There is no objective way to type another person and no science that can verify your assessments of another person, so always type with humility and with the realisation that you can’t ultimately prove anything. But there are objective and scientific methods to do personality psychology in a way that will drive personal growth and increase your self-awareness.

The definitions and methods you use can give you valuable insight into another persons psychology, helping you predict their genuine motivations and interests, and in this, helping you become better at motivating other people and speaking to their interests. Or they can reflect personal bias and negative stereotypes you have formed because you don’t want to understand another person in a genuine and meaningful way.

An objective typology is not a typology that can gain objective evidence through observing a persons behaviour or body language, but a typology that can come up with meaningful methods and ques that work. Psychology is an applied science, and not a real science. It’s an applied science because it has developed many accurate and pragmatic methods to predict human behaviour and motivation. The foundation of psychology rests on its ability to encourage personal growth, treat trauma and anxiety, and help people manage stress and difficult experiences.

Too much content on personality psychology, the MBTI and Typology is rooted in personal bias. There’s a lack of critical thinking and careful evaluation of the concepts and theories that are used. Negative stereotypes are constantly reinforced and speed-typing is used to box people in. How can you type people through critical thinking and what can we do about the lack of critical thinking in the MBTI?

10 Steps To Type People In An Objective And Critical Manner

1. Get rid of biased opinions and assessments about a personality trait or at least be mindful of the bias you have when you are predicting another person’s personality type
2. Note down and be aware when you have a positive or negative impression of a person before you try to type them
3. Make sure you have looked at all the evidence presented to you before you rush to a conclusion about the person.
4. Take time to process and assess your read and note down the confidence you feel in your own assessment
5. Take note of arguments and evidence that contradict your read of the person and make sure you come up with an explanation or can correct this.
6. Look over your base definitions and the concepts you are using to read a person and MAKE SURE THEY WORK.
7. Make sure the other person is given a chance to challenge your read and to correct you if you have been misinformed or if you have misunderstood something.
8. Make sure the person you are typing is correctly informed on the concepts and the definitions you use so that they can self-evaluate their read over time.
9. Give the other person time to process and evaluate your read before you push/assert it on them — or there is a chance they will admit to or disagree with your read before having had time to look over the evidence.
10. Submit your methods and definitions to the other person if necessary so they can critically evaluate these and determine if they work

And most importantly…

• Have friends that can evaluate and apply the methods you use and work together with others to assess your reads!