Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

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The Center for Applications of Psychological Type is a non-profit organization co-founded by Isabel Myers in 1975 for MBTI^® development, research and training.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^®) is a psychological test designed to assist a person in identifying their personality preferences. It was developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers during World War II, and follows from the theories of Carl Jung as laid out in his work Psychological Types (1923). The phrase is also sometimes used as a trademark of the publisher of the instrument, CPP Inc., and the trademark is registered by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust. It is important to make a distinction between the MBTI^® and Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which are two unique theories of typology utilizing similar constructs. More than 2 million people take the MBTI® each year worldwide and it has been translated into 30 languages.

Contents

1 Best-fit types

2 Understanding the preferences

3 Type dynamics and the type table

3.1 Descriptions of the function-attitudes
3.2 Preferred order of functions in each type

4 Temperament

5 Skeptical view

6 Further reading

6.1 External links
6.2 Articles
6.3 Official sites
6.4 Unofficial sites

Best-fit types

Form M of the Indicator asks participants 93 questions about themselves in an attempt to identify four dichotomous preferences. Although the results are tallied in a numerical format; known as the preference clarity index (PCI), the instrument does not measure traits, as is typically done in similar tools, but rather types. In psychometrics, this means that the items have been specially designed to discriminate at the midpoint, and it is not necessarily the number that matters, but rather the side of the line the results fall on. The PCI is simply the indicator's level of certainty that you prefer one or the other. As instructed in the MBTI Manual, the Indicator is only a means by which the client is assisted in identifying their Best-fit type. Due to the nature of personality, this is a decision that can only be made by the person taking the Indicator, and never the Indicator itself.

Understanding the preferences

A dichotomy is a division of two mutually exclusive groups, or in this case, type preferences.

The terms Introvert and Extrovert (originally spelled extravert by Jung, who coined the terms) are referred to as attitudes and show how a person orients and receives their energy. In the extroverted attitude the energy flow is outward, and the preferred focus is on people and things, whereas in the introverted attitude the energy flow is inward, and the preferred focus is on thoughts and ideas.

Sensing and Intuition are the perceiving functions. They indicate how a person prefers to receive data. These are the irrational functions, as a person does not necessarily have control over receiving data, but only how to process it once they have it. Sensing prefers to receive data primarily from the five senses, and intuition prefers to receive data from the unconscious, or seeing relationships via insights.

Thinking and Feeling are the judging functions. They are used to make rational decisions concerning the data they received from their perceiving functions, above. Thinking is characterized as preferring to being logical, analytical and thinking in terms of "true or false". Thinking decisions tend to be based on more objective criteria and facts. Feeling, which refers to subjective criteria and values, strives for harmonious relationships and considers the implications for people. Feeling decisions tend to be based on what seems "more good or less bad" according to values.

Judging and Perceiving tell us which of the two preferred functions, the judging function or the perceiving function, is used in the outer world. Those who prefer Judging use their preferred judging function in the outer world and their preferred perceiving function in the inner world, and those who prefer Perceiving use their preferred perceiving function in the outer world and their preferred judging function in the inner world. Judging prefers making decisions and have closure and perceiving prefers to continue accepting data and to leave their options open, waiting to decide later.

All preferences and preference combinations are equal.

Type dynamics and the type table

The table organizing the sixteen types was created by Isabel Myers, who preferred INFP (To find the opposite type of the one you are looking at, jump over one type diagonally.)

By using inferential statistics an estimate of the preferences found in the US population has been gathered

The interactions of the preferences are known as type dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is considered more important than memorizing characteristics or descriptions of types, but these are also very helpful when making practical use of type theory. Descriptions are written by licensed psychologists based on data gathered from thousands of interviews and studies. The Center for Applications of Psychological Type (http://www.capt.org) has released short descriptions on the internet, which can be found here (http://www.capt.org/The_MBTI_Instrument/Type_Descriptions.cfm) on their website. The most in-depth descriptions, including statistics, can be found in “The Manual” ISBN 0891061304.

The type table is a visualization tool which is useful for discussing the relationships between preferences. It will typically be divided by selecting any pair of preferences and comparing or contrasting the dynamic qualities and groupings that are seen. One of the most common and basic has been used to the right. It is the grouping of the mental functions, ST, SF, NF and NT, and focuses on the combination of perception and judgement. Alternatively, if we group by the rows we will have the four attitudes which are IJ, IP, EP and EJ. There are also more complex groupings, such as combinations of perception and orientations to the outer world, which are SJ, SP, NP and NJ, or combinations of judgement and orientations to the outer world, which are TJ, TP, FP, and FJ. Hundreds of books have been written describing these preferences, clearly leaving much information out of the scope of this article.

Descriptions of the function-attitudes

In addition to a person's general preference for introversion or extroversion (attitudes), each function can be introverted or extroverted as well (function-attitudes), and the same function will have different qualities depending on its attitude .

Extroverted Sensing is perceiving information from the five senses and being drawn to focus on the moment and the experience of the here and now.

Introverted Sensing involves recalling previous events, situations, or data. It compares the present situation with things that happened earlier and notices similarities and differences.

Extroverted Intuition involves seeing possibilities and connections or threads between ideas. When presented with data, it looks for possible patterns and meanings.

Introverted Intuition looks to what will be and what the deep significance of something is. This process often tunes in to aspects of universal human experience and archetypal symbols.

Extroverted Thinking is concerned with organizing and structuring the outer world based on logical principles. It sorts things into hierarchies and judges on objective criteria.

Introverted Thinking is the process of analyzing things and testing them against principles. It looks for inconsistency in models and is concerned with precision.

Extroverted Feeling is concerned with the likes and dislikes of others and what is socially appropriate. It organizes the external world according to interpersonal relationships.

Introverted Feeling evaluates things based on one's own preferences and values. It sees things in terms of like and dislike or good and bad, and it is concerned with harmony and congruence.

Preferred order of functions in each type

In each person, all four of the functions (sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling) are present. These functions, which are the middle two letters, are ranked from most preferred to least preferred. The most preferred function is called the 'dominant', the second most preferred the 'auxiliary', the third the 'tertiary', and the fourth the 'inferior'.

The dynamics of the four letter preferences are slightly different in introverts and extroverts. In all combinations the second letter is the perceiving function and the third letter is the judging function. The fourth letter, J or P, shows which function is the dominant in extroverts, and which is the auxiliary in introverts. For the ESTJ preference then, the J means that the dominant is thinking, and the E means that it is extroverted thinking. For the INFP preference, the P means that the auxiliary is intuition. The I means the dominant function is introverted. Since the the auxiliary is intuition, the dominant must be feeling. As a rule, the auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior will always be in the opposite attitude of the dominant.

To identify the tertiary function, find the opposite of the auxiliary in the same attitude. With ESTJ the auxiliary is introverted sensing, so the tertiary is introverted intuition. To find the inferior (sometimes simply referred to as "4th", as it is not pathologically inferior), find the opposite function of the dominant, in the opposite attitude. This chart examines the dynamic breakdown of the function attitudes in each preference combination.

Type	IS_IT_EJ	IS_IF_EJ	IN_IF_EJ	IN_IT_EJ
Dominant	Introverted_Sensing	Introverted_Sensing	Introverted_Intuition	Introverted_Intuition
Auxiliary	Extroverted_Thinking	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted_Thinking
Tertiary	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted_Thinking	Extroverted_Thinking	Extroverted Feeling
Inferior	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Sensing
Type	IS_ET_IP	IS_EF_IP	IN_EF_IP	IN_ET_IP
Dominant	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Thinking
Auxiliary	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Intuition
Tertiary	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Sensing
Inferior	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted Thinking	Extroverted Thinking	Extroverted Feeling
Type	ES_ET_IP	ES_EF_IP	EN_EF_IP	EN_ET_IP
Dominant	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Sensing	Extroverted Intuition	Extroverted Intuition
Auxiliary	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Thinking
Tertiary	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Feeling
Inferior	Introverted Intuition	Introverted Intuition	Introverted Sensing	Introverted Sensing
Type	ES_IT_EJ	ES_IF_EJ	EN_IF_EJ	EN_IT_EJ
Dominant	Extroverted Thinking	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted Feeling	Extroverted Thinking
Auxiliary	Introverted Sensing	Introverted Sensing	Introverted Intuition	Introverted Intuition
Tertiary	Introverted Intuition	Introverted Intuition	Introverted Sensing	Introverted Sensing
Inferior	Introverted Feeling	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Thinking	Introverted Feeling

When you meet an extrovert you are meeting their dominant, most developed function. When you meet an introvert you are meeting their auxiliary, second most developed function. Studies have shown that, for this reason, introverts are sometimes underestimated.

Temperament

Temperament and psychological type are two unique methods of describing personality; in the number of elements used, the way they are described, and the way they interact. In addition, the theory of temperament is much older than psychological type, having its origins in ancient Greece. On page 59, The Manual states, "It is important to recognize that temperament theory is not a variant of type theory, nor is type theory a variant of temperament theory."

Hippocrates, a Greek philosopher who lived from 460-377 B.C., proposed four temperaments, which are related to the four humours. These were sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. This chart compares the aspects of ancient Greek theory:

Humour	Season	Element	Organ	Qualities	Temperament	Characteristics
Blood	spring	air	liver	warm & moist	sanguine	courageous, hopeful, amorous
Phlegm	winter	water	brain/lungs	cold & moist	phlegmatic	calm, unemotional
Yellow bile	summer	fire	gall bladder	warm & dry	choleric	easily angered, bad tempered
Black bile	autumn	earth	spleen	cold & dry	melancholic	despondent, sleepless, irritable

In 1978, David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates reintroduced temperament theory in modern form and identified them as Guardian, Artisan, Idealist, and Rationalist. After developing modern temperament theory, Keirsey discovered the MBTI^®, and found that by combining intuition with the judging functions, NT and NF, and sensing with the perceiving functions, SJ and SP, that he had descriptions similar to Hippocrates' original conception. The following table shows the locations of Keirsey's four temperaments in the MBTI type table:

Temperament (SJ, SP, NF, NT)
iStJ	iSfJ	iNFj	iNTj
eStP	iSfP	iNFp	iNTp
eStP	eSfP	eNFp	eNTp
eStJ	eSfJ	eNFj	eNTj

Keirsey later went on to develop the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which was first included in his book Please Understand Me. His Sorter is similar to the Indicator in that it uses the same lettering scheme. Studies in psychometrics have shown that it may have difficulty distinguishing between the feeling function and extroversion.

Skeptical view

Skeptics argue that the MBTI^® has not been validated by double-blind tests, in which participants accept reports written for other participants, and are asked whether or not the report suits them, and thus does not qualify as a scientific assessment. Some even demonstrate that profiles can apparently seem to fit any person by confirmation bias, ambiguity of basic terms and the Byzantine complexity that allows any kind of behavior to fit any personality type.

Another argument says that, while the MBTI is useful in self-understanding, it is commonly used to pigeonhole people or for self-pigeonholing.