Quote Originally Posted by RJO View Post
(Mostly amateur philosophizing follows...)

Having worked individually with large cross sections of college students, I can attest that variation in ingrained personality traits can make a big difference in how to deal with people. (Common sense, yes, but can we do anything constructive with it?) I've encountered only one or two people who were genuine sociopaths -- and it was quite an experience. They lied like they breathed air, and seemed to have no conscience about it at all. I would not consider negotiation with such people to be worthwhile at all; containment is the only thing that can be done. The trick is making accurate identifications.

Does the military routinely use personality tests like the Myers-Briggs and/or Keirsey? I've read that the most common types in the military are ESTJ and ISTJ (more organizationally oriented, good at orders), and ENTJ and INTJ (more intuitive, good at leadership and strategy).

One online version is here:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

RJO (INTJ)
I know that we administer a Myers/Briggs during ILE. In fact, I'm the testing officer for my unit. (Though I personally see very little utility for it; one more complete and utter time-waster, but ILE IS a time-waster, imo.)

We used to do SOME personality testing in ROTC, but didn't do much with it; mainly it was for the use of the individual being tested. Most of this Personality/Aptitude testing comes down to "Now what the hell are you going to do with it?" Frankly, it isn't tremendously predictive or useful.

I think if people just quit being so damned concerned about what they "are" or "are not" and trying to "improve themselves" and just focus on what they are already interested in, the world would be a better place.