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Myers-Briggs personality type and fursonas

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Tiives

3.14
EDIT 04/13/13: The results are in! Any results posted after 04/13/13 will not be on the .doc file, but feel free to post your results if you haven't already.

On a certain thread on The Den, it has been questioned if there is some sort of connection between one's Myers-Briggs personality type and their fursona(s) species and personality. Do certain species tend to attract certain personalities? How does a furry personality influence their fursona? These kind of questions will be discussed in this thread.
Allow me to give some background to those who are not familiar with Myers-Briggs.

What is the Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI)?
Isabel Briggs Myers (*1897-†1980) along with her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs (*1875-†1968 ) created a questionnaire with 16 possible personality types, inspired by Carl Gustav Jung's (*1875-†1961) studies.

What are the possible personality types? How do they differ from eachother?
There are 16 different types. In short, what you need to know is that our personality, according to Myers and Briggs (and Jung, who was the first to propose introversion and extroversion), is divided between 4 distinct factors.
I *STRONGLY* recommend reading the links above if you're not familiar with this concept, or you will not understand your results, the results of other people and the discussions on this thread.
When combined, these 4 factors classify you into a Myers-Briggs personality type. Say, if I'm a ENTP, it means I am an Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking and Perceiving.

Sound great. Where can I take the test?
You can take the test by clicking here. It's a long test, so be ready. When you are done with the test, post your results, along with which species your fursona(s) is(are). Or if you had a fursona, what specie(s) it would be.

TL;DR: Take the test. Post your results. Tell us what species your fursona(s) is/are.

DISCLAIMER: As an online test, this is not an example of accuracy. Don't take the results too seriously.

PS: "my personality is better than your personality" fights are very common on the internet. There is no such thing as a "better" or "perfect" personality; each one has its good sides and its flaws.
PS2: I am no psychologist. If a fellow furry studied Psychology and want to correct anything I said, feel absolutely free to do so.

PARTIAL RESULTS (no pattern analyzed so far):
The hybrids are united with a "-". (A Fox and Husky hybrid would be listed as Fox-Husky). For those with more than one fursona, the species are separated with a "/". (Someone with a fox fursona and a husky fursona would be listed as Fox/Husky).

INTJ: Dragon/Margay-Argus Pheasant/Hellhound, Hellhound, Bobkitty, Dragon, Dragon, Cat-goat, Hyena, Wolf, shapeshifter (mainly dog/falcon)/dragon, Coyote, Wolf, Dragon-Hellhound,
INFJ: Otter, Wolf, Ferret, shapeshifter, Foxcoon (75% fox, 25% raccoon), *Unespecified (Canidae), Wolf,
INTP: Aardvark, Wolf, Cat, Sheep, Otter, Dragon, Fox, 50% Coyote-50% Fox-10% Jackal, Wolf, *Field Mouse, Sergal, Tiger,
INFP: Wolf, Reindeer, Fox, Brown Bear, *Field Mouse, *Unespecified (Canidae),
ISTJ: Rabbit, Sloth, Wolf, Cat-bat, Sergal, Wolf,
ISFJ: Fox, Wolf,
ISTP: Leopard, Cat, Coyote,
ISFP: Fox, Wolingo (Dingo-Wolf-Fox), Skunk,
ENTJ: Snow leopard, Sergal, Dragon,
ENFJ: Wolf-Husky/Lion, Wolf-fox, Rat,
ENTP: Otter,
ENFP: (Unespecified), Coyote, Otter,
ESTJ:
ESFJ: Corgi,
ESTP:
ESFP: Coyote,

I will try my best to keep this list updated. If you have answered what is your type but not your fursona species, you will be listed as Unespecified (or I will consider your species to be the one listed on your FAF profile - you know, the "Species: " thing). If I forgot to add you, slap me and I will add you.
 
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PsychicOtter

PsychicOtter

Otter Missionary
Interesting topic. I got ENTP, but the descriptions for ESFP and ENFP seem to fit me better. Here's a website that explains what they all mean:
http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html
Mine says:
"The Visionary-- Creative, resourceful, and intellectually quick. Good at a broad range of things. Enjoy debating issues, and may be into "one-up-manship". They get very excited about new ideas and projects, but may neglect the more routine aspects of life. Generally outspoken and assertive. They enjoy people and are stimulating company. Excellent ability to understand concepts and apply logic to find solutions."
And here's the long explanation:
http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ENTP.html
My fursona is an otter, which I guess goes along with the enthusiastic/extroverted part.
 
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Tyrbis

Tyrbis

New Member
This could be an interesting experiment. I hope more people will take participate.

My personality is ENTJ and as you can see my fursona is a snow leopard.
 
benignBiotic

benignBiotic

Banned
Banned
I am also an ISTJ. Known for being organized, reliable, and forthright.

I am a sloth. Known for being sleepy, sleeping, and eating leaves. I don't see a correlation here. I picked sloths because they are dope not because I relate to them in any way.
 
Troj

Troj

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dino Therapist
I'm an INTP (though I'm often on the cusp between J/P, and relate to aspects of both INTP and INTJ) and my fursona is an aardvark.

Thanks for creating this thread, Tiives!

As we speak, I'm feeding the answers (species and type) into Excel, with the intention of ultimately creating a graph, once we get a nice data set.
 
Ranguvar

Ranguvar

Member
INTP
Introvert(67%) iNtuitive(12%) Thinking(1%) Perceiving(6)%
You have distinctive preference of Introversion over Extraversion (67%)
You have slight preference of Intuition over Sensing (12%)
You have marginal or no preference of Thinking over Feeling (1%)
You have slight preference of Perceiving over Judging (6%)

Fursona=wuff
 
C

Calemeyr

Vere Adeptus
INFJ/INTJ for me. Fits me as I'm an introverted physics major who likes art. The reason I'm kinda both is I guess I give equal weight to social implications and logic, depending on the situation. Though I probably appeal to logic more often to be honest, so I'm probably more often a INTJ. But do have INFJ characteristics nonetheless. So I'm not sure I want to help people out through science I guess. Maybe I'm an INTJ trying to act like an INFJ. The description for INTJ on wikipedia fits me to a T, interestingly. The overall test gave I,N, and J as strong, with F/T being interchangeable as the T was weak.

I would be a "Mastermind" most of the time, and occasionally a "Counselor." I guess this fit's my fursona choice as a dragon, I'm into the workings of the world, but am somewhat of a loner. However, I also am not detached from the considerations of others, even though I'm not that social. When I'm frustrated, I tend to express it passively than actively as well. I am artistically inclined sometimes, but generally, it has to fit my hurried schedule, so I guess the "Mastermind" is dominant and the "Counselor" is secondary.

Who knows, I'm not a psychologist. This stuff is deep, man.
 
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badlands

drunken pirate
Introvert(78%) iNtuitive(12%) Thinking(12%) Judging(11%)

fursona: hellhound/direwolf
 
Kit H. Ruppell

Kit H. Ruppell

Exterminieren! Exterminieren!
Fox fursona, unspecified species.

ISFP
Introvert(22%) Sensing(62%) Feeling(12%) Perceiving(56)%


  • You have slight preference of Introversion over Extraversion (22%)
  • You have distinctive preference of Sensing over Intuition (62%)
  • You have slight preference of Feeling over Thinking (12%)
  • You have moderate preference of Perceiving over Judging (56%)
 
Greycoat

Greycoat

Member
Got another ISTJ over here

Although personally my view of wolves is skewed. I used to think they were effective calculating murder machines that can survive harsh climates. But I've seen them used to portray Try-Hard trailer park trash, wise noble elders, horny bar locals, cuddle puppies, strong gallant warriors, and awesome chick magnet sweaters. So at this point I don't have any idea what wolves SHOULD be.
 
Rivers Bluetail

Rivers Bluetail

Furry Little Blue Guy
I'm an INFP, and I have a Wolf fursona. I'm noticing that other wolves and foxes are having similar results. I really don't think it's a coincidence, wolves represent (to me) the best parts of me and what virtues I value most.
 
tharesan.alae

tharesan.alae

Wolfie Artist
Mmm, this is such a subjective topic that there is probably not a connection between personality and species. I'll just explain a little using the wolf, my fursona.

Person #1 might pick a wolf because he/she likes the way they look
Person #2 might pick a wolf because they are popular, and he/she wants to fit in
Person #3 " " because wolves are social outcasts (in some cultures), and he/she feels it fits him
Person #4 " " because wolves are carnivores/predators, and he/she relates to that
Person #5 " " because they are team players and are monogamous, and he/she values that

You could find plenty of other people who chose the same species for different reasons. There might be some tendencies, caused by a link between a certain personality type and the most common perceptions about a species, but it's subject to change because common perception can change over time.

Even the test itself isn't going to be perfectly accurate since it relies on what you think of yourself, which may be far from what you really are.

Anyways, I'm I(40) N(40) F(12) J(30)

Also, a response to Rivers: A larger question needs to be asked about 'I'.

Let's look at 'I/E'. Everyone but Tyrbis was an I (is that because mostly introverts use forums? Or perhaps everyone views themselves as an introvert?). You pretty much have to cut this one out, because it's not doing it's job or the demographic is majorly 'I'.
N/S. 8 N's, 4 S's. 4N/2S for wolves/foxes. Same ratio distribution for everyone else that isn't a wolf.
F/T. 8 T's, 3 F's. 3F/3T for wolves/foxes. No consensus for wolves.
J/P. 7 J's, 5 P's. 3J/3P for wolvse/foxes. No consensus for wolves again.

So now if you put combinations of the letters together, you still don't have an overwhelming majority of the same thing.

INFJ
INFP
ISTJ
ISFP
INTJ
INTP

Not a single one of those wolves was the same lol. Bottom line, we aren't animals or even linked to animals in the way that is being tested. We all chose animals for personal reasons.
 
Springdragon

Springdragon

Active Member
I usually scored INTJ. Strong preferences for everything except Intuition (50%). Especially strong preference for Judging(100%). In general, I find the Meyers-Briggs index to be accurate. I've taken the inventory several times over the years, and the only thing that fluctuates is N/S. I think it depends on how I interpret the question on that particular day. I don't have a preference for my own data or secondhand data, but I always analyze it logically.

It fits quite well. Personality tests that don't work or have glaring flaws, usually don't stick around for professional use as long as the Meyers-Briggs inventory has. It's true that a person's view of him/her self is different than other's perception, but so long as everyone is facing the same limitation, it's possible to use the results to compare people to each other. (Thus, you can compare results from each person answering questions about him/her self, or results from one person answering questions about all of the subjects, but not mix the two.) Even if the respondent has a tendency to idealize him/her self, the answer will vary based on what the respondent values.


My personal sona is a creator-dragon and my functional sona is a working dog. I've described it as a Slytherin pretending to be a Hufflepuff. Slytherins are naturally powerful, but everyone (except other Slytherins) hates them. If I want to get along with others, I need to change my behavior to be doglike, even if I can't change my internal dragon nature.



Theresan - Save it for the sources of error. For all we know there could be a very strong correlation because a person's personality also has an effect on the reason he or she chooses a particular fursona. We can't know until we look at the data.

Just to be safe, we might also include in our data, the person's age, time in the fandom, and number of previous fursonas, since people sometimes go through a number of species before finding one that fits, just as teenagers and young adults will try out several different personalities before settling.
 
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Nataku

Nataku

Shapeshifting alien dragon
INTJ - I'll agree with the test on this, fits rather well (maybe too well, it spells out all my major flaws quite plainly as well). I know what I know, if its something you need help with I'll help. If I don't know, I'll point you in the direction of someone who does.

I have three fursonas, each tending to surface more when a particular set of personality traits is more dominant. Nataku, however, is the most common, if only one is to be counted in the chart. I look forward into seeing the chart as well Troj.

Margay/Argus Pheasant hybrid - Tsudomai - The nice, friendly one who just wants everyone to get along and play nice. Childish, naive, oblivious.
Red Dragon - Nataku - the calm, even-minded one who keeps the other two in check, prevents Sytalith from killing anybody and Tsudomai from accidentally lighting herself or someone else on fire. The brains of the operation.
Irish Setter/hellhound - Sytalith - irish setter who just won't die like a proper dog. She's twisted, spiteful, sarcastic and would just as soon everyone go jump off a cliff. And if you don't jump quick enough, she'll be happy to give you a helpful shove in the right direction.
 
Dreaming

Dreaming

Member
By some miracle I'm ENFP. My fursonas are sorta funny, the earlier ones are shy introverts, the newer ones are outright extroverts
 
Troj

Troj

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dino Therapist
Well, thus far, I'm not seeing any patterns (that I can identify with my peepers) with regards to species and personality type.

I wonder if the relationship exists at the much deeper level of WHY people choose their fursona, or how they use or express their fursona.

Hey, how about we throw the Big Five into the mix? Here: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/
 
Springdragon

Springdragon

Active Member
Troj said:
Well, thus far, I'm not seeing any patterns (that I can identify with my peepers) with regards to species and personality type.

I wonder if the relationship exists at the much deeper level of WHY people choose their fursona, or how they use or express their fursona.

Hey, how about we throw the Big Five into the mix? Here: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/
Click to expand...

80/94/5/4/22 for Big Five. I used to score 40-60 for neuroticism, but I suppose that makes sense. Life has become much less dangerous and stressful since last few times I took it.

Edit: Don't give up yet Troj, we have three dragons with INTJ.

It might also help to put the fursonas into categories such as large/small, common/uncommon, predator/prey.
 
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Holtzmann

Holtzmann

Juular.
INTJ here, for what it's worth:
Introvert(11%), Intuitive(75%), Thinking(38%), Judging(67%)

Big cat/goat hybrid fursona.


Troj said:
Well, thus far, I'm not seeing any patterns (that I can identify with my peepers) with regards to species and personality type.

I wonder if the relationship exists at the much deeper level of WHY people choose their fursona, or how they use or express their fursona.
Click to expand...
It's probably because while cool, the Myers-Briggs test wasn't built using proper scientific method. Its definitions are arbitrary, they weren't a result of testing or trials. People can score differently depending on their current mood, after all. The fact it's not actually used by therapists as a guideline for directing treatment (but as an ice-breaker instead) should be enough indication that not much faith should be put into it.

Still, it's a fun way to waste some time (like reading a horoscope). The Big Five is also interesting (and a bit more reliable, from what I've learned), I think I'll try that one out as well.

EDIT: here we go!
Openness 80
Conscientiousness 13
Extraversion 42
Agreeableness 32
Neuroticism 55

That was fun!
 
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Troj

Troj

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dino Therapist
Holtzmann said:
It's probably because while cool, the Myers-Briggs test wasn't built using proper scientific method. Its definitions are arbitrary, they weren't a result of testing or trials. People can score differently depending on their current mood, after all. The fact it's not actually used by therapists as a guideline for directing treatment (but as an ice-breaker instead) should be enough indication that not much faith should be put into it.
Click to expand...

True indeed!

The trade-off (which is why I brought it up originally) is that it's pretty parsimonious, easy to access, and relatively easy to interpret. The more valid personality tests are also typically less accessible, longer, and more complicated, so they don't lend themselves to goofing around on the Internet :). The most valid ones are typically owned by large assessment corporations which will murder you in your sleep if you violate their copyright.

And, sadly, many of the measures I've been formally trained in are designed to suss out pathology/aid in diagnosis, or assess for cognitive deficits. Not gonna help us here :).

And I just don't like the Enneagram, which is another popular, readily-accessible, well-known personality typing system beloved by many. I find the thing confusing and not very helpful, myself.

Holtzmann--On horoscopes etc., I'd doubt there'd be any real or meaningful relationship between species and sun sign, but it might potentially be fun and interesting to look at modes and elements across charts, in conjunction with species. That would require a lot of work on the part of someone who really knows their way around astrology, and who would be willing to do furry ephemerides until their eyeballs explode. ;)

NOT IT!

Again, I'm not sure how valid or helpful it would be, in the end, but it might at least be entertaining.
 
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Holtzmann

Holtzmann

Juular.
Troj said:
True indeed!

The trade-off (which is why I brought it up originally) is that it's pretty parsimonious, easy to access, and relatively easy to interpret. The more valid personality tests are also typically less accessible, longer, and more complicated, so they don't lend themselves to goofing around on the Internet :).

And I just don't like the Enneagram, which is another popular, readily-accessible, well-known personality typing system beloved by many. I find the thing confusing, myself.
Click to expand...
It was more a matter of "don't look too deeply into it". People just love to put others into buckets, and the Myers-Briggs classification system reinforces that. We're really good at pattern-matching, so even if we do find some correlation between species and personality, it'll probably be just coincidence.

Well, unless we get A LOT of people to do this thing. That would help smooth out some of the roughness of the personality test. Still, I prefer the Big Five. Numbers are harder to give meaning to, but they also don't split people nearly as much, and they allow for much more nuance.
 
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