What's my personality?

For some reason I keep being asked to take Myers Briggs type personality tests. Either for work or college. The aim seems to be about helping me to work well with others and to understand and appreciate our differences.

The trouble is this type of test doesn't really work for people with ADHD. Learned masking behaviours are problematic, especially if they are unconscious.

According to Myers Briggs I come out as INFP. Although I have also taken the same test and come out as ESTJ.

So how do I account for these differences?

The first explanation explores the concept of “the shadow-side”. Rooted in Jungian psychology, the "Shadow Side" in MBTI refers to the unconscious, repressed aspects of personality—manifesting as opposing cognitive functions which often come to the fore during stressful situations. It is harder for a person to operate in that aspect. For example, someone who is introverted can be sociable and will often enjoy spending time with others, but they are likely to find that it is tiring, and they will need to spend time alone or with a smaller trusted group to recover their energy. For me this often means that while I tend to have an intuitive response to situations or questions, I will always try to ensure that my intuitive answer is supported by data or peer reviewed research.

The second explanation relates more to neurodiversity. Looking back over the typical questions asked as part of a Meyers-Briggs assessment, I believe that I am more likely to have answered as ESTJ when masking. While there has been some work produced by the Myers-Briggs company on neurodiversity and MBTI, this does not address masking behaviours and is not supported by peer reviewed research. It is also worth pointing out that these papers make claims about neurodiversity diagnosis which are contradicted by official sources and peer reviewed research papers. However, research around masking or camouflaging behaviours in ADHD and Autism does suggest that this is likely to make the results of any form of personality profiling less reliable as people seek to answer in ways which they feel are more socially acceptable. Whatever the explanation, the effect on neurodivergent individuals is likely to be the same. Hull et al (2017) points out that:

“In the short term, camouflaging [or masking] results in extreme exhaustion and anxiety; although the aims of camouflaging are often achieved, in the long term there are also severe negative consequences affecting individuals’ mental health, self-perception, and access to support.”

As such it is a good idea for me not to plan too many socially intensive activities back-to-back and to be sure to plan in time for activities which I will find life-giving. It is also important to remember that this may not always be possible, however this should only be in exceptional circumstances.

My other question here is what does this mean for ministry in the church?

Despite my personal discomfort with personality profiling, I am coming to realise that there may be some value in paying more attention to personality types when planning worship activities, conducting church meetings and in pastoral care.

While there has been some published work, such as Michael and Norrisey’s 1984 publication “Prayer and Temperament: Different prayer forms for different personality types.” which explores the use of the MBTI approach in prayer. They appear to conclude that these approaches are of some value in helping people to discover spiritual practices which work for them. However, there appears to have been little recent research on this topic. I am planning to explore some of the implications of following a rule of life such as Benedictine spirituality, as while this is likely to present me with significant challenges, the order and routine may also be beneficial for neurodivergent individuals.

With these caveats, I would still conclude that personality profiling can be a useful tool in ministry, albeit one which needs to be approached with considerable caution and as part of a wider toolkit. David Pittenger argues that MBTI has the potential to serve as a “nonthreatening” way to introduce people to the concept of differences in personality and the relationship between personality and ways of communicating and working with others.

I will continue to treat any form of personality profiling with extreme caution, even where there is peer reviewed research supporting the results.

However, attempting to maintain a greater awareness of the role that personality plays in people’s preferences for spiritual practices, worship and communication is important and is likely to result in more people in the church feeling supported and valued for who they are rather than for their ability to conform to an expected set of behaviours.