The Forer Effect

I’ve been realling enjoying doing the tests: Kiersey/ Myers Briggs Type Indicator and pasting some of the results which have come up …

To begin with I was really excited by the results because they seemed to describe this cool person which I didn’t identify with and that made me feel heaps better.

I got to think about it and thought actually these are things I could be (well ok not all – but if I tried then yes and by trying I mean give myself the chance) rather than write things off…  because my attitude has become negative of late.

Then I read the Forer test in which everyone was given the same information and asked to see how highly they ranked it as against their character and darn it most people give it a high ranking as an acccurate reflection of their character.

Well fiddle sticks to that for the timebeing.  I’m going to enjoy this period of reflection for myself because its something I’ve not done for me before..so here goes – some truthfulness about me ..  or not depending on your belief in this psychology tests..

The Socionics test – an updated version of the MBTI with some subtle differences:(Cheers Pierre!)

Summary
Normal mode	Reversed mode	Combined mode
ESFx	ENFj	ExFj
This summarises your type as one of the following (in alphabetical order): ENFj a.k.a. Ethical-Intuitive Extratim “The Actor”, ESFj a.k.a. Ethical-Sensory Extratim “The Enthusiast”. Although the test results show that your type could be either of the above, you think it is: ESFj a.k.a. Ethical-Sensory Extratim “The Enthusiast”.

Extended summary
By preference	By function	MBTI® Type Dynamics
ESFj		Fe,Si,Ne,Ti
If your type is ESFj a.k.a. Ethical-Sensory Extratim “The Enthusiast”, you are confident and concrete regarding how excited others are about you, creative and inventive regarding the necessities and sensations of your body, delicate and insecure regarding your ability to recognise common tendencies and possibilities, and you wish to have a clear perception and consistency regarding your understanding of how things work.

Then there is the Keirsey test:

Your Keirsey Temperament Sorter Results indicates that your personality type is that of the

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self — always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the “not visible” or the “not yet” that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a “soulmate,” someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

Idealists at Work
Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. They are naturally drawn to working with people and are gifted with helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potential both on, and off, the job.

Because you live in anticipation of an exciting future, in your ideal job you will be asked to stretch your imagination on a continual basis. Existing ideas, individuals and groups of people, products, services, and the relationships between these things can trigger flashes of insight about how “what is” might unfold into “what might be.” You feel rewarded where you feel free to share your insights with people who encourage your creativity and who support the unpredictable process by which you narrow down the stream of ideas into innovations that are meaningful within the scheme of your personal values. You are likely to be comfortable taking on a leadership role, so long as it doesn’t place you in an arbitrary hierarchy.

There are a few more tests to go and one in particular – the Enneagram which I will look forward to using in more detail rather than the cursuory ten min test.

Where’s all this going…  I’m not entirely 100% sure at the moment.  It’s taking me on a journey and getting me to think about where and how my career has been to this point and whether I think the best of me is out doing her thing or not.  I rather feel not at the moment..

As I said earlier my mood has been on the negative side recently and I’ve put it down to the winter months (and being a leo we do need the sun – :O)).  What I do feel will be useful is to set some parameters in place of what I measure to be success for myself now that I have started doing these tests and how I feel about myself and my professional life apropro these tests.

They can act as a guides whether consciously or subconsciously and that is no bad thing.

What I do know is that my path in social media has been a slow off the starter block when compared to some but then I have to remind myself that most of my friends outside of work do not know what Twitter is.  I love them to pieces and they excel at being musicians and DJ’s. So everyone has their rhythm.

I’m really enjoying the connections which are happening in my mind about social media and meeting the people who are the pioneers in this field.  Whilst I’m not the greatest blogger or Twitterer…  I can see a level of its activities and what it means for people to suddenly have a voice and be connecting with other people.

And my final thought for the evening is in this world of turmoil, banking chaos, governments that seem to be inept or out of their depth, escalating violence, wars against innocent children for the sake of gaining votes in an election and fires out of control in Australia – in all this ever increasing chaos of the world, it’s actually quite reassuring to have something to help one look at one self and say hey you’re not that bad after all!