Friday, December 21, 2007

What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

It is a self-report questionnaire designed to make Carl Jung's (1875-1961) theory of psychological types understandable and useful (Briggs Myers, 1993, p1). It leads to greater self knowledge and helps to identify strengths, unique gifts, motivations and areas for growth. It was developed by Kathrine Cook Briggs (1875-1968) and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers (1897-1980) keenly studied human personality and elaborated on Carl Jung's work in this area. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was developed during World War II to reduce the waste of human potential and has been developed ever since (Briggs Myers, 1993, p1).

Jung's theory of psychological type suggests that predictable differences in individuals are caused by preferences in the way people used their minds (Briggs Myers, 1993, p2). The mind is usually doing one of two things (Briggs Myers, 1993, p2):
1. Perceiving or taking in information and
2. Judging or ordering information and arriving at a conclusion.

From these two functions Jung observed that there were two ways to perceive and judge (Briggs Myers, 1993, p2):
1. Perceive - i). Sensing ii). Intuition
2. Judging - iii). Thinking iv). Feeling

People use all four of these processes everyday and Jung observed that people have preferences toward certain types (Briggs Myers, 1993, p2). These processes are experienced in two distinct areas: Externally in the environment, people and experiences (Extraversion) and internally in thought and reflection (Introversion) and Jung observed that that people were drawn to one type environment.

Hence the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a matrix of 16 possible personality types based on 4 scales (Briggs Myers, 1993, p3):
1. Where a person prefers to focus their attention: (Extraversion or Introversion)
2. How does a person prefer to take in information: (Sensing or Intuition)
3. How does a person prefer to make decisions: (Thinking or Feeling)
4. What way does a person prefer to position themselves to the external world: (Judging or Perceiving)
Please note that extrovert does not mean talkative, introvert does not mean shy, feeling does not mean emotional, judging does not mean judgemental and perceiving does not mean perceptive.

The matrix of types:
Sensing Types Sensing Types Intuitive Types Intuitive Types
Introverts ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ
Introverts ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
Extroverts ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
Extroverts ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

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