Learning to understand ourselves and others is a big part of life, and it can be hard work. No matter what our undertaking in life is, we must have the appropriate tools to work with. Fortunately for us, there is a psychological tool that allows us to do exactly that.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator — ‘MBTI’ for short — is used to describe a person’s overall personality and life preferences. It tries to describe how people gather and process information. It should be noted that given the incredibly complex and unique nature of individuals, Myers-Briggs is not the sole means of portraying a person’s identity. Each personality type has their own strengths and weaknesses, but all types are considered equal. So…what exactly is it, then? Well…
First, a brief history…
The MBTI was originally developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Through Katherine Briggs’ interest in Psychological Types, a book written by Carl Jung and first published in 1921, the mother and daughter team began to design their an application for his type theory. One of the other leading intentions was to help first-time industrial workers during World War II find a job in which they could be most comfortable and most efficient. It grew in size until it was officially published by Educational Testing Services. With that bit of history out of the way, let’s take a better look…
How it works…
There are four scales to the MBTI — they are based on a person’s preference.
| Extroversion — Introversion: This scale describes a person’s preference of spending energy. An extrovert (E) prefers to focus on the outside world, while an introvert (I) prefers to direct or conserve his energy inward to the inside world. |
iNtuitive — Sensing This scale describes a person’s preference for gathering information. An iNtuitive (N) type seeks to understand patterns and the big picture, while a Sensor (S) type is more comfortable with data that is present-based, and concrete. |
| Thinking — Feeling This scale describes a person’s preference for decision making. A Thinker (T) prefers to make decisions on logic, a Feeler (F) prefers to base them on value and worth. |
Judging — Perceiving This scale describes a person’s lifestyle. Judgers (J) prefer using their Judging functions in their outer life (T/F), while Perceivers (P) prefer to use their perceiving functions (N/S). |
One type from each of these categories are chosen, giving us a total configuration of 16 different personality types. Again, individual personalities are complex, and we can’t cram everybody into 16 ‘boxes,’ but we can use this model to assist us in understanding ourselves and others.
In the next article, we’ll take a deeper look at how the configuration of these letters describe a hierarchy of cognitive functions. For now, this is an adequate introduction to the history and structure of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Le Histore~
Nicely briefed details. Not as brief as the intro that I remember in high school: “Take this online quiz and something-something your personality ~ GO!”
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