What is The Myers-Briggs Indicator Test?
Many people have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator at some point in their life. The Myers-Briggs is used a great deal to help people understand their personality, particularly in work organizations to help employees understand how they differ from their coworkers.
It helps people recognize differences in how people approach situations and problems and thus helps people work together more effectively.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is, as its name indicates, a type indicator. It tells you what type of person you are on four characteristics: extrovert vs introvert, sensing versus intuition, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving.
You don’t need to understand what those terms mean, but after people take the Myers-Briggs, they get a four letter code that tells them which of 16 types they are.
If you have taken the Myers-Briggs, you can probably remember your type—you’re an ISTJ, an INFP, an ESTP, or whatever, and that code reflects your type.
As a way to provide people with insights about their own and other people’s personalities, the Myers-Briggs is quite useful. It not only gives people an insight into their personality, but it also helps people understand others.
For example, once I realize that a coworker and I have different approaches to the world—that we’re different types—I can work within those differences rather than just assume that the coworker is being obstinate, doesn’t like me, or is mentally unbalanced.
Part of the Myers-Briggs’ usefulness in the workplace lies in its type-based approach. For practical purposes, it’s easier for people to think in terms of types of personalities rather than in terms of traits on a continuum.
However, for scientific understanding, not only do types badly misrepresent the nature of personality, but the characteristics measured by the Myers-Briggs don’t easily map onto the basic personality traits that have been uncovered by personality research. Although it’s a practical tool, personality researchers rarely use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.