Proposal Offered and Withdrawn

 I mentioned recently that I have grudgingly rethought my opinion of the MBTI, that it's no so bad after all, it is just misused in the scoring and presentation, leading to false simplifications. Each of the categories is a binary on Bell Curve, making very small differences look like a big deal. The test is supposed to be informative about why people do the things that they do, but more than half the information is at best extraneous, and more usually misleading.  

So I thought Why not get everyone to start using only one or two of the letters, adjusted individually? What if people got used to hearing "Well, they* say you should only pay attention to your strongest one, or maybe two. So I'm a P, and have a bit of E in me as well." Wouldn't that be clearer for everyone? It's streamlined, with less to memorise too.

But people can't drop it, it seems.  They like their four capital letters and swear by them.  You're an ESFP.  You should be a sales rep or an event planner. They don't want to hear that the S and the F were on the margin and could be an I or a T if you took the test three months later.  Only that P was really solid, and the E was moderately strong and likely to hold up. 

So I take it back.  You can try it if you want if you get stuck in one of those conversations, but don't expect anyone to go along with it. Why can't they adjust? Their way is familiar to them and they think it sounds cool.  I don't know where that fits on the MBTI scales.  But it's why they do the things they do.

*If you get challenged on who "they" are, it's me.  I say that.  And you can quote me.