The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an assessment of personality based on questions about a person’s preferences in four domains: focusing outward or inward; attending to sensory information or adding interpretation; deciding by logic or by situation; and making judgments or remaining open to information. The MBTI was initially developed in the 1940s by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabell Briggs Myers, loosely based on a personality typology created by psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
Is the Myers-Briggs Legitimate?
Why do experts take issue with the MBTI? One reason is that while the Myers-Briggs assigns people distinct types, scientific evidence indicates that personalities do not fit neatly into 16 boxes.
Traits are more accurately viewed not as categorical dichotomies—extrovert or introvert, thinker or feeler—but as continuous dimensions: For each trait, an individual can rate relatively high, low, or somewhere in the middle, and most people fall in the middle. Personality tests favored by scientists, such as the Big Five Inventory, describe each personality not in categorical terms, but rather based on how high or low a person scores on each of five (or six) non-overlapping traits.
The MBTI’s type-based feedback is also not especially consistent; a person who takes the test twice may well receive two different type designations. Moreover, the MBTI omits genuine aspects of personality that have negative connotations, such as neuroticism (emotional instability) or facets of low conscientiousness . It is untrue that the MBTI measures nothing at all, however. Research suggests that when MBTI preferences are evaluated as continuous dimensions, rather than split into categories, there is some correlation with scores on the Big Five traits.
The MBTI’s type for any one individual is often not consistent over time: People may take the test on multiple occasions and receive different personality types, even if they have not changed drastically in real life. Research has found that over a period of only a few weeks, up to half of participants received two different type scores.
Why People Love Personality Tests
Personality tests have almost become ubiquitous. A high school guidance counselor may assign students to take a personality test to determine which colleges to apply to. Corporations may administer tests for hiring decisions or team-building activities. Personality tests may lead friends to bond over a shared “ personality type ,” find others like them, or put words to different dimensions of character.
The desire to understand ourselves better and categorize the world around us helps drive the popularity of the Myers-Briggs and others like it.
People are endlessly fascinated by personality tests. This may be because people seek hidden information about themselves, wanting to understand and access their true nature. People also have an inherent desire to belong; identifying with a “type” can help people feel normal and understood—there are similar people out there. People also appreciate simple ways to categorize and interact with other people.
The Myers-Briggs often delivers results that aren’t entirely reliable—so why do people trust them? One reason for this illusion of accuracy is confirmation bias : When people believe something is true, they begin to filter information based on that belief. People may also love the feeling of being recognized, like the test “gets” them. The results are fairly general which makes them widely applicable, and they skew positive so people are often happy to accept them.
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