myers brigg type indicator

The Myers Brigg Type Indicator An Overview

The shared vision of Katherine Biggs and Isabel Myers was to “enable individuals to grow through an understanding and appreciation of individual differences in healthy personality and to enhance harmony and productivity among diverse groups”.

Briggs and Meyers believed that Carl Jung’s understanding of human development, his theoretical model encompassing psychological type, his concept of the process of individuation, and his structure of the psyche offered the most promising approach.

Their mission was to give the individual access to the benefits of this understanding.

MBTI manual: a guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs type indicator instrument. CPP, 2003.

Theory

The essence of Jung’s theory is that much seemingly variation in behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the way individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

The MBTI personality inventory is based on Jung’s ideas about how different ways of perceiving and judging, in combination with different attitudes, describe different types of people.

Theory


Perception and judgment are conceived of as mental functions, the term attitudes refers to orientation of energy and orientation to the external world.

General interest in this personality tool is due to the fact that almost every human experience involves either perception or judgment and is played out in either the extraverted world of action or introverted world of reflection.

Theory


Every individual is unique.

Each of us is a product of heredity and environment and, as a result, is different from everyone else.

The doctrine of uniqueness, however, gives no practical help in understanding the people whom we must educate, counsel, work with or interact with in our personal lives.

In practice we tend to assume unconsciously that other people’s minds work on principles as our own. All too often, however, the people with whom we interact do not reason as we reason, do not value or are interested in what interests us.

The assumption of similarity, therefore, can promote misunderstanding of the motives and behaviors of people whose minds operate quite differently from our own.

Theory


The challenges involved in constructing the MBTI instrument derive from the nature of Carl G. Jung’s theory of psychological types.

The intent of the Indicator is not to measure people or the traits they are said to “have” or possess, but rather to sort people into groups to which, in theory, they already belong.

The object of the MBTI instrument is to determine the person’s preference on each of the four dichotomies so that these results can be reported to the person as a four letter type.

Although the measurement of preferences is currently obtained on four individual scales, the results are meant to be interpreted as whole types.

The assumption is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Theory


The value of the theory underlying the Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory is that it enables us to expect specific differences in specific people and to cope with people and their differences more constructively than we otherwise could.

Briefly, the theory is that much seemingly chance variation in human behavior in fact is not due to chance; it is the logical result of a few basic, observable preferences.

Theory


The MBTI instrument differs from most other personality instruments in that the theory upon which it is based postulate dichotomies.

These dichotomies are believed to reflect innate psychological or mental dispositions.

The MBTI instrument is different from typical trait approaches to personality that measure variation along a continuum, instead the MBTI seeks to identify a respondent’s status on either one or the other of two opposite personality categories, both which are regarded as neutral in relation to emotional health, intellectual functioning, and psychological adaptation.

Each of the categories specified in the instrument represents a multifaceted domain of psychological functioning. The assumption here is that one of each pair of categories is inherently more appealing than the other to a particular respondent. Thus the forced-choice format of items is designed to reveal a preference between equally viable mental process and attitudes. (Right Handed versus Left Handed).

Why the MBTI is Different


People who take the MBTI inventory may make important life decisions based on the results.

These results have a significant impact on a person’s self understanding and self-esteem.

Results can affect how individuals on teams interact with each one another or can help identify sources of job satisfaction.


MBTI – Practical Use

As a consulting tool, the MBTI can serve as a nonthreatening vehicle to introduce the concept of individual differences in personality and the relation between personally constructs and behavior to a general audience.

Counselors use the MBTI for individual, group, and family counseling for issues of self understanding, communications, career planning, learning and life long development. In Education, the MBTI is used by teachers in curriculum and instruction to reach 16 types of learners.

MBTI applications in organizations include team building, leadership development, improving communication, career development, outplacement, problem solving, quality and managing change.


McCaulley, M. H. (2000). Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: A bridge between counseling and consulting. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 52(2), 117.

MBTI results do not “tell” a person who she or he is.

Rather, individual respondents are viewed as experts who are best qualified to judge accuracy of the type descriptions that result from their self-report.

The type descriptions are designed to reflect a theory that includes a model of development that continues throughout the lifespan. As a result, specific hypotheses relevant to different ages and stages of life can be made and tested empirically. For example, the theory predicts that younger persons are generally less clear and consistent in their preferences than are more mature individuals. As a result, we expect lower reliability coefficients when testing samples of young people and higher reliabilities with older subjects.

The MBTI dichotomies are concerned with basic attitudes and mental functions that enter into almost every aspect of behavior; therefore the scope of practical applications is broad rather than narrow and includes quite varied aspects of living.



A major strength of the MBTI comes from the type descriptions Isabel Myers wrote for each type.

Each description begins with the characteristics of the type at its best when the dominant is well developed and then adds the strengths from the auxiliary.

The description is a kind of road map to the gifts of each type. It ends with a comment on blind spots if the auxiliary does not develop to balance the dominant.

The positive tone of the type descriptions makes the MBTI more affirming than personality tests that focus on problems.

When explaining types to clients, consultants should make sure there is time for the individual to understand the type preferences and then decide if the MBTI type is actually the best fit.



The goal of the latest revision Form M in 1998 was to make the theory of psychological types described by Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives.

The new standard form M used a different statistical method for scoring from one used in earlier parts.

MBTI should be viewed as a dynamic tool:

Specifying that the MBTI Tool is a personality inventory rather than some other kind of assessment tool discourages its misuse as a simple measure of a particular construct such as “cognitive styles”.

An associated and far more serious issue is mistaking the MBTI instrument for a personality trait measure rather than a dynamic typology.

MBTI – Form M


Administration:Eighth grade reading levelAge 14 and overLatest version Form M (computer scoring) & Form M self-scorable (hand score)93 ItemsApproximate time for Administration: 15-25

Guidelines:Remember, there are no right or wrong answersIt is best not to think too long about any questions, your first response is likely to be most true for you.If you cannot decide on the question, skip it.

MBTI – Administration


When asking respondents to take the MBTI Instrument, consider the probable type of the individual client. Sensitivity to the following can also increase cooperation:- Sensing type will want to know that the information will have some

practical value.- Intuitive types will want to see possible future benefits. They may also find

the choice between alternatives frustrating, they like the widest possible range of possibilities.

- Thinking types can be expected to be skeptical, since skepticism is an important part of their type. It helps to acknowledge the skepticism and suggest they “wait and see”.

- Introverted types can be expected to be concerned with privacy issues and whether they may unknowingly reveal sensitive personal information. MBTI administrators can assure that it will not reveal anything hidden or negative about them.

MBTI – Administration


The MBTI identifies preferences rather than competencies.

Personality types result from interactions among four MBTI dichotomies.

These dichotomies encompass four opposite domains of mental functioning: opposite ways of perceiving, opposite ways of judging, opposite attitudes in which preferred perception and preferred judgment are typically used and opposite ways of relating to the world.

The eight characteristics that are defined by the MBTI results are not traits that vary in quantity; they are dichotomous constructs that describe equally legitimate but opposite ways in which we use our minds.

The particular preferences that interact in a person affect not only what is attended to in any given situation but also how conclusions are drawn about what has been perceived.

MBTI - Dichotomies


The MBTI instrument contains four separate dichotomies:

Extraversion – you prefer to focus on the outer world of people andthingsIntroversion – you prefer to focus on the inner world of impressions

Sensing – you tend to focus on the present and on concrete information gained from your sensesIntuition – you tend focus on the future, with a view towardpatterns and possibilities

MBTI - Dichotomies


The MBTI instrument contains four separate dichotomies:

Thinking – you tend to base your decisions primarily on logic and on objective analysis of cause and effectFeeling – you tend to base your decisions primarily on values and on subjective evaluation of person centered concerns

Judging – you like a planned and organized approach to life and prefer to have things settledPerceiving – you like a flexible and spontaneous approach to life and prefer to keep your options open

MBTI - Dichotomies


Two of these, S-N and T-F, describe functions and reflect basic preferences for use of perception and judgment

The other two, E-I and J-P, reflect attitudes or orientations.

Together these functions and orientations influence how a person perceives a situation and decides on a course of action

MBTI - Dichotomies


The main objective of the MBTI tool is to identify which of two opposite categories is preferred on each of the four dichotomies.

The indicator obtains a numerical score based on responses favoring one pole versus its opposite.

These calculations are designed not as scales for measurement of traits or behaviors but rather as indications of preference for one pole of a dichotomy or its opposite.

The intent is to reflect a habitual choice between rival alternatives analogous to right handedness or left handedness.

An example: one expects to use both the right and left hands, even though one reaches first with the preferred hand. Similarly, everyone is assumed to use both sides of each of the four dichotomies but to respond first, most often, and most comfortably with the preferred functions and attitudes.

MBTI - Scoring


As evidence that a preference has been accurately reported, MBTI results include an indication of clarity of preference termed a preference clarity index.

Preference Clarity Indexes range from 1 to 30 on each of the four dichotomies. The higher the index, the greater the clarity of preference that can be assumed.

A higher Preference Clarity Index does not mean someone is more skilled or abled in that index than another person. Someone with a 30 on T (Thinking) may not necessarily be better than someone with a 15 on T.

The person with the higher score uses that ability more often as compared to the person with the lower score.

MBTI - Scoring


The MBTI assessment describes a dynamic personality system such that the 16 types are greater than the sum of their parts.

The identification and description of the 16 distinctive personality types that result from interactions among the preferences.

A type is not created by simply adding the four preferred ways offunctioning.

Each type described by Jung and Meyers is greater than the sum of its parts because of the different interactions among the four preferences that make up a type.

By identifying the preferences, the combinations of the preferences and how the combined preferences operate as a whole dynamic types, researchers can establish effects and put them to practical use.

MBTI - Types


Assumption underlying the types:

Each type has its own special gifts and strengths, its own areas of vulnerability and its own pathway for development.

The type description presents these relationships in everyday terms.

Each type is described in terms of effective use of functions and attitudes and also in terms of the specific difficulties arising when type is less developed or not used effectively.

MBTI - Types


Reliability:Internal consistency reliability is concerned with how consistentlyrespondents answer the items on a given scale.

- The more consistency the less “noise” in themeasurement.

Split Half Reliability – split the item pool into two halves, compute the internal consistency of each half and correct the result for the length of the scale.

For Form M, improvement in reliability than Form J – each .90 orgreater; The same found for Coefficient Alpha - each .90 orgreater.

Reliability


Reliability:

Test-Retest Reliability – estimate of how stable a characteristic isover time.

Practical questions revolve around the likelihood that on retest aperson will choose the same pole of all four dichotomous domains.

The test retest reliabilities of Form M are generally higher than those of Form G.

Reliability


Validity:Evidence for Validity of the Four Preference Scales (E – I, S – N, T – F, J – P).

A number of exploratory factor analyses havedemonstrated very close correspondence with thehypothesized four-factor structure.

More rigorous confirmatory factor analyses provide evenstronger support for the model.

Validity


Validity:The important feature that warrants attention is the fact that Jung’s theory and the MBTI are typologies (McCaulley, 2000).

More specifically, the instrument treats personality types as distinctive groups. This perspective suggests that there are

quantitatively and qualitatively different populations of people who express different personality characteristics.

In other words, these populations will demonstrate relative homogeneity of variance within groups and heterogeneity ofvariance between groups (Block, 1971; Block & Ozer, 1982; Pittenger 2005).

Validity


Pittenger, D. J. (2005). Cautionary comments regarding the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 57(3), 210.

There is no evidence of separate populations of personality types using the standard scoring procedure. Thus, concluding that an E type is qualitatively different from an I type is indefensible unless there are corresponding data to suggest that the difference between the scale scores is sufficiently large to support such a distinction.

From a statistical perspective, the MBTI four letter type formula may imply statistically significant personality differences where none exists.

Stated from a different perspective, the four-letter type formula may create the impression that there is meaningful difference between the personality profiles of two individuals when no such difference exists.

Validity





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