To be or not to be? Extraverted or introverted that is.........

Welcome back,

Today I will be discussing a widely used psychometric assessment questionnaire known as the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). First published in 1962, this assessment composed and based off of Carl Jung’s psychological types, were believed to narrow down how the human mind worked. The key concepts to this were either extraverted or introverted (outspoken vs. within one self) so to speak. When you take this test there are 8 mental functions the test will decide upon based on how you answered the questions to the best of your ability. There are:
- Extraversion
- Introversion
- Sensing
- Intuition
- Thinking
- Feeling
- Judging
- Perceiving
Here I will discuss the concept of extraversion a little more in depth. Now according to dictionary.com, extraversion is “the act of directing one’s interest outward or to things outside the self”. For example, this deals with being outgoing and energetic versus solitary and reserved (like introverted) also being excited and seeking stimulation on others. On the other hand, the concept of introversion is “the direction of or tendency to direct one's thoughts and feelings toward oneself”. For example, this term is pretty much the opposite of extrovert, less out-going, not as sociable, and more likely to thrive with minimum new social contacts. This doesn’t mean the person is asocial either, but you get the point?
How this all relates to me, is that when I took this test I received ESTJ. I can agree with this because it relates to how I am in life. It was broken down in the following order from highest to lowest (descending): Extraverted thinking, introverted sensing, extraverted intuition, introverted feeling, introverted thinking, extraverted sensing, introverted intuition, and extraverted feeling. Well what does this all mean? Here’s the breakdown of (some) it according to our Blue Chip manuals:

- Extraverted thinking (Te): Establishing goals and applying objective analysis to arrive at a logical, defendable decision
- Introverted sensing (Si): Recalling the details of past experiences and reliving the emotions that accompany them
- Extraverted intuition (Ne): Creating possibilities for the future and spontaneously recognizing patterns and connections
- Introverted feeling (Fi): Feeling internal tranquility when reality matches what is uniquely and deeply valued
- Extraverted sensing (Se): Alive in the moment and aware of what the senses are able to immediately experience

Now keep in mind, most likely when you first take the test you will come up with the four letters of the eight words I described above. There is a quite complicated equation you must use to fit those letters in descending order (1-8) to come up with your strongest and weakest mental functions. This relates to me by showing me what my strengths are and what I can ‘improve’ on to be helpful to others. You can take this test online to see what defines you. What I like most about this assessment is that it is different from other tests where as they point out your weaknesses, however this test focuses more on strengths (and what can be worked on). So the question is, how do you function in life; introvert or extravert?