Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator and Food

[IndyRob]

I've long been fascinated by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. For those who may not know, this is a psychological test that measures your preference in each of four areas. With two options for each, you will be sorted into one of 16 personality types. None of these are good or bad. They are just ways of describing your preferences. But the ways in which these four factors interrelate can produce a startlingly accurate description of your world view (especially if you test towards the extremes of each scale). It's all based on the work of Carl Jung.

You can take a test here (among other places/versions): http://similarminds.com/jung.html (and if you would like to, I'd suggest that you do that now before continuing to read here). Also, once you have your four letter type (e.g., mine is INTP), google it and you'll find a bunch of detailed profiles you can read.

From my experience, upon reading the profiles, about 1/3 will have an OMG! moment, 1/3 will say "Yeah, I recognize some things about myself in there", and the last 1/3 won't be impressed. But, c'mon we're talking about sorting everyone on Earth into one of 16 groups. My group includes Bob Newhart and Albert Einstein.

For those who don't want to take the test, the dimensions are Introverted/Extroverted (fairly obvious, but with a gentle reminder that neither is better), Sensing/Intuitive (concrete vs. abstract), Thinking vs. Feeling (Spock vs. McCoy), and Judging/Perceiving (orderly and known vs. open-endedness).

Okay, so anyway, I was thinking about how this test might affect how we think about food. I searched eGullet and found exactly one reference to compare line cooks with pastry chefs. Probably valid.

Then I turned to Google ("myers briggs food") and the first relevant hit was a raw food forum. There was recently a discussion here about this so I was intrigued. A Meyers Briggs thread in a raw food forum. Perfect!

I read the discussion and started immediately noticing a pattern. So I went back through the thread and counted....

INFP - 6.5*

INTJ - 5

ENFP - 2.5*

INFJ - 2

ISFP - 2

ESFJ - 2

ISTJ - 1

ESTP - 1

* The fractions came from one person who fell right on the border between I and E. Also, I left two people out of the sample where, in one case, they reported a letter that wasn't among the options, and another that had 2 scores that were equal.

The numbers here aren't statistically significant, but they do seem to suggest strong correlations.

If we really understood this, we might learn a lot. I'm not talking about raw food now, but how we look at food, cooking and eating.

Edited August 7, 2010 by IndyRob (log)

[Lisa Shock]

I have taken these tests several times and wind up either as INTJ or ENTJ with my score very close to being a statistical dead heat in terms of the I/E. I do tend to be very detail-oriented, and like to focus on perfecting things. But, hey, I'm in pastry....

[cookingofjoy]

What a fun topic! In this one I was ISFJ, other times I think I was INFJ. In education lit, I've read that introverts participate more in online courses/discussions than in face-to-face. I'm guessing the same may be true for online forums? In any case, my type "the nurturer" fits well with my food interests. As I've been at home with my kids the past couple years, I've been able to do more and learn more about baking. Baking's always very warm/homey. All very ISFJ

Edited August 8, 2010 by cookingofjoy (log)

[Dakki]

INTP.

IMHO Jungian stuff is a lot of fun but should be taken with a heaping dose of salt.

EDIT: This is the INTP short description from that site.

INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Dakki (log)

[Lilija]

INFP today

My food interests? They mostly lie in cultures, lately. Currently, I've been going out of my way to learn how to cook authentic Brazilian food, Korean, Middle Eastern, and different regional American (like Pennsylvania Dutch). In past years, it was Moroccan, Greek, Thai, Japanese, Polish, German, South African, Northern Border Mexican, Jamaican. My cooking interests, the types of cookbooks I read for pleasure, the articles that capture my imagination, all have to do with traditions, cultures, and stuff I wouldn't normally know anything about. I love learning about the food, the people, the history of the food, and cooking stuff for loved ones that they'd never be exposed to, otherwise. I have some weird food quirks, mostly centered around textures, like there's certain textures that I can't handle, but besides that, as far as flavors go, the more exotic the better.

[IndyRob]

Well it looks like INs, and perhaps to a lesser extent, ENs appear to go for Myers-Briggs threads.

Dakki, as a fellow INTP, I'll pick out a few of dimensions of my cooking (dis)interests and would be curious if they at all parallel your outlook:

1) When doing a new, unfamiliar, recipe for the first time, I usually follow the recipe fairly precisely. But if I like it and do it again, I tend to throw out the rulebook and wing it. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

2) Although I do specialize and try to refine certain things (steaks, pizza, baguettes), I also like to experiment with all sorts of different things. Yeast fascinates me (bread, brewing, or winemaking). Cheese curds fascinate me. Methods of applying heat fascinate me. The various ways to use eggs fascinate me. I guess my goal is to be able to conceptualize a unique dish and use general principles to get to what I want.

I guess a shorter way of saying this is that I'm an explorer of food properties and techniques. Lilija (INFP) is more of a cultural explorer. With the T/F difference, that makes a certain amount of sense.

3) Being a line cook would be a nightmare for me. I would like to try it sometime if I could have training wheels. But making the same thing over and over again exactly the same way is my version of hell.

[Alex]

While a person's MBTI type can indicate a preference for certain behaviors in certain situations (including cooking), it's really not terribly well regarded in the larger psychological community. There's actually a very good Wikipedia entry about the test that I'd suggest reading. I've found the test's greatest value to be its emphasis that none of the 16 types is either right or wrong.

FWIW, I'm an ENTP.

[Dakki]

Well it looks like INs, and perhaps to a lesser extent, ENs appear to go for Myers-Briggs threads.

Dakki, as a fellow INTP, I'll pick out a few of dimensions of my cooking (dis)interests and would be curious if they at all parallel your outlook:

Cool. I'm going to break this up so I can reply properly:

1) When doing a new, unfamiliar, recipe for the first time, I usually follow the recipe fairly precisely. But if I like it and do it again, I tend to throw out the rulebook and wing it. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

Negative. Unless it's baking (where I follow the recipe word by word every single time) I wing it from the first time. My focus is on technique rather than formula.

2) Although I do specialize and try to refine certain things (steaks, pizza, baguettes), I also like to experiment with all sorts of different things. Yeast fascinates me (bread, brewing, or winemaking). Cheese curds fascinate me. Methods of applying heat fascinate me. The various ways to use eggs fascinate me. I guess my goal is to be able to conceptualize a unique dish and use general principles to get to what I want.

I guess we're opposites on the first part. I tend to go on kicks where I'll make one dish three times a week for months, until I feel I've mastered it; then it becomes part of my regular rotation. I'm not big on bread (baking is my weakest area, and I don't really enjoy bread the way some people do; to me it's just a wrapper for sandwiches and a vehicle for sauces and gravies) and I'm not a wine person, but beer brewing interests me and I'm fascinated by pickling and aged charcuterie, both of which involve microfauna. I am also very interested in heat.

I guess a shorter way of saying this is that I'm an explorer of food properties and techniques. Lilija (INFP) is more of a cultural explorer. With the T/F difference, that makes a certain amount of sense.

I think that statement applies to me as well. Technique is everything to me. Don't give me a recipe for your prizewinning fried chicken; help me understand how the different coatings produce varied results, what spices do and don't work and and how you handle the heat to get a crispy outside and a moist but thoroughly cooked interior.

3) Being a line cook would be a nightmare for me. I would like to try it sometime if I could have training wheels. But making the same thing over and over again exactly the same way is my version of hell.

I'd probably kill myself if I had to work on a line, and I don't think I'd make a good fit anywhere in the hospitality industry. I like research and identifying and solving problems, not doing repetitive work or dealing with people.

Other stuff you didn't mention, but that might be relevant: I'm a minor-league knife nut and I heavily favor traditional methods over cutting-edge. My prized possessions are my kitchen knives and my cast iron skillets. I sharpen my own knives, buy my cast iron "naked," and otherwise try to do things on my own. I distrust "professionals" who just want to finish the job and get paid. When I'm going to make or buy something new, I research it to death beforehand. How do you match on those?

EDIT: I just noticed there's no INTPs in your original sample. According to the test page we're pretty rare but there's two of us posting in this thread. Coincidence?!

Edited August 8, 2010 by Dakki (log)

[IndyRob]

Negative. Unless it's baking (where I follow the recipe word by word every single time) I wing it from the first time. My focus is on technique rather than formula.

Actually, I agree with this. The only difference is that I can bring myself to follow the rules the first time when I'm dealing with something new.

I tend to go on kicks where I'll make one dish three times a week for months, until I feel I've mastered it; then it becomes part of my regular rotation.

I go on kicks of making the same thing often myself.

Other stuff you didn't mention, but that might be relevant: I'm a minor-league knife nut and I heavily favor traditional methods over cutting-edge. My prized possessions are my kitchen knives and my cast iron skillets. I sharpen my own knives, buy my cast iron "naked," and otherwise try to do things on my own. I distrust "professionals" who just want to finish the job and get paid. When I'm going to make or buy something new, I research it to death beforehand. How do you match on those?

I'm definitely not a knife geek. I finally got some decent ones, but 'good' is good enough for me. I am suspicious of professionals to the point that I often wind up doing things myself.

As mentioned, when I do something for the first time, I'll seek out a standard recipe first. Once I know my way around it, I throw out the rulebook.

EDIT: I just noticed there's no INTPs in your original sample. According to the test page we're pretty rare but there's two of us posting in this thread. Coincidence?!

Well, I did notice that there were a lot of INs in both threads. And the test was created by an INTP, so we are exactly the kind of people interested in these kinds of things.

The biggest difference I see between us are our actual food preferences. But I would've been pretty surprised to see a correlation there.

[Blether]

The breakdown of types in your first post is striking. Rounding slightly, I believe David Keirsey's breakdown for the population (I guess the American population) as a whole was:

25% N 75% S

- with about 37.5% each SJ and SP.

[devour]

I used to put more stock into the MBTI, and I guess there are reasons to distrust it but I do think it tends to give somewhat of a picture of a person's preferences provided that they don't consciously devalue their traits. Confirmation bias also plays a part in how we choose to accept the results it gives us. I'm not actually trying to 'debunk' the MBTI. I think people just need to contextualize its purpose. It can be abused or inflated. That being said, prompting the tester to reveal cognitive preferences is worlds beyond staring at I tend to test as an I/ENTP. E and I are probably the most subject to bias (everyone wants to be the life of the party and the introspective genius). Sometimes I'm detached, other times I am very social.

As far as food preferences, I love cooking Asian foods. Korean, Thai, Indian. I really enjoy rich, bold flavors that some people shy away from. I'm also a bit connected to my Italian heritage. But unlike a lot of Italians I know, I don't believe in keeping recipes secret and I'm not really afraid to use unconventional ingredients in the context of Italian cooking. I love making a really well executed hamburger (and I loathe frozen "Bubbas" b/c they seem so restrictive, and I end up undercooking them because I only like cooking fresh meat). I prefer the grill and the gas stove.

I'm too impatient for pickling or charcuterie. Desserts and bread are really not my thing either...ok, well I take that back. I made some shortcut beignets that were badass, but that's because I love deep-frying stuff. Just got a bread machine though, and I'm itching to use it sometime this month.

[IndyRob]

The breakdown of types in your first post is striking.

Yes, that's what I noticed, and here we seem to have only 1/2 of an S so far. I strongly suspect that the N's are the ones that are interested in the MBTI and working out underlying principles in general.

Devour, I agree that it shouldn't be ascribed too much value. Us INTPs are put into a group that includes Albert Einstein and Bob Newhart. It's just a general categorization. Plus, I have a hypothesis that there are actually 81 types since a dash should be valid when there isn't a clear preference between two dimensions (e.g. E-TJ).

But I do find it useful at times. For example, I was once transferring a business process to someone else and I was showing her how to do it. So I started explaining the background and context and noticed that her eyes were glazed over and had a polite smile on her face. My ST alarm went off and I stopped myself and said "But you don't care about any of that. You just want the procedure." She burst out laughing and said "Just the procedure, sir."

When done as a team building exercise it's also useful to discuss the results among the team. In this case, even if the test is wrong about you, you can tell your team members that. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen in a business environment.

[Dakki]

I suspect the validity of the test on a couple of points:

-There doesn't seem to be any kind of statistical study done on the general population correlating these types or traits with some kind of measurable data. I'd be more convinced if they could show something like "98% of serial killers are ESTP" or "INTJ are 52% more likely to overpay for their auto insurance than the general population."

-Each variable has only one dimension, which is obviously (to me) oversimplified. E.g., an "introspective" might be a true loner who just doesn't care about the opinions of other people or they might be coping with shyness and cares too much about those opinions. An "intuitive" might make knee-jerk decisions because they are completely familiar with the contexts and patterns of how (whatever) behaves, and doesn't need to think about it or they might just have poor impulse control. Or a need to look decisive in front of the troops. And so on.

-Frankly, the descriptions kind of read like those "know your personality through astrology" things. They're worded in such a way that I think most people are going to recognize themselves in any of them.

So, uh, that came more critical than I really meant to be. It's an interesting topic and it's fun reading what everyone comes out as and how they think about food and cooking.

[IndyRob]

-There doesn't seem to be any kind of statistical study done on the general population correlating these types or traits with some kind of measurable data. I'd be more convinced if they could show something like "98% of serial killers are ESTP" or "INTJ are 52% more likely to overpay for their auto insurance than the general population."

Funny story... The first time I took the MBTI, it was part of a company sponsored Myers Briggs Institute seminar. We had an informational session in the morning, then took the test and then lunch. We had results upon our return. I got back early, as did some others, and the seminar leader was killing time by asking people about their results. She came to me and asked how I scored and I, knowing nearly nothing about test, said, "Well, I guess I'm an INTP" and handed her my score card.

She took it and looked at it and I saw her eyes widen a bit. "Uh oh", I thought. Then she said "You know, I've only seen INTP scores this clear once before...".

Oh, crap... Dahmer? Hitler!?....

"...and that was the creator of the test."

Huh. I guess that's not so bad. That's sort of a point of pride for me, but not the reason I like the test.

I've taken the MMPI (Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory). You can look for serial killers there. But not a test that sorts you into 16 groups.

-Each variable has only one dimension, which is obviously (to me) oversimplified. E.g., an "introspective" might be a true loner who just doesn't care about the opinions of other people or they might be coping with shyness and cares too much about those opinions. An "intuitive" might make knee-jerk decisions because they are completely familiar with the contexts and patterns of how (whatever) behaves, and doesn't need to think about it or they might just have poor impulse control. Or a need to look decisive in front of the troops. And so on.

There are multiple questions for each dimension and in the end there are four dimensions that factor into the final scores. It's not looking for psychopaths.

-Frankly, the descriptions kind of read like those "know your personality through astrology" things. They're worded in such a way that I think most people are going to recognize themselves in any of them.

I worried a lot about this at first. But I went through all the other profiles looking for this. While I did find statements I might like to associate myself with, it was an island in a sea of disagreement. Meanwhile, I could only find a couple sentences to quibble with in my own profile.

So, uh, that came more critical than I really meant to be. It's an interesting topic and it's fun reading what everyone comes out as and how they think about food and cooking.

No, I understand. I just wish we could get some other letters in here to provide some contrast.

[devour]

Testing again, it looks like I'm more E than I (60/40 split), but you can see the other traits are more solidly leaning one way than the other.

Here are the results:

Extroverted (E) 62.5% Introverted (I) 37.5%

Intuitive (N) 76.47% Sensing (S) 23.53%

Thinking (T) 79.31% Feeling (F) 20.69%

Perceiving (P) 89.29% Judging (J) 10.71%