You've probably seen them. Those slick, five-minute quizzes promising to reveal your "soul's DNA" or tell you why you’re basically a carbon copy of an INFJ. It's the myers briggs test short craze, and honestly, it's a bit of a mess. Everyone wants the shortcut. No one wants to spend forty minutes answering ninety-three questions about whether they prefer "orderly" or "spontaneous" environments.
But here’s the thing: when you shrink a complex psychological framework into a "quickie" quiz, things get weird. Very weird.
The Problem With "Short"
The official Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) isn't just a list of questions. It’s a proprietary tool owned by The Myers-Briggs Company. The real deal, specifically the Step I assessment, is a beast. It’s designed to filter out the noise of your current mood.
When you take a myers briggs test short on a random website, you’re usually getting a "proxy" test. These are unofficial versions that guess your type based on a handful of questions. Think of it like trying to diagnose a complex engine problem by just looking at the color of the car. It might work, but usually, it doesn't.
Most of these short versions rely on dichotomies. Are you an E or an I? An S or an N?
This "this or that" approach is where the science starts to wobble.
Real human personality doesn't live in buckets. It lives on a spectrum.
16Personalities: The Elephant in the Room
If you’ve taken a "short" version lately, it was probably 16Personalities.
Let's get one thing straight: 16Personalities is not actually an MBTI test. Wait, what?
It’s true. If you read their "Our Theory" page, they admit it’s actually based on the Big Five (OCEAN) model, but they use the Myers-Briggs letter codes because people recognize them.
They added a fifth letter, -A (Assertive) or -T (Turbulent). That’s basically just their way of measuring Neuroticism from the Big Five. It’s a clever bit of branding, but it’s not what Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs had in mind back in the 1940s.
Why Your Results Keep Changing
Ever take a myers briggs test short on a Monday and get ENFP, then take it again on a Friday and get INTJ?
You aren't a shapeshifter.
The test is just sensitive to "state" rather than "trait."
State is how you feel right now. Maybe your boss yelled at you, so suddenly you "prefer solitude" and "value logic over harmony." Trait is who you are at your core when you’re relaxed. Short tests are notoriously bad at separating the two.
Psychologists like Adam Grant have been vocal about this for years. He’s famously pointed out that the test-retest reliability of the MBTI is... well, it's not great. Research shows that as many as 50% of people get a different result when they retake the test just five weeks later.
The "Barnum Effect" Trap
Why do these short tests feel so accurate then?
It’s called the Barnum Effect. It’s the same reason horoscopes work.
If I tell you, "You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage," you’re going to nod and think, Wow, this test really gets me. In reality, that sentence applies to literally every human being on Earth.
Official assessments try to avoid this by using "forced-choice" questions that are harder to game. But the myers briggs test short versions you find for free? They often lean into these vague, feel-good descriptions. They want you to share your result on social media. They need you to feel "seen" so the algorithm keeps humming.
Is It All Just Pseudoscience?
The scientific community is split, but mostly leans toward "it’s a fun tool, but don't build a company on it."
The Big Five model is the gold standard for academic research because it’s predictive. It can actually guess how well you’ll do in certain jobs. The MBTI? Not so much.
The Myers-Briggs Company itself explicitly says you shouldn't use the test for hiring.
Yet, thousands of companies still do.
Why? Because it’s a great conversation starter.
It gives people a vocabulary to say, "Hey, I need time to think before I speak," without sounding like a jerk.
How to Actually Use a Short Test
If you’re still going to take a myers briggs test short, do it with your eyes open.
Don't treat it like a medical diagnosis.
Treat it like a mirror that might be slightly warped.
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- Be Honest, Not Aspirational: Don't answer how you want to be. If you’re a messy person who loses their keys every day, don't click "I value order and structure" just because you wish you did.
- Look at the Percentages: If a test says you’re 51% Introverted and 49% Extraverted, you’re basically an Ambivert. The letter "I" in your result is barely hanging on by a thread.
- Study Cognitive Functions: This is the "pro" move. Instead of just looking at the four letters, look up things like "Introverted Intuition" or "Extraverted Feeling." This is the actual theory Carl Jung developed. It’s way more interesting than a 20-question quiz.
What to Do Next
If you really want to understand your personality, skip the five-minute quizzes for a bit.
Start a "personality journal."
For one week, just notice when you feel energized and when you feel drained.
Do you get a buzz from a crowded room? Or do you feel like your battery is leaking?
Do you make decisions based on what’s "fair" or what’s "kind"?
That self-observation is worth more than any myers briggs test short you'll find in a Google search.
If you want a more "scientific" vibe, look for a free Big Five or IPIP-NEO test. They aren't as "fun" because they don't give you a cool nickname like "The Architect," but the data is much more stable.
At the end of the day, a four-letter code is a starting point, not a destination. You are allowed to be a "Judger" who has a messy desk. You’re allowed to be a "Thinker" who cries at Pixar movies. Don't let a short quiz put you in a box that's too small for you.
Next Steps for Accuracy
- Compare results: Take two different "short" versions (like 16Personalities and Truity) and see where they disagree. The contradictions are usually where your true growth areas live.
- Verify with a friend: Show your results to someone who knows you at your worst. If they laugh and say "That's not you at all," believe them over the algorithm.
- Read the official Manual: If you're a nerd for this stuff, the MBTI Manual contains the actual data on reliability and validity. It's a dry read, but it cuts through the internet fluff.