Tuesday, December 02, 2008
I've got some character
The Myers-Briggs test couldn't be called scientific, but it beats astrology. It's good at broadly stating which of its 16 personality types you fall into. The types are indicated by 4 slotted combos of different factors. Whether you're I (Introverted) or E (Extroverted), whether you're N (iNtuitive) or S (Sensing), whether you're T (Thinking) or F (Feeling), and whether you're J (Judging) or P (Perceiving).
In every incarnation of the test that I've taken, I've always gotten INTJ as a result. Descriptions I've read of it have been accurate enough. From being independent of mind, pragmatic, always trying to improve my work, valuing creativity and logic, being heavily idea oriented, being inherently unconventional, having uncommon sense, lacking in the feelings department, being a black hole to friends, and sucking at romantic relationships.
Famous INTJs include: William F. Buckley, Dan Aykroyd, Susan B. Anthony, Colin Powell, C.S. Lewis, Isaac Newton, Dwight Eisenhower, Franz Kafka, Michael Dukakis, and Ayn Rand.
And INTJ fictional characters include: Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs), Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs), Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes), Batman (from the Burton Movies), Dexter Morgan (Dexter Series), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Hamlet/Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), Frank Cauldhame (The Wasp Factory).
What's the point of me even mentioning this? The fact that, scientifically valid or not, it's an excellent springboard for developing fictional characters. I used it when I was starting to give each of my characters more dimensions. I'd get schizophrenic and think the way the characters would when taking the MBTI test. The results for the main characters were: 2 INTJs, 1 ESTP, 1 INTP and 1 ISFJ. The personality types didn't wind up giving me stocks I could draw my characters from, but their descriptions, as well as analyses of people and characters who are considered to be of the type helped guide me in handling their temperaments and thought processes, as well as their interactions.
See everyone in hell!
