How do the test percentages work?

[lazem]

Hey,
I would like to give you a broader mathematical view of your problem...
the MBTI introduces four characteristics as a defining basics for human personality,every characteristic have a pair of preferences,like the attitude have the extraversion and introversion,the problem is these two preferences are perceived as absolute values-ie either you're are introvert or extravert - but the more appropriate to think about them as on scale of 100,so you can be for example 70% introvert and hence you're 30% extrovert...
another example if we consider two people A&B

A: 90%I - 70%N - 60%T - 60%P
B: 65%I - 70%N - 80%T - 65%P
while they both are intps in general,their personality are not precisely the same..we would see B prefer to connect socially better than A,and A is more emotionally driven than B,even though they both have the ground basics for the type...
not to mention of course the overall changes on the personality due to change in its components-holistic reasons,we're talking about humans after all-...

you see depending on this view,it would not be unusual to find someone who is 50%T 50%F ,or at least have a slight difference like 55% to 45%.. i guess that some tests give this percentage in their results,you can search for that or if someone knows can point you to...

hope i clarified something...

 

[Agapooka]

Re: INTP - INFP

Hey,
I would like to give you a broader mathematical view of your problem...
the MBTI introduces four characteristics as a defining basics for human personality,every characteristic have a pair of preferences,like the attitude have the extraversion and introversion,the problem is these two preferences are perceived as absolute values-ie either you're are introvert or extravert - but the more appropriate to think about them as on scale of 100,so you can be for example 70% introvert and hence you're 30% extrovert...
another example if we consider two people A&B

A: 90%I - 70%N - 60%T - 60%P
B: 65%I - 70%N - 80%T - 65%P
while they both are intps in general,their personality are not precisely the same..we would see B prefer to connect socially better than A,and A is more emotionally driven than B,even though they both have the ground basics for the type...
not to mention of course the overall changes on the personality due to change in its components-holistic reasons,we're talking about humans after all-...

you see depending on this view,it would not be unusual to find someone who is 50%T 50%F ,or at least have a slight difference like 55% to 45%.. i guess that some tests give this percentage in their results,you can search for that or if someone knows can point you to...

hope i clarified something...

No. The percentages shown are not on the scale that you described. For example, if you received a result such as 11% Thinking, you'd still be a stronger thinker than feeler, as opposed to an 89% Feeler and 11% Thinker, as your flawed calculations would return.

MBTI percentages work like this:

E 100%----------0%----------100% I
S 100%----------0%----------100% N
F 100%----------0%----------100% T
J 100%----------0%----------100% P

The concept remains similar, though: one can be a weaker Thinker than another, and this is true of all the letters.

If I remember correctly, my results for the Nebulous MBTI test were as follows:

I - 95%
N - 80%
T- 75%
P - 60%

As I already said, these do not mean that I am 5% Extraverted, 20% iNtuitive, etc. For example, if I answered half the questions in a manner that conveyed that I was displaying iNtuitive qualities and half the answers in a manner that conveyed that I was displaying Sensing qualities, my result on that axis would be 0% and not 50%. If opposing answers cancel each other out, it would mean that:

- I answered 97.5% of questions in favour of Introversion. One could say, then, that I am 97.5% Introverted and 2.5% Extraverted. (97.5 - 2.5 = 95)
- I answered 90% of the questions in favour of iNtuition. One could say, then, that I am 90% iNtuitive and 10% Sensing. (90 - 10 = 80)
- I answered 87.5% of questions in favour of Thinking. One could say, then, that I am 87.5% Thinking and 12.5% Feeling. (87.5 - 12.5 = 75)
- I answered 80% of questions in favour of Perceiving. One could then say that I am 80% Perceiving and 20% Judging. (80 - 20 = 60)

If I may be permitted to use an analogy, it ressembles a tug of war between two sides. A tug on the I side is at the E's expense. Likewise, answering a question in favour of E is at the I's expense, in terms of how the percentages are returned once the test is completed.

+4% I
+2% E (= -2% I)

There, that's all I wanted to say. The concept that one can be in the middle, therefore more balanced, is accurate. The manner in which it was explained, however, was not.

 

[Olba]

Re: INTP - INFP

No. The percentages shown are not on the scale that you described. For example, if you received a result such as 11% Thinking, you'd still be a stronger thinker than feeler, as opposed to an 89% Feeler and 11% Thinker, as your flawed calculations would return.

MBTI percentages work like this:

E 100%----------0%----------100% I
S 100%----------0%----------100% N
F 100%----------0%----------100% T
J 100%----------0%----------100% P

The concept remains similar, though: one can be a weaker Thinker than another, and this is true of all the letters.

If I remember correctly, my results for the Nebulous MBTI test were as follows:

I - 95%
N - 80%
T- 75%
P - 60%

As I already said, these do not mean that I am 5% Extraverted, 20% iNtuitive, etc. For example, if I answered half the questions in a manner that conveyed that I was displaying iNtuitive qualities and half the answers in a manner that conveyed that I was displaying Sensing qualities, my result on that axis would be 0% and not 50%. If opposing answers cancel each other out, it would mean that:

- I answered 97.5% of questions in favour of Introversion. One could say, then, that I am 97.5% Introverted and 2.5% Extraverted. (97.5 - 2.5 = 95)
- I answered 90% of the questions in favour of iNtuition. One could say, then, that I am 90% iNtuitive and 10% Sensing. (90 - 10 = 80)
- I answered 87.5% of questions in favour of Thinking. One could say, then, that I am 87.5% Thinking and 12.5% Feeling. (87.5 - 12.5 = 75)
- I answered 80% of questions in favour of Perceiving. One could then say that I am 80% Perceiving and 20% Judging. (80 - 20 = 60)

If I may be permitted to use an analogy, it ressembles a tug of war between two sides. A tug on the I side is at the E's expense. Likewise, answering a question in favour of E is at the I's expense, in terms of how the percentages are returned once the test is completed.

+4% I
+2% E (= -2% I)

There, that's all I wanted to say. The concept that one can be in the middle, therefore more balanced, is accurate. The manner in which it was explained, however, was not.

All of what you said can be seen as making sense if you think about the typing system a bit. For example, an INTP with a weak P. If misunderstood, they will see themselves as INTJ instead of INTP. Which is WRONG! But the misunderstandings rise from the fact that not many tests include the whole axis as you did. A good test would be the one that INTPCentral links to.

Actually, I just did the test and ended up with INTP and 95/84/89/95, respectively.

 

[lazem]

Re: INTP - INFP

No. The percentages shown are not on the scale that you described. For example, if you received a result such as 11% Thinking, you'd still be a stronger thinker than feeler, as opposed to an 89% Feeler and 11% Thinker, as your flawed calculations would return.

MBTI percentages work like this:

E 100%----------0%----------100% I
S 100%----------0%----------100% N
F 100%----------0%----------100% T
J 100%----------0%----------100% P

this is actually the same,you just raised the scale to 200 instead of 100.

so if you got the 11% T that will mean 111 actually, which is bigger than 89.

- I answered 97.5% of questions in favour of Introversion. One could say, then, that I am 97.5% Introverted and 2.5% Extraverted. (97.5 - 2.5 = 95)
- I answered 90% of the questions in favour of iNtuition. One could say, then, that I am 90% iNtuitive and 10% Sensing. (90 - 10 = 80)
- I answered 87.5% of questions in favour of Thinking. One could say, then, that I am 87.5% Thinking and 12.5% Feeling. (87.5 - 12.5 = 75)
- I answered 80% of questions in favour of Perceiving. One could then say that I am 80% Perceiving and 20% Judging. (80 - 20 = 60)

the problem here is a simple sign neglect, if you are 97.5 I & 2.5 E then to express them into one equation you should give them different signs,so
97.5 - (-2.5) will give you the 100

 

[Agapooka]

Re: INTP - INFP

I did not simply raise the scale; I clarified that the standard scale is not as you put it. It was misleading.

As to your second point, I think that you missed my point, as I was not attempting to prove that two numbers, when added together, can make a hundred. I was attempting to explain how the percentages are expressed in standard MBTI tests. Note that the number after the equal sign is the percentage that I received on the test. It's exactly what I intended to do, and I made no error in doing that which I intended to do.

 

[lazem]

Re: INTP - INFP

- I answered 97.5% of questions in favour of Introversion. One could say, then, that I am 97.5% Introverted and 2.5% Extraverted. (97.5 - 2.5 = 95)

so you're saying that you're 97.5% Introverted and 2.5% Extraverted and then after subtracting them you're 95% Introverted!! so why the subtraction? you're already 97.5 % I, the difference between how much you're I and how much E doesn't mean a thing here...
it's like your score in exam was 65% so what you didn't answer is 35%,so the difference (65-35 = 30) doesn't mean anything...

 

[Ermine]

Re: INTP - INFP

Maybe he thinks that the introversion and extroversion cancel each other out?

But I can't see that working because for a person that is 50% introvert and 50% extrovert, that person would be 0% nothing.

 

[Agapooka]

Re: INTP - INFP

I don't think that they cancel each other out in actuality, but they do in tests, because of the scale used.

If one answers 50% of the questions in favour of Extroversion and 50% in favour of Introversion, the test will return a 0% preference for either of those. The percentage returned by an MBTI test is the percentage of preference towards one extreme of a given dichotomy, not the percentage of answers in favour of any given extreme thereof.

In light of the manner in which MBTI tests calculate results and the nature of those results, yes, I and E do cancel each other out, but only in the scope of preference. To give an analogy, one who is ambidextrous may not have any preference for any arm, and so, he or she would have a 0% preference, whilst maintaining the ability to use both arms equally well (50:50).

 

[loveofreason]

There seems to be a lot of confusion/disagreement about how to interpret MBTI preference percentages.

This discussion began in another thread, and has been moved here to take what course it may.