MBTI has long been opposed by psychologists. Why do so many people still believe?

Recently, I found that people like to use MBTI to label themselves: for example, when introducing myself, I am Sagittarius and I am intp. When you know others, you will also ask: What constellation are you? What's your personality type?

Then why do people like to define themselves with certain attributes?

I. Barnum effect

Barnum effect means that it is easy for people to believe an abstract and generalized personality description, thinking that it is particularly suitable for them and accurately reveals their personality characteristics, even if the content is empty.

This psychological effect will be applied to any personality test, especially when users have done most of the questions, they will be more inclined to approve the answers after doing them, because users have paid the cost and time.

The same is true of MBTI, which will make you do many questions, the most of which is 100, and will give you a reference after you finish the questions. Compared with the constellation, MBTI will let you do the problem, which is more reliable.

Second, it really works.

Whether the theory is rigorous or not is two different things.

MBTI is indeed metaphysics, but it is too easy to understand and use. Our psychological balance rooted in Hongmiao really can't beat this product in the market.

There are many psychological tests that are more reliable than it, but they are much more reliable than other strange superstitions, such as constellations, faces, birthdays and so on. And just do a little test to understand your personality characteristics.

Third, create a social currency.

One of the main reasons why MBTI is so popular is that it creates a social currency, that is, talking about capital. After MBTI became popular, a large number of users were talking about their own personality tags, such as what kind of people is ENFP suitable for? What is INTJ's personality? And made a lot of expression packs and some jokes. At the same time, there are other derivative creative directions, such as ENFJ's dress, love of food and so on. These are the reasons why MBTI continues to spread.

Fourth, quickly classify people.

In fact, we all know that everyone's personality is different, because of the influence of many factors, each of us is unique. Then why do people use constellations or MBTI to define themselves or others? This can actually be explained from two points of psychology.

1. Limited cognitive resources

The finiteness of cognitive resources means that people are limited by psychological energy when they classify and identify stimulus information. MBTI, similar to constellation, can be used to define others or ourselves, which can help us to know this person quickly and save cognitive resources.

2. The need for attribution

We are all individuals in social groups. When we come into contact with a certain kind of people, we will classify them into a certain category because of their similarity, or we will classify ourselves into a certain category to gain social identity and self-identity. Like southerners and northerners.

After the prevalence of MBTI, many people find the same kind in the name of personality, find * * * in mutual self-description and are more interested in the characteristics described.

As a topic and communication method in today's society, it may help you to establish a communication relationship with others quickly, but to what extent it can guide your life, my suggestion is: for reference only.