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Exposing Psychology, Exalting Christ |
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| Does "Career Direct" use MBTI, DISC, or some other personality assessment tool?Question: Do you have any idea if "Career Direct" assessment is based on MBTI* (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator*)? (Crown Financial Ministries, see http://www.crown.org/cartproducts/product.asp?sku=CD970&aid=SCHOM). Have recently purchased it in order to help my 10th grade daughter evaluate gifting and aptitudes for higher education...but after reading the MBTI articles (see http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0408_MBTI.htm), am beginning to wonder about it. If you are familiar with this program, can you give me your take on it? --JH, Internet
Answer: We browsed the Crown Financial Ministries site you gave us, and while we couldn't identify what personality test is used in the "Career Direct" assessment, the same organization also offers a personality profiling test called "Team Personality I.D." that is based on DISC (see http://www.crown.org/cartproducts/product.asp?sku=TP931&aid=SCHOM). So their other tests could use DISC as well. DISC is a personality assessment tool developed by the late psychologist and feminist theorist Dr. William Marston (1893 - 1947) and now used by many churches in their hiring and counseling services. He developed the tool in the 1920s to attempt to better understand human behavior. He theorized that people's behaviors could be categorized as active (acts on situation) or passive (adjusts to situation) based on the person's perception of that situation being either favorable (more power over situation) or unfavorable (less power over situation). This produced four types of behaviors (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance), identified in Dr. Marston's 1926 book The Emotions of Normal People: D - Dominance - Challenge Person is active in an unfavorable environment. Designed to measure how you respond to problems or challenges. I - Influence - Contacts Person is active in a favorable environment. Designed to measure how you influence other people to your point of view. S - Steadiness - Consistency Person is passive in a favorable environment. Designed to measure how you respond to the pace of the environment. C - Compliance - Constraints Person is passive in an unfavorable environment. Designed to measure how you respond to rules and procedures set by others. Dr. Marston believed that people viewed themselves according to one of the behaviors above. While the Jung-based MBTI personality test uses psychoanalytic psychology dealing with the subconscious, Dr. Marston's DISC personality test clearly uses behavioristic psychology, which generally holds that our environment determines our behavior, and we must use various psychological tools to help us identify and modify our behavior to better suit our environment. Although the MBTI and DISC stem from different psychological branches, they are both branches of the same man-centered, God-denying tree. Ungodly men have created these personality profiling assessments to help the world understand themselves better and find direction in life apart from God. But Christians don't need man-made help systems because we have the Scriptures and God in our hearts to illuminate the path He has marked out for us (Ps. 119:105, Hebrews 12:1). We would not recommend using the DISC, MBTI, or any other personality profiling system for career planning, because it causes us to depend more on man's interpretation of the heart than on the living God who knows us better than any man does (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Perhaps a better route would be to see what kinds of passions and desires your daughter has related to her future career. What does she enjoy doing? What are her favorite subjects? God has probably put those desires into her heart, and God will also give her the abilities to excel in those areas: "For it is God who works in you both to WILL [desire] and to DO [ability] according to His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13). As her mother, you know her desires and abilities better than any other human being, including the creators of the Career Direct system. These man-made, psychology-based systems of guidance and direction could lead us down a path that is not God's best for us. Before the foundation of the world, God chose your daughter and prepared the good works for your daughter to do (Eph. 1:4, 2:10). We would encourage the two of you to pray together and seek the Lord for what "good works" those might be. We would also encourage you two to discuss what desires and abilities God has given your daughter. We are confident that the Holy Spirit will lead you into God's good, acceptable and perfect will for her life (Rom. 12:2).
* The Myers-Briggs Type lndicator and MBTI are registered trademarks of Consulting Psychologists Press.
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