Anyone in need of a brief explanation of how my mind works can check out the profiles for my type on the Meyers-Briggs Temperament Indicator here or here. 

Anyone who is also an INTJ and has ever read anything about the MBTI undoubtedly had me pegged based solely on the fact that I have more categories on this blog than I actually have posts so far, because all INTJs think the MBTI is the bomb.

 Note that I am apparently the same type as Dan Ackroyd, Susan B. Anthony, Jane Austen, Chevy Chase, Phil Donohue, Michael Dukakis, Peter Jennings, Angela Lansbury, C.S. Lewis, Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Lance Armstrong, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Woodrow Wilson, Ensign Ro, Professor Moriarty, Mr. Darcy, and Gandalf the Grey, and BOTH Hannibal Lecter AND Clarice Starling, which I personally think is about as flattering an assessment as a grrl can get because I think all of the above are the bomb (well, Dukakis had some issues, obviously, but I did go to one of his rallies and cast my first presidential vote for him, so I suppose he will always have a special place in my heart).  I am less thrilled about being lumped in with William J. Bennett, William F. Buckley, Jr., Richard Gere (who has always creeped me out), Katie Couric (who I have never had much interest in or respect for), or Calvin Coolidge, who almost single-handedly destroyed the U.S. economy.  However, knowing that they are INTJs really makes me think I may have been unfair to Richard and Katie, who have done some very impressive work in more recent years (Chicago, CNN), and I must admit that Coolidge really did leave a most excellent legacy of having created some of the most awesomely bureaucratic of government research institutions (including a massive expansion of the U.S. Census Bureau–be still my foolish heart!), and given as much power as he had, I almost certainly would have accomplished just as much in the arena of systems building and just as certainly destroyed any institution that was foolish enough to let me have charge of it by analyzing it to bits and then smothering it in red tape.

At least two of my best grrlfriends are also INTJs, and I have had with both of them quite extensive discussions in which we pegged every one of our mutual acquaintances without going to the bother of letting any of them actual do the inventory for themselves, because INTJs think just that highly of their analytical abilities, and when working as a team are almost never wrong.  I would note that INTJ is allegedly the least common category for women and the most common for academics, and that not surprisingly the aforementioned grrlfriends are both former grad school classmates of mine. 

ISFJs and ENTJs are also usually quite fond of the MBTI, though moderately less obsessive about it, because they usually have other fish to fry and categories to box people into.  INTPs are usually just as intrigued by the concept but do find it vaguely oppressive and usually lose interest about halfway through and wander off to play with some other idea.

Ps almost never complete the inventory or remember to tell me their results, unless they are Ns or Fs and really, really love me.  S’s usually think it is a rather unnecessary bother, but if they are also Js they will almost certainly complete the inventory and notify me of their results within no more than 24 hours.

So what’s your type?

(You can use this self-assessment, or take a free version of the inventory here.   or this one, which is much more reliable but costs money to get your full results, though results for the N/S and T/F scales are free, and those are usually the hardest to self-assess.) 

Note: People who know me IRL, or who have corresponded with me extensively, or whose blogs I have already read, I can probably tell you already what type you are, with at least 75% accuracy and with a 10 minute conversation can get it to 100%.  Try me!  And if your actual inventory results come out different, I will almost certainly claim that it is a problem with the test and that if you were to take either the full MBTI (which can only be administered by a licensed professional, which I am decidedly not) or even the much briefer $14.95 online version of the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, it would prove me right, unless you are totally lying about your answers.

 Because I am THAT MUCH of an INTJ.  :-)