Hello Everyone!

 

        This week I will be talking about the Myers-Briggs personality test, also called MBTI! “The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences” (verywellmind).  Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs developed the questionnaire based on their work with Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. MBTI is one of the most widely used instruments in psychology in the world today. There are 16 possible personality types you could get from the test. 

        Since I am kind of a Harry Potter blog. I’ll tell you the main character’s MBTI types and the description of those types. I hope you enjoy it!

        Okay, so we are going to start with the golden trio. Harry Potter, the boy who lived himself, is an ISFP (often called the adventurers). ISFPs are introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving. One of the traits of ISFPs is that they prefer to do than to dream. “They dislike abstract theories unless they can see some type of practical application for them and prefer learning situations that involve gaining hands-on experience” (verywellmind). Harry exhibits this behavior when Professor Umbridge becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and does not allow the students to do any practical spell casting of any kind. Harry responds to this by heading an underground coalition of students who actually wanted to learn something that year. “ISFPs prefer to focus on the present [so] they often do well in careers that are concerned with practical, real-world problems”, Harry went on to become an Auror, basically a magic police officer (verywellmind). Harry also is a very reserved person emotionally and ISFPs “are very private and keep their true feelings to themselves”, he (Harry) didn’t tell anyone when he was having nightmares in his fifth year of Hogwarts (verywellmind). He preferred to keep it all to himself until his roommates started getting concerned. There are many other reasons Harry is an ISFP but I don’t want to spend too long on one character. 

        Moving on to Hermione, the queen. She is an ESTJ, also known as the executive or the director. ESTJ stands for extraverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. “ESTJs are often described as logical, take-charge kind of people. They are assertive and are very concerned with making sure that things run smoothly and according to the rules. They are committed to tradition, standards, and laws” (verywellmind). No matter if you read the books, watched the movies, or even heard tidbits about the story, I would bet that you know that Hermione is considered a know-it-all control freak. ESTJs “can sometimes be seen as rigid, stubborn, and unyielding”, which adds to the control freak opinion (verywellmind). Hermione goes on to become the Minister of Magic, a role that deals with rules and laws out the wazoo, and because ESTJs “appreciate order and organization, they frequently do well in supervisory roles” (verywellmind). I would consider the Minister of Magic as the uppermost supervisory position in the English wizarding world. Hermione is very representative of ESTJs and the personality traits behind them. 

        Ron Weasley, a character who often gets a lot of unwarranted grief. He is an ESFP, also called the performer or the entertainer. ESFPs are Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving. “People with ESFP personality types are often described as spontaneous, resourceful, and outgoing. They love being the center of attention and are often described as entertainers or ‘class clowns’” (verywellmind).  ESFPs “careers that involve a great deal of structure and solitary work can be difficult for ESFPs, and they often become bored in such situations”, Ron was an Auror after graduation from Hogwarts which has a lot of structure (verywellmind). It turned out to not be the best fit for him so he transitioned to helping his brother, George with Weasley Wizard Wheezes, a joke shop that his twin brothers Fred and George started. ESFPs “do best in careers that involve a lot of variety. Jobs that involve a great deal of socialization are also a great fit”, co-owning a joke shop allows Ron to have fun with his job without the stuffiness of working at a desk (verywellmind). He also loves attention, but ESFPs “are attention-seekers” by nature (verywellmind). He also grew up with six siblings so he was always overshadowed. ESFP traits apply very well to Ron’s personality in the books in other aspects as well besides the ones I’ve mentioned above. 

        I find MBTI types extremely fascinating but I don’t put much stock into them. I tend to think of them as more scientific zodiacs. I am an INTP, also known as a logician. Here is the link to the test that I find is most commonly used by members of the public to see their types in case you wanted to take it to see your type too!

        Thank you so much for reading my fourth blog post! I know that it wasn’t quite the same as my other posts but I wanted to branch out a little bit and explore other aspects of psychology. I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

Here is a chart for those of you who may want to see where your MBTI puts you in the Hogwarts houses. I don’t know how accurate it will be for you but it isn’t accurate for me.

 

Sources – 

Cherry, Kendra. “Are You an ISFP? Find out More About Your Personality Type.” Verywell Mind, 23 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/isfp-introverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795991. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Are You Social and Spontaneous? You Might Be an ESFP.” Verywell Mind, 23 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/esfp-extraverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving-2795984. 

Cherry, Kendra. “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The 16 Personality Types.” Verywell Mind, 17 Sept. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583. 

Cherry, Kendra. “What an ESTJ Myers-Briggs Type Means for Your Career.” Verywell Mind, 21 June 2020, www.verywellmind.com/estj-extraverted-sensing-thinking-judging-2795985. 

“I Made This Chart (Based on This One) for a Harry Potter-Themed Activity We Did…: Harry Potter Personality, Personality Chart, Mbti Personality.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/194921490101938938/.

“Learn about the 16 Personality Types from under the Hood.” Excellence Assured, 5 May 2020, excellenceassured.com/16-personality-types.

Scott, Kate. “Which HARRY POTTER Character Shares Your Myers-Briggs Type?” BOOK RIOT, 21 June 2019, bookriot.com/?p=170206.