Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs can be a useful instrument in determining your mental and emotional preferences for handling common situations, for understanding the mental and emotional preferences of others, and for helping you determine the best "fit" between you and various work situations or careers.

The Myers-Briggs is a paper and pencil test that takes about 30 - 40 minutes to complete on average. The questions are non-academic and focus more on your preferred ways of handling things than on "content", or what you intellectually or academically know.

After you take the test, it is scored and an appointment is made for you to receive your interpretation. The interpretation usually takes about an hour. Your personality type is interpreted to you and its implications described.

It is important to note that your personality type is not necessarily permanent. Your psychological profile may change over the years as your personal and professional circumstances change. It's probably better to think of your Myers- Briggs indicator type as a "snapshot" of your personality right now than as some kind of lifelong "window on your soul" that is unchangeable. While you undoubtedly resemble who you were when you were nine years old, you also undoubtedly look a lot different as well. In the same fashion, the personality type you best fit in today may be quite different from the personality type you best fit into twenty years from now.

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychologist who saw patterns in people's behaviors, and grouped people into psychological types depending on their preferences for taking in and processing information and for making judgements. Jung's personality types do not show rigid obedience to a certain behavior, but rather a preference for that behavior, just as a person prefers to use a certain hand for writing. If necessary, a person can write with his or her non- preferred hand, and some may do very well, but everyone prefers one hand over the other, and most people hold that preference very strongly.

Myers-Briggs Personality Types
Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a means of practically applying Carl Jung's type theory. The MBTI was first published in 1962, and since that time has become probably the most popular personality type instrument used in the United States.

The Myers-Briggs scale itself is made up of four basic catagories, each of which has two opposite poles. People generally "prefer" or "lean towards" one pole or the other either moderately or, in some cases, quite strongly. From this fundamental division there result eight psychological "preferences" and sixteen personality "types."

The following is a description of the "eight preferences".

Extraversion-Introversion
Extraversion-Introversion differences affect how we deal with the outside world. Extraverts (E) are energized by having interactions with others, and may often speak without thinking something through. They are people of action and present their best abilities to the world. Introverts (I) prefer quiet reflection, and may think about something and never get to the point of telling others. They keep their best skills to themselves, and present their secondary skills to others. Studies estimate that 75% of the population is Extraverted, while only 25% is Introverted.

Sensing-Intuition
Sensing-intuition differences affect how we take in and process data. Sensors (S) gather information through experiences and are practical and orderly. Intuitors (N) gather information and process it in innovative ways and are creative and imaginative. It is estimated that 75% of the population prefer Sensing while only 25% prefer intuition.

Thinking-Feeling
Thinking-Feeling differences affect how we make decisions. Thinkers (T) make decisions objectively and impersonally using logic. Feelers (F) make decisions subjectively and personally based on what they feel is "right". This personality grouping is the only one that shows any gender difference, with male Thinking- Feeling preferences being 60%-40% and female Thinking-Feeling preferences being 40%-60%.

Judging-Perceiving
Judging-Perceiving differences affect how we prefer to live. Judgers (J) like being planned and structured and having things settled and decided. Perceivers (P) like being spontaneous, unstructured, open, and flexible. In the general population, Judging-Perceiving preferences are 55%-45%.

Scoring
After you take your Myers-Briggs, you will receive a "score" which consists of your four "preferences." For example, you may receive a "score" identifying you as an "ENTP" or perhaps an "ISFJ." There are basically sixteen catagories, and you will likely fall into one of the sixteen, based on the preponderance of your scores in each of the four preference catagories. If, for example, your score on the extroversion-intorversion preference is around 60-40, you would likely be labelled an "extrovert" and thus an "E", whereas if it were the other way around you would be labelled an "introvert" and thus have an "I" as your preference rather than an "E." Being labelled an "I" or an "E" therefore doesn't mean that you are *totally* introverted or extroverted, just that you lean in one direction or another. Also, being labelled one way or the other isn't permanent: you can shift from one preference or another as you travel through your life stages, just as you can be overweight at 30 and fit and trim at 40.

Occasionally, someone's score will be almost 50-50 in one preference area or another. In those instances the person receives an "X" for their score in that area. Thus you might be an "XNTP" or an "EXSJ."

There are books available in the Counseling Services Library which explain the sixteen personality types. Jon Noring also has an excellent website describing them if you want a brief explanation.

It is most helpful to have your interpretation provided to you in the context of your own life. That is why we provide interpretations only in the context of an individual appointment.

If you are interested in taking the Myers-Briggs, call and make an appointment anytime.