Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Presented by: Jennifer Scott
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Overview
 MBTI Overview
 MBTI Description
 MBTI and the Big Five
 Reliability and Validity
 Limitations
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MBTI Overview
 Developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter,
Isabel Briggs Myers during WWII
 Purpose:
 “…to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G.
Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives.”
 Goals:
 The identification of basic preferences of each of the four
dichotomies specified or implicit in Jung’s theory.
 The identification and description of the 16 distinctive
personality types that result from the interactions among the
preferences.
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MBTI Overview – Publications
 First published with the name Briggs-Myers Type
Indicator Handbook in 1944
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in 1956
 First MBTI manual in 1962
 Latest edition published in 1998
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MBTI Overview – Forms
 MBTI Step I
 Identifies the 4 preferences and personality type
 Standard today is Form M with 93 forced choice items
 Also Form G (previous standard) and Form F (used for research)
 MBTI Step II
 Step I preferences plus further expansions with 20 underlying
facets
 MBTI Step III
 designed to assess an individual's ability to effectively use their
perception and judgment
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The MBTI
 4 Dimensions, each with two opposite preferences
1. Energy:
•
Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I)
2. Attention:
•
Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
3. Decisions:
•
Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
4. Lifestyle:
•
Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
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Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I)
 Where do you put your attention and get your energy?
 Extroversion
 I like getting my energy from active involvement in events and
having a lot of different activities.
 I’m excited when I’m around people and I like to energize other
people.
 I often understand a problem better when I can talk out loud
about it and hear what others have to say.
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Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I)
 Introversion
 I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures,
memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner
world.
 I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel
comfortable with.
 I take time to reflect so that I have a clear idea of what I’ll be
doing when I decide to act.
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Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
 Do you focus on the basic information you take in or do
you prefer to interpret and add meaning?
 Sensing
 Paying attention to physical reality, what I see, hear, touch, taste,
and smell.
 I’m concerned with what is actual, present, current, and real. I
notice facts and I remember details that are important to me
 I like to see the practical use of things and learn best when I see
how to use what I’m learning.
 Experience speaks to me louder than words.
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Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
 Intuition
 I prefer paying the most attention to impressions or the meaning
and patterns of the information I get.
 I would rather learn by thinking a problem through than by
hands-on experience.
 I’m interested in new things and what might be possible, so that I
think more about the future than the past.
 I like to work with symbols or abstract theories, even if I don’t
know how I will use them.
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Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
 Making decisions, do you first look at logic or look at the
people and special circumstances?
 Thinking
 When I make a decision, I like to find the basic truth or principle
to be applied, regardless of the specific situation involved.
 I like to analyze pros and cons, and then be consistent and logical
in deciding.
 I try to be impersonal, so I won’t let my personal wishes--or other
people’s wishes--influence me.
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Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
 Feeling
 I believe I can make the best decisions by weighing what people
care about and the points-of-view of persons involved in a
situation.
 I am concerned with values and what is the best for the people
involved.
 I like to do whatever will establish or maintain harmony. In my
relationships; I appear caring, warm, and tactful.
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Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
 How do you deal with the outside world – make decisions
or stay open to information and options?
 Judging
 I use my decision-making (Judging) preference (whether it is
Thinking or Feeling) in my outer life.
 To others, I seem to prefer a planned or orderly way of life, like
to have things settled and organized, feel more comfortable when
decisions are made, and like to bring life under control as much as
possible.
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Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
 Perceiving
 I use my perceiving function (whether it is Sensing or Intuition)
in my outer life.
 To others, I seem to prefer a flexible and spontaneous way of life,
and I like to understand and adapt to the world rather than
organize it.
 Others see me staying open to new experiences and information.
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Personality Types
 Your preference in each category determines your
personality type
ISTJ
ISFJ
INFJ
INTJ
ISTP
ISFP
INFP
INTP
ESTP
ESFP
ENFP
ENTP
ESTJ
ESFJ
EFNJ
ENTJ
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Sample Type: INFP
For INFPs the dominant quality in their lives is a deep-felt
caring and idealism about people. They experience this
intense caring most often in their relationships with others,
but they may also experience it around ideas, projects, or any
involvement they see as important. INFPs are often skilled
communicators, and they are naturally drawn to ideas that
embody a concern for human potential. INFPs live in the
inner world of values and ideals, but what people often first
encounter with the INFP in the outer world is their
adaptability and concern for possibilities.
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Personality Types in the Population
TOTAL
TYPE BREAKDOWN
E
45-53%
I
47-55%
ISTJ
11-14%
ISFJ
9-14%
INFJ
1-3%
INTJ
2-4%
S
66-74%
N
26-34%
ISTP
4-6%
ISFP
5-9%
INFP
4-5%
INTP
3-5%
T
40-50%
F
50-60%
ESTP
4-5%
ESFP
4-9%
ENFP
6-8%
ENTP
2-5%
J
54-60%
P
40-46%
ESTJ
8-12%
ESFJ
9-13%
ENFJ
2-5%
ENTJ
2-5%
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MBTI Applications
 Career Counseling
 Teaching
 Group Dynamics
 Training
 Marketing
 Personal Development
 Executive Coaching
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MBTI and the Big Five
MBTI® Dichotomy
Big Five Factor
E–I
S–N
T–F
J–P
Extraversion
-0.70
0.05
-0.03
0.16
Agreeableness
-0.31
0.05
0.47
0.02
Conscientiousness
0.15
-0.21
-0.04
-0.54
Openness
-0.20
0.44
.040
0.17
Neuroticism
0.07
-0.11
0.03
0.06
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MBTI and the Big Five
 The MBTI was developed before the Big Five
 It contains a number of unscored, research items that
could be used to measure the emotional stability scale of
the NEO-PI
 Possible to use the MBTI as a measure of the Big Five.
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Reliability – Internal Consistency
MBTI® Dichotomy
Employment
Status
Average
Age
E–I
S–N
T–F
J–P
Employed full-time
39
0.92
0.89
0.90
0.91
Employed parttime
25
0.90
0.86
0.88
0.90
Full-time student
21
0.91
0.87
0.90
0.92
Retired
62
0.91
0.92
0.91
0.91
Not working for
income
35
0.92
0.88
0.90
0.91
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Reliability – Test-Retest
All
4 Weeks ≤3 weeks
intervals
6 months
6–12
months
>1 year
Extraversion–
Introversion (E–I)
0.73
0.77
0.72
0.7
0.76
Sensing–Intuition
(S–N)
0.70
0.65
0.76
0.57
0.78
Thinking–Feeling
(T–F)
0.72
0.81
0.67
0.74
0.73
Judging–Perceiving
(J–P)
0.67
0.78
0.71
0.62
0.61
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MBTI Validity
 Factor analysis
 Some studies show the four dimensions loading onto four
different factors
 Others show up to six factors
 Convergent validity
 Generally supported with other measures of personality
 Big Five
 E-I scale commonly has the strongest support
 Much of the validity research has been done on Form G,
the previous form
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MBTI Criticisms
 Dichotomy of choices
 Jung’s theory was not tested empirically
 Researchers question whether there are 16 distinct
personality types
 Lacks falsifiability, which can cause conformation bias in
interpreting results
 Most research is done by the publishing company – may
lack scrutiny
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