■ Wu Jinjiao, reporter of this newspaper

"Are you an I person, or an E person?" With the start of school imminent, open the social platform or the WeChat group of college freshmen, and the topic of "breaking the ice" and choosing roommates in the group of Generation Z focuses on the English alphabet. This is not some encrypted conversation, but the English initials of the popular MBTI personality test results. To put it simply, I (Introversion) is more introverted, E (Extroversion) is more extroverted, and the two correspond to "social fear" and "social cow" respectively.

If in the past, two young people who met for the first time mainly judged whether they were "in harmony" from topics such as interests and horoscopes, now this standard has been switched to the MBTI test. On Weibo, 34.3 billion views of related topics were received. The 2023 freshman statistical questionnaire of a university in Beijing specially sets up MBTI options, and the personality judgment according to the test results is used to guide the allocation of dormitories, which has triggered discussion.

According to psychologists, the popularity of MBTIs is related to the desire of young people to have a more efficient and faster-paced dating and job search experience. In order to find partners more quickly, many young people think that it is the most effective way to know who they are and what type they are suitable for in advance. However, some experts have warned that similar tests are not serious enough. It is important to know that human character is fluid and changes with experience. A person's personality cannot be equated with personality, work ability, etc., and mutual tolerance is more important in interpersonal communication than brushing out a pleasing personality.

Is the "social password" sought after by young people reliable?

Nowadays, MBTI is becoming a personal business card for young people's social networking sites. For example, to open some social apps, netizens need to select their MBTI type first when filling in basic information. A large number of MBTI-themed groups or discussion boards have been spawned online.

MBTI is an acronym for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and everyone who completes the MBTI personality test will be given a 4-letter code, which brings a total of 16 personalities. Olympic champion Gu Ailing once revealed in an interview that her MBTI personality test result is INTJ - architect personality, that is, imaginative and strategic thinker.

So, how scientific is the MBTI?

"We rarely use the MBTI test in academic research." Yao Qi, associate professor at the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences at East China Normal University, said that even if psychological research uses personality tests, it often uses scales based on rigorous empirical data and rigorous psychometric examination procedures, such as the "Big Five Personality Test". The MBTI is based on Jung's personality theory framework generated by personal introspection, and the descriptive words used in the 16 personalities are biased towards praise, and the test subjects can always find similarities in them, project them onto the self, and form psychological pleasures.

"Psychologically, we also call it the Barnum effect." Yao Qi explained that it is easy for people to believe a general description of personality, and think that it is particularly suitable for themselves, and accurately reveal their personality characteristics.

Cao Neng, director of the Career Development Center of Fudan University's School of Management, believes that the MBTI test is more entertaining than serious. The reason why it is rapidly popular on the Internet, like the so-called constellation analysis and some emotional and occupational tests, is relatively high in the population because of its simple classification and closer to daily experience judgment.

Be wary of "character facelift", and your personality grows rich because of experience

When will MBTIs become popular among young people? "In our conversations with students, we found that the MBTI test allows young people to quickly show their self-labels, more directly find people with similar characteristics, and is very suitable for 'icebreaker' occasions, which can quickly open up the topic." Cao Neng said that some students even referred to it as "me and my instruction manual."

Speaking of MBTI, Yao Yuhong, professor of the Mental Health Education and Counseling Center of Tongji University, analyzed that this is related to the desire of contemporary young people to understand themselves, explore themselves deeply, and quickly find friends and workplaces suitable for development. However, it is worth warning that under the impetus of peers and idols, MBTI has become a kind of "personality". For example, in order to obtain the same personality as idols, some teenagers repeatedly brush the test and lean up, and even have a chain of personality contempt.

"MBTI test results can be used as a reference, but they are not of absolute significance." Yao Yuhong believes that people's personality will change with the richness of their own experience and experience, so as to continuously harvest spiritual growth. "Therefore, once the person's personality is labeled, used to characterize people, and even become a hard indicator of making friends, choosing a mate, and screening, this changes the taste." Yao Yuhong said that especially the "character plastic surgery" behavior of young people who repeatedly test their ideal character in order to cater to others is too much.

Create a good ecology, and good character is cultivated in real situations

"People are not only multifaceted, but also highly malleable." An expert who has been engaged in psychological counseling in colleges and universities for many years bluntly said that compared with improving the so-called social skills, it is more important for current educators to create a good ecology and situation for the healthy growth of adolescents, help them develop their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, improve their personality, and achieve self-growth. That's what education is all about.

"At the end of the day, some of the core of interpersonal communication, such as mutual acceptance, tolerance, and even compromise when necessary, need to be exercised in real situations." For example, Yao Yuhong gave an example that there are many real scenes in real life, such as how to resolve conflicts with others, how to express disagree with others' views, how to adjust your psychological state in a timely manner after encountering setbacks, get out of the emotional trough, and so on. There are no ready-made answers to all of this, and the approach varies from person to person.