is a talent given to few people. it's very effective with treating people and achieving what you want easily without putting effort. it's an infinite other side of the world.

[Levin]

Oh dear, a budding psychologist who doesn't view their knowledge with a bit of humble scepticism and an ironic sense of humour. The most dangerous kind!

[Illusive_Man]

just a matter of time before they start telling us how do we think and getting all of it wrong lol

[Asker]

Oh dear, some random individual who thinks that they have me pinned. For your information, I'm interested in psychology for myself, not as a profession. I'm actually a special operations medic, and I've been studying behavioral analysis for the better half of a decade, which I have become very, very accurate with. But then again, why should I bother telling you that? You have me all figured out.

[Levin]

@Illusive_Man , aye, they give the *art* a bad name. And I love psychology. But it's proponents project this mentality where they almost think they can read peoples' minds. You don't know people, unless you invest time getting to know them, you know, by actually talking to them, without a judgmental attitude, without projecting your own psyche on them. Few people are capable of this.

[Levin]

"I find it rather useful to be able to know *almost everything about them* by their posture [etc]" Your words, not mine =/

[Asker]

I have screen shots of where I profiled a girl based on three pictures of her, and nothing more. What I'm getting at is similar to cold reading, but with a much more educated reasoning behind it. For example, their body language can tell me a lot about their self esteem, their current mood, if they're dominant or submissive. I can take a look at what they're wearing and make a very good stab as to what kind of music they're interested in, what type of people they hang out with. Are they within a crowd, or by themselves in a corner? A good clue as to introversion or extroversion. Et cetera, et cetera. This isn't an exact science, it has a lot to do with statistics, and a lot to do with observation of subtleties, and making use of categorizing behavioral patterns, and even elicitation if there is a conversation going on. If that makes me full of shit, well, that's your opinion.

[Levin]

I don't think you're full of shit. I'm just speaking rhetorically. I'm sure there's a lot of validity in what you do. Incidentally, you could say these skills are also innate, given we're social animals, who have just become out of sync with our intuitive abilities. I hope you get some more sensible answers to your question.

[Asker]

This relies heavily on intuition, seeing as that is one of the primary ways I approach things. A good portion of the time I will also use empathy, and though I am much more prone to use logic from a rather aloof standpoint, I have learned to toggle empathy on and off when I see fit, so it makes a very useful tool in combination with intuition and an understanding of human behavior.

I half expected this to escalate, seeing as there are a bunch of people out there who think that MBTI is the end-all be-all of personality categorization, however I am not so shallow. There are many different variables at play, and if someone can learn to recognize those variables by way of the aforementioned process, it becomes much easier to size someone up.

[Marstalk]

@asker please tell me you at least have a BS in psychology.

[Anonymous]

i read people. it's really fun. i have somewhat of a 6th sense. i look into some1's eyes + can read them like a book. eyes are every1's weakness.

[areyouladygo]

Can you read my back?

[Opinion Owner]

Message me I can't read backs yet working on it.

[This_guy_here]

I do, unfortunately it's like watching HD Tv. and you find out that female anchor you found so hot has a few things that break the deal.

[tenofthepeaks]

MBTI is nonsense...

tests like that can be easily circumvented...

[Asker]

If you had read my comment down below, I made it clear that I don't think MBTI is an accurate system, but it is still somewhat useful.

[Xonen]

Although it's out in the wild and widely used for personal profiling, MBTI was originally created to gauge aptitude for certain jobs and likelihood that a prospective employee would get along with co-workers.

[Anonymous]

Im an empath I can read peoples fellings just by looking at them and feel what they are feeling. I am also an INTJ with some ENTJ blended in,

[Crayne]

ENFP

Im very interested in "Reading" people.

[I-Am-Bored]

Yes YEs YES YESSSSSS!

[gapminder]

CNFM, DVDA, aND STFU are all my favorites. ;^)

[Jersey1]

ISTP in every sense.

[luvme56]

I am an ENFJ

[luvme56]

Read me! :P

[Anonymous]

Yeah that's all I do