Seeker

The internet is awash with programmes for instant analysis of almost anything you care to mention. What sort of writer are you? What sort of parent are you? What is your personality type? What is your learning style? Which celebrity are you most like? You know the sort of thing. Many of them are out there as bait to persuade you to buy something, after you've answered their quiz qestions. Or you are asked to enter a small sample of your prose writing and an automated system congratulates you and flatters you by saying 'you write just like...' (naming a successful published author), hoping you will spend money on a 'Write Better' programme. Well, I for one, won't. I blogged here about one of those programmes that instantly assesses your personality type from a small blog sample. The result was surprising. Autolycus had a better idea and tried several and varied samples from his blog post, with a variety of always flattering results. Which only goes to prov...

Based on instant analysis of this blog's content, an automated system thinks the author is a 'mechanic' type or 'ISTP' in Myers-Briggs terms. This is probably not true. Ask my husband or children! I have  Prodigal Kiwi (see below) to thank for today's time-wasting activity. It's been around a long time now, but the Myers-Briggs system to identify 16 basic personality types has been found a useful tool by many organisations. It's based on Jungian psychology. Years ago I undertook the tests a few times in association with my former occupation in social work and also in ordination training for the Church of England. It doesn't matter how I answered the questions - the result was consistently the same. My Myers-Briggs personality 'type' is INFJ, which fits, but perhaps not completely. The Myers-Briggs Foundation summary of the INFJ type is: "Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to unders...