Personality types and astrology

Talking about things that are dumb today, so fans of the two things listed are not going to get much out of this, also I am not a psychologist so there's that, I don't know who would get anything out of this honestly.
Perhaps if you do get something out of it, you can figure out which of the Myers-Briggs personality types you are, then we will know who this is written for, or perhaps you can tell me your sign and I will know more.

Now you may get a hint of disdain from this, and you would not be wrong, I have exactly zero time for astrology and almost as little regard for the Myer-Briggs stuff, but in a lot of ways they are very similar and prey on some basic pieces of human nature.

We love to categorize things and people, this probably comes out of the pattern recognition process that our evolutionary ancestors used to determine threats and learn about seasonal variations and so on, it is also the basis for the scientific process. But we see patterns in everything, even when there is nothing to see, there is a school of thought in clinical psychology, backed up by some patients, that people with Schizo-effective disorders have the majority of their problems come from this aspect of themselves being overdeveloped, their mind makes connections that they cannot consciously justify or explain, but seem of the utmost importance.

What I am saying is we can take it too far, astrological signs and astrology in general are one way we've gone, it once was a theory to explain how people act, but we know better now.
For reference, the position of the stars and the planets in our solar system have approximately no influence on your daily life, except for how the sun heats the Earth, and the moon effects the tides, and the occasional largish rock hitting the planet. We do know a fair bit more about the universe than we once did, but the more we know, the less astrology holds up.

The link I put up earlier for the astrological signs has description of the personality types that theoretically fall under their respective signs, I am a Cancer by the way, which I like because I like crabs, they are neat and tasty, the description of Cancer fits me okay:

Strengths: Tenacious, highly imaginative, loyal, emotional, sympathetic, persuasive
Weaknesses: Moody, pessimistic, suspicious, manipulative, insecure
Cancer likes: Art, home-based hobbies, relaxing near or in water, helping loved ones, a good meal with friends
Cancer dislikes: Strangers, any criticism of Mom, revealing of personal life

There are a few misses in there, but you could apply most of this to me, however in the full description in the link, it also describes my ruling planet as being the moon, whatever that means, this is unconscionable, clearly the moon is not a planet and this was written by a madman, let's look at Libra, to pick something at random:

Strengths: Cooperative,diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded, social
Weaknesses: Indecisive, avoids confrontations, will carry a grudge, self-pity
Libra likes: Harmony, gentleness, sharing with others, the outdoors
Libra dislikes: Violence, injustice, loudmouths, conformity

Well hmm, I would say the Strengths are perhaps not that accurate, but everything else is pretty close, especially the grudge part, Venus rules Libra's, so at least they get a real planet, but they also like "Insurmountable discussions" and I have no damn idea what that means.

And so on, the point is, the descriptions in this are all vague enough to apply to literally anyone, and the weaknesses are all carefully chosen to not be so negative that one would object too strenuously to having them applied to them.

Astrology is bunk, but personality tests are pretty much bunk too, the Myers-Briggs is the most popular and widespread system of categorization around, it is basically an expansion on Jungian-you know what? Read the Wikipedia article up there, it's pretty well researched from what I can tell, here is a full list of the types and their descriptions, and free tests are easily available on the internet to determine your type, I had to take one once to work in a call center, lord knows why. I think I got INTJ, which means I:

Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals. Quickly see patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives. When committed, organize a job and carry it through. Skeptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance - for themselves and others.

Like with the Cancer description above, it seems to fit me reasonably well, we are demonstrating skepticism right now at any rate, but you know, I don't fully recall my test, it was years ago after all, perhaps I was ENTJ:

Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.

Well that ain't bad either, perhaps I should take another test.


Okay that is done, turns out according to the test I took I am ISTP:

Tolerant and flexible, quiet observers until a problem appears, then act quickly to find workable solutions. Analyze what makes things work and readily get through large amounts of data to isolate the core of practical problems. Interested in cause and effect, organize facts using logical principles, value efficiency.

Well, I am not too sure about being efficient, and might disagree at being able to get through large amounts of data, but the other stuff sort of works.

So which is it? Once again we look at these qualities, they share similarities with the astrological signs in that they are broad, they all have enough different descriptions that are just non-specific enough that some of them will apply to a person no matter who they are. Additionally they have almost no negative traits listed, making it much easier to apply to oneself, we don't like to think about our negatives after all.
The Myers-Briggs was created specifically to be this way, and the creators looked at the results they got and said: "It works! Everyone who took this test that we created to apply to everyone found something that applied to them!"
To be fair, or possibly more unfair, neither Isabel Briggs Myers or her mother, Katherine Cook Briggs were psychologists, nor did they appear to have any formal training in the field, which wouldn't have been too unusual especially in moms case, it being the turn of the 20th century and education for women not exactly being the going thing at the time.

But the point remains, we put a lot of credence into an overly broad test that was not actually created by people who really knew what they were doing. Similarly to how people still put their faith in astrology.

At least in large part it doesn't hurt anybody, it's pretty annoying when you run into somebody who is really excited about astrology, and the damned Myers-Briggs is inescapable, with companies making hiring decisions influenced by it, but these things don't, you know, kill people, at least not without assistance from other mental instabilities anyway. whatever, it was on my mind.