Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a self-report, forced-choice questionnaire, assesses personality according to typologies proposed by Carl Jung. Administration of the MBTI takes approximately 10 minutes. The MBTI is used worldwide in diverse settings; most commonly, it assists in career development, professional team building, personnel selection, and counseling.

Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs authored the first version of the MBTI in 1962 to measure individual preferences between Jung's personality types. The test, most recently updated in 2001, identifies 16 types. Each is designated by its four-letter code. Each letter of the code indicates a preference for one manner of experiencing the world over another. For instance, an INTJ shows preferences for Introversion (over Extraversion), Intuition (over Sensing), Thinking (over Feeling), and Judging (over Perceiving).

The Introversion Extraversion dimension characterizes how people direct their energy. Introverts direct it internally, toward ideas and the subjective, and extraverts direct it externally, toward people and materials. The Intuition Sensing dimension identifies how people focus their perception. Intuitive types focus readily on abstraction and pattern, whereas [Page 676]Sensing types focus on concrete stimuli perceived by the senses. Individuals' scores on the Thinking Feeling dimension indicate the types of information on which they base decisions. Thinking types base decisions on attempted rationality and objectivity, whereas Feeling types prioritize maintenance of harmony with others and with their own values. The last dimension, Judging Perceiving, characterizes people's preferences for resolution, among Judging types, or open-ended situations, among Perceiving types. In the most recent revision, each dimension has been parsed into five facets for more nuanced interpretation.

These dimensions allow organizations, for instance, to use the MBTI for team building. After administering the test to a group, members'results can be used to stimulate conversation about their similarities or differences in work style and preferred level of socializing in completing tasks, among other topics. The MBTI provides a common vocabulary with which members can introduce themselves.

Scores are calculated for each dimension based on forced choices between the two sides of the dimension; for example, each item that loads on the Introversion Extraversion scale offers one choice that is weighted in favor of Introversion, and another weighted toward Extraversion. The sides of the four dimensions for which people most frequently show a preference comprise their type codes. Data used to select items and to provide evidence of validity for MBTI scores were collected from a nationally representative sample. The psychometric qualities for the scales and type codes are somewhat equivocal. Indicators of consistency over time for both scales and type codes and item to item on scales show poorer consistency than other measures frequently used to similar ends.