In a week of electioneering, bloody uprisings in faraway lands and the Masterchef finals, I very nearly didn’t stumble upon a story on the psychology blog Mindhacks which has given me an idea for a great psychological parlour game.
Last week it reported a curious trend out there in cyberspace for working out the personality profile of Jesus, according to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This classic personality test, devised Isabel Briggs Myers in the 1940s, was based on the theories of personality developed by Carl Jung.
The test identifies 16 personality types made up of a combination of eight characteristics. These are: extroverts (E) or introverts (I); sensers (S) or intuitives (N); thinkers (T) or feelers (F); judgers (J) or perceivers (P). Take the test to discover your type.
Some Mormons have very kindly profiled Jesus for him and concluded he is INFP — an Introverted, iNtuiting, Feeling, Percieving type.
When Psychologies magazine ran the Myers Briggs test, we reported that INFPs are:
• ‘Highly sensitive and intuitive whose strong ideas sometimes conflict with life’s realities’
Being crucified for not toeing the line of the Roman Empire. Check.
• ‘You like research and anything connected with others’ development, such as counselling or HR’
Criss-crossing the Levant healing lepers, feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes, and helping others see the light. Check.
• ‘Your belief in goodness is touched with melancholy; you’re acutely aware of the darker side of life’
Knowing and accepting your friend will betray you for 30 pieces of silver. Check.
But Jesus isn’t the only figure to get the MBTI treatment. During the US election all the candidates were given their own special set of four letters. Hillary Clinton was a ‘misunderstood INTJ’, said the Huffington Post, while Obama is ‘an introspective ENTP’. I’ve not found any results for Cameron or Brown as yet but I have found William Shatner (ISFJ), Vladimir Putin and Dick van Dyke (both ENTPs).
Now, if I can just find 16 celebrities each with a different MBTI I shall have the beginnings of an exciting new game: find your celebrity personality twin. But I could have spin-off games, too. ‘Find your biblical personality twin’, ‘Find your despots from history personality twin’, ‘Discover your Disney character personality twin’. The possibilities are endless.
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