What is the MBTI personality test?

What is the MBTI personality test?

Introduction to the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator

Since 1917, the MBTI is considered the most popular personality test today. MBTI stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and identifies 16 personality types through a series of multiple-choice questions. This method of personality indicators originated from the taxonomic theory of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung in his 1921 book ‘Psychological Types’ and was developed by Catherine Cook Briggs and her The daughter of Isabel Briggs Myers developed during World War II. What started out as a psychological question evolved into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which was published in 1962.

The MBTI personality test infers each person’s unique personality based on their answers to questions. MBTI answers the question why everyone in the world has a different personality and no one is the same. Today, MBTI is becoming more and more popular and is used as a fairly accurate method of personality classification to help people understand themselves and the people around them, or to pursue a suitable career.

Based on the results of the MBTI test, the person being tested will know that they belong to one of the following 16 MBTI personality types:

Analyst (NT) type personality

• Architect INTJ
• Logician INTP
• Commander ENTJ
• Debater ENTP

Diplomat (NF) type personality

• Advocate INFJ
• Mediator INFP
  -Protagonist ENFJ
• Campaigner ENFP

Guardian (SJ) type personality

• Logistician ISTJ
• Guardian ISFJ
• General Manager ESTJ
• Archon ESFJ

Explorer (SP) type personality

• Connoisseur ISTP
• Explorer ISFP
• Entrepreneur ESTP
• Performer ESFP

Free MBTI Test

PsycTest provides free MBTI personality test: www.psyctest.cn/mbti

The formation and development process of MBTI test

Beginning in 370 BC, Hippocrates proposed the idea that from the moment of birth, people develop a unique personality and have a defined tendency to act. Then in 190 AD, the Roman doctor Galen further developed this view, and it became the mainstream thought in the fields of medicine, philosophy, literature and other fields, which lasted until the 19th century.

Additionally, there is the idea that people are born as a blank slate on which to draw and shape. Subsequently, this concept became mainstream thinking in the early 20th century. Typical representatives of this school are Ivan Pavlov and John Watson. Researchers also believe that people are essentially the same when they have the same motivations, whether they are instinctive desires (according to Sigmund Freud’s theory) or the pursuit of social fulfillment. The desire for unity (according to Harry Sullivan’s theory).

At this time, existentialists like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were supported by psychologists who also conducted research. As a result, there is a consensus that humans have a single basic motivation.

Going back to the MBTI personality test, Katharine Cook Briggs’ research stemmed from her meeting her future son-in-law in 1917. Observing that his personality was markedly different from other family members, Briggs began thinking about a biographical project and developed four types: contemplative (or thoughtful), easy-going, executive, and social.

It just so happened that around the middle of the 20th century, Isabel Myers, a complete amateur, came across Jung’s research books and, with the help of her mother, Kathryn Briggs, Successfully produced a set of questions that help shape 16 personality groups. Miles joined her mother in her classification research and gradually took over it completely.

During World War II, Briggs and Myers began creating personality indicators, believing that understanding personal preferences would help women enter the industrial workforce for the first time.

In 1944, the ‘Briggs-Briggs Type Indicator Manual’ was released, which was renamed the ‘Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’ in 1956. Myers’ work attracted the attention of Henry Shaunsey, director of the Educational Testing Service, which led to the release of the first edition of the MBTI manual in 1962. The MBTI also has the support of Donald MacKinnon, director of the Institute for Research in Personality and Society at the University of California, Berkeley, W. Harold Grant, a professor at Michigan State University and Auburn University, and Mary McCauley of the University of Florida.

In 1975, publishing rights for the MBTI were transferred to Counseling Psychology Press and the Center for Applied Psychological Type Research, which was established as a research laboratory. After Myers’ death in May 1980, Mary McCauley updated the MBTI manual, and a second edition was published in 1985. The third edition came out in 1998. Thanks to Myers and Briggs’ research, the MBTI personality test has grown in popularity since the 1990s, with as many as 1 million people taking the test each year. According to 2011 statistics from the CAPT Center, the number of documentation systems for the MBTI test tool increased 150-fold, from 81 documents to 12,140 documents.

Today, the MBTI is a widely used tool around the world, available in 18 different languages. About 80% of Fortune 500 companies use this method to analyze employees’ personalities and help them find suitable positions that match their personalities.

Science-based MBTI personality test theory

It can be said that the theory proposed by Jung in his 1923 book Psychological Types (first published in German in 1921) was the premise for Briggs’ work, when she realized that there were similarities between the two. In this book, Jung believes that humans have four main cognitive functions: thinking, emotion, feeling and intuition. These functions are very similar to the four binary pairs of the later MBTI. However, this theory is entirely based on Jung’s subjective observations and personal experience, rather than objective scientific evidence. He explains that humans have countless instincts that arise from within, and that we naturally tend toward introversion-extroversion, feeling-intuition, emotion-thinking.

In his work, the fourth pair, although implicitly mentioned, is not fully developed. In the book, Jung believes that “every individual is an exception” (p. 516). It should be remembered at this point that no description of a personality type can explain all aspects of a person or an individual’s psychology. Furthermore, Jung compared his personality model to points on a compass: “They are equally arbitrary and equally essential,” adding: “On my voyage of psychological exploration, I will never give up. This compass” (p. 541).

Later, Myers and Briggs added a fourth element: Judgment-Perception (Principle/Flexibility) - a way of influencing the external world, and developed a collection of 16 personality types from the above four criteria classification system. Each of the 16 classified personality traits has different characteristics and attributes. This classification system can not only identify traits, but also help analyze, explain and predict the behavior of individuals with different personality traits.

In 1956, David Keirsey also came across information about the MBTI personality study. Excited when he read a description of his personality, he decided to conduct research and published the books ‘Understand Me’ in 1978 and ‘Understand Me II’ in 1998. These two books immediately became the focus of attention and later became useful resources for readers interested in the MBTI personality test.

Before learning about Jung’s theory, Briggs also developed her hypothesis according to which individuals can be divided into four main temperament types: contemplative, spontaneous, executive and social. This hypothesis is based solely on her observations of individuals within the family. When Myers and Briggs developed the MBTI assessment, they were on a mission to make Jung’s theory of personality types accessible to the general public.

At the same time, the anthropological study of human personality (analyzing and predicting personality and behavior by observing facial features) was also reviewed by several other researchers. However, psychology was gradually dominated by Freud’s ‘psychodynamic’ theory or Pavlov’s ‘conditioned reflex’, which caused these studies, as well as Jung’s research, to be forgotten.

4 personality classification standards in the MBTI system

The MBTI is based on 4 main criteria, which are 4 pairs of categories surrounding the human worldview, and is used to assess and analyze human personality.

Natural tendencies: extroversion/introversion

The first classification group in the MBTI personality test is the natural tendency group, extroversion/introversion, which are opposite tendencies. These are the behavioral tendencies of a person to face themselves while facing the outside world. This criterion is represented by the first letters in the personality group: E - I, which represent each individual’s tendency to use his or her energy, thoughts, and emotions.

Introverts are people who have a tendency to withdraw from thoughts, emotions, and imagination. An extrovert is someone who is oriented toward the outside world, including activities, people, and things.

Understanding and Perceiving the World: Perception/Intuition

In the MBTI personality test, the pair of understanding and perceiving the world, namely perception/intuition, is the tendency for people to exhibit opposing tendencies in the way they perceive things and phenomena around them. It stands for the second letter in the N or S personality group, and world perception is each person’s tendency to choose to absorb external information.

Humans understand the world around them through specific senses, such as vision to recognize colors and images, smell and hearing to perceive and analyze. Furthermore, these five special senses are arranged in a continuous sequence, classifying most of the real events occurring at the same time to easily provide information about what happened in the past.

If intuition is used to perceive the world, then the brain is the unit responsible for understanding, interpreting, analyzing and paraphrasing information models, collecting all data streams from them, before and after, while arranging and correlating these models with each other. At this point, the brain has to work as hard as possible to speculate and estimate the future.

S-type people perceive the world through specific senses such as sight, smell, hearing, images, smell and sound. They are sensitive to reality and believe in the world they perceive through their five senses. In contrast, individuals in the N-type group tend to be more intuitive (including models and imagination that are inferred and sorted out from the data they collect).

Decisions and Choices: Thinking/Emotions

In the MBTI personality test, thinking/emotion are two opposing tendencies that people have when choosing and answering questions. In personality classification, this criterion, represented by the third letter T or F, demonstrates the most natural way for each person to choose and feel when making decisions.

In the human brain, the most considered part is rationality, and its role is to find relevant information based on right or wrong, left or right. Then, the most specific answer is given directly through logical reasoning, which has the most reliable and scientific foundation.

In addition, the emotional part will also think about the problem based on the overall emotional problem at the same time. These factors interact with each other and cannot make a clear statement. This is the nature of emotion determined by the brain.

T-shaped people make decisions based on the identification of relevant information and criteria of right and wrong. They always give the most accurate and scientific answers through logical reasoning. On the contrary, Type F people make choices based on feelings, such as love, hate, admiration, and disgust.

Mode of action: Judgment/Perception

The final group of the MBTI personality test is the way people choose to show their influence on the outside world. This standard is represented by the fourth letter of the personality category, P or J, and represents each person’s lifestyle.

In this way, a person’s brain works according to pre-established principles. Everything is handled clearly and naturally towards the realization of a concrete and prepared plan. People sometimes have to accept changes in order to adapt to circumstances and previously established plans.

Individuals of Group J act in a principle-based manner, planning and providing a road map in the process of conquering their goals. On the contrary, Group P is more flexible and sometimes accepts changes that contradict the original plan in order to adapt to the actual situation and bring optimal results within the specified time.

The 4 temperament groups in the MBTI

In his books ‘Understand Me I’ and ‘Please Understand Me II’, Dr. David Keirsey proposed four basic human personality temperaments: artist, guardian, idealist and rational. The division is based on 8 letters: E (extroversion), I (introversion), S (feeling), N (intuition), F (emotion), T (thinking), J (judgment), and P (perception); and what constitutes human beings The interplay of two fundamental quantities of behavior: communication and action, words and deeds, or more specifically, what we say and what we do. Each temperament has unique strengths and talents.

Communication style: concrete/detailed or abstract/general

First, people talk and like to talk about things that interest them, and their conversations often revolve around two main trends. There are people who are primarily concerned with facts—specific affairs, entertainment, family—whose stories and words answer the questions: who, what, where, when, how. While others focus primarily on their opinions, abstractions, dogmas, assumptions, dreams, beliefs, their stories and words answer the questions: why, what if, what will happen. Also, maybe people say these things interchangeably, but in everyday life or most conversations, concrete people talk about facts and abstract people talk about opinions.

Mode of Action: Practical/pragmatic or cooperative/collaborative

Secondly, at every turn, people always strive to achieve their goals. If you observe carefully, you can find that there are two opposite trends in their actions. Some people act primarily on practicality, considering the benefits, effects, and consequences of what they do, and only do things they already know how to do. Others act in a cooperative and socially sanctioned manner, that is, they strive to do the right thing, adhere to norms that have been confirmed and followed by society as a whole, and are concerned only after the effectiveness of their actions. The two behaviors are interchangeable, and each person will gravitate towards the tendencies they do most and feel most comfortable with. In other words, practical people usually do what works, while cooperative people usually do the right thing.

Based on the above criteria, David Keirsey divided the MBTI’s 16 personality types into four temperaments:

• As a concrete and cooperative personality, the Guardian (SJ) cares most about the things they have to care about and worry about, always following the rules and respecting the rights of others. The SJ group includes ISFJ, ISTJ, ESFJ, and ESTJ.
• As an abstract and cooperative personality, the Idealist (NF) cares about the idea of others and the community, and all their actions must be based on conscience. The most important thing for them is that they have a good relationship and feel comfortable with everyone in their communication circle. The NF group includes INFJ, INFP, ENFP, and ENFJ.
• As a Concrete and Practical Personality, the Artist (SP) cares about what they see in front of them, the facts, the things that help them achieve their goals quickly and efficiently, even if they have to break the rules. The SP group includes ISFP, ISTP, ESFP and ESTP.
• As an abstract and practical personality, the Rational Person (NT) cares about problems and how to solve them. They do things that really work and claim that everything they do is justified, highly persuasive, and has a purpose. They can ignore existing principles and conventions if necessary. The NT group includes INTP, INTJ, ENTP, and ENTJ.

16 personality types of characters

The 16 MBTI personality groups are a harmonious blend of all four of the above criteria. Below is a brief overview of the 16 groups, including personality traits, strengths, weaknesses and career advice appropriate for each group.

INTJ-Architect

Imaginative and strategic thinker, everything is planned. Personality tests show that INTJ people are often considered very intelligent and mysterious. As a result, they often exude confidence based on their extensive knowledge in many different fields and perspectives.

INTP-Logician

A creative inventor with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Like theory, they believe that everything can be analyzed and improved. The mundane world and other realities are not their concern - they regard its enjoyment as trivial compared to a system of ideas or the pursuit of knowledge.

ENTJ-Commander

Bold, imaginative and strong-willed leaders always find or create solutions. The ENTJ community is very charismatic. They are rational and sensitive people as they are very capable in guiding and communicate with others in an inspiring way. ENTJs have the best leadership skills of all personality groups and believe that when they are determined, anything is possible.

ENTP-Debater

A smart and curious thinker who won’t give up on any intellectual challenge. ENTPs are very smart and unique. This quality gives them a great advantage when participating in debates, scholarship, and politics. In addition, they also tend to excel in many other areas that require challenging existing ideas or engaging in substantial discussion.

INFJ-Advocate

Quiet and mysterious, yet inspiring and tireless idealist. INFJs often have strong opinions, especially on issues they consider important. Therefore, if the INFJ group strives for something, the main reason is because they believe in their ideals.

INFP-Mediator

Poetic, kind-hearted altruist, always enthusiastic to help for the right cause. INFP groups are generally considered to be calm and collected. However, their inner enthusiasm and passion remain strong, and unlike other personality types, they are truly emotional and compassionate.

ENFJ-Protagonist

Charismatic and inspirational leaders have the ability to captivate their audiences. They play an important role in relationships and are always willing to help others and create a positive impact. Their leadership skills and caring make them successful in a variety of careers and fields.

ENFP-Campaigner

Enthusiastic, creative, social and free-spirited person who always finds a reason to smile. Personality test results show that ENFPs are curious, idealistic, and mysterious people because they are always looking for meaning and full of genuine interest in the motivations of others. So they see life as a very broad horizon with many mysteries, everything connected but not yet decoded.

ISTJ-Logistician

A practical and fact-oriented individual whose reliability cannot be questioned. The most popular group on the MBTI personality test is ISTJ. People in this group tend to respect truth, absorb large amounts of information, and retain it for long periods of time.

ISFJ-Guardian

A very dedicated and warm guardian, always ready to protect the people he loves. ISFJs are the most altruistic type, so their career paths often involve academia, medicine, social work, or consulting. Additionally, they excel in personnel administration and office positions and even shine in the field of interior design.

ESTJ-General Manager

A great manager is unparalleled in his ability to manage things or people. Tends to be more principled, traditional and stable. ESTJs feel that they need to be attached to something, whether it be a family, a community, or another social group. They like to organize others and ensure that they follow traditional rules set by authority figures. These people are suitable for jobs such as police, bodyguards, firefighters, military, courts, lawyers, health educators, counselors and social workers.

ESFJ-Archon

Extremely compassionate, social and popular people, always eager to help. ESFJs are pragmatic, altruistic, and team players. They are also traditional and will try their best to support and defend justice. Therefore, ESFJs tend to be very involved even when serving in roles such as party hosts or social workers.

ISTP-Connoisseur

Bold and practical experimentalist, adept at using any form of tool. ISTP groups have many interesting characteristics. People in this group usually have a very rational and logical way of thinking, but can sometimes surprise people with unexpected spontaneity and enthusiasm.

ISFP-Explorer

Flexible and charming artist, always ready to explore and experience new things. ISFPs are introverts who are often associated with spontaneity and unpredictability. The unique characteristic of ISFPs is their variability.

ESTP-Entrepreneur

Smart, energetic and perceptive people who truly enjoy living on the edge. ESTPs are a group of very united, spontaneous, outspoken and action-loving performers. They always get to the heart of the matter, so ESTPs don’t like getting involved in theoretical debates or having to think about things in the future, they just focus on the present and do their best for the things they’re passionate about.

ESFP-Performer

Spontaneous, energetic and enthusiastic performers - life is never boring around them. This group likes to be the center of attention, but they also enjoy simple things. What attracts others to them is their joyful and enthusiastic nature, so they are never short of ideas and their curiosity knows no bounds.

Psychologists’ concerns about MBTI test

Although the MBTI test has achieved some success in terms of popularity and commercial success, it is still highly questionable throughout the psychology community. There are very few studies mentioning this test in reputable psychology journals, except for a few articles that are critical of the MBTI. The only journal that regularly publishes on the MBTI is the Journal of Psychological Type, but funding for this journal is provided by the CPP.

Neither Myers nor Briggs had formal training in psychology; they were self-taught in the field of psychological testing. Myers served as chief human resources officer for a large bank in Philadelphia before founding the first successful human resources consulting firm in the United States. From Hay, Myers learned the basics of constructing, scoring, validating, and testing statistical methods.

‘There’s really no evidence to support it,’ says Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has written before about the shortcomings of the Myers-Briggs test. ‘The characteristics measured by this test have almost no predictive power for your happiness, job performance, or marital happiness in a certain situation.’ Grant summed up the research on accommodation: ‘Carl Jung was the pioneer of the theory and a pioneer of innovative ideas, but much of his work was done before psychology became an empirical science.’ Even more depressing, he points out, were Catherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Myers. I created this framework in my living room without any established scientific research.

‘This is a flaw because people don’t fall neatly into two categories on any personality dimension; rather, people have many different degrees of this dimension,’ says Michael Ashton, a psychology professor at Brock University in Ontario. ‘Many personality psychologists believe that the MBTI is a relatively effective measurement tool for some important personality traits, but it also has some important limitations,’ he said.

Meanwhile, not even one psychologist on the CPP’s board of directors has used the MBTI in his own research. ‘Part of the reason is because my academic peers would question it,’ Carl Thoreson, a Stanford University psychologist and CPP board member, told The Washington Post in 2012.

In other words, MBTI is a product of pure speculation and hypothesis without any rigorous scientific evidence to support it.

Accuracy of MBTI test

Effectiveness

Validity refers to whether an assessment tool accurately measures its audience. In this case, the test is whether it can accurately identify and classify personality types. The validity of the MBTI test based on Briggs’ 4 dichotomous pairs is not highly regarded.

In fact, human personality should be described in terms of degrees, such as being more extroverted or introverted, rather than just two extremes: either introvert or extrovert. Almost no one is an absolute introvert or an absolute extrovert. Most of us fall somewhere between these two extremes.

Many questions on the MBTI ask subjects to choose between two extremes. For example, to the question ‘Do you tend to empathize with others?’ the answer can only be ‘yes’ or ’no.’

Most scientific research shows that personality categories also follow a standard statistical distribution, with most people in the middle and only a few people approaching the two extremes. Therefore, the MBTI does not accurately reflect human personality in real life.

Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency of testing. If the same person is tested multiple times, the time between tests should not be too long and the results should not change. By this standard, the MBTI test is also unsatisfactory. Studies have shown that there is a 50% chance that the results of the two tests will be different, even if there is only 5 weeks between tests. In this field, the generally accepted standard range is 70% to 90%.

Applicability

Due to its average validity and reliability, the MBTI is only recommended for use in the media or entertainment field. A 1991 National Academy of Sciences committee report concluded that, based on data from MBTI studies, ’there are insufficient, well-designed studies to demonstrate the value of MBTI for use in career counseling programs.’ The committee highlighted the lack of evidence to support the test’s utility and said ’the popularity of this tool in the absence of proven scientific value is troubling’.

Although the MBTI is often promoted as an effective tool for determining career relevance (determining which career you should choose), researchers have confirmed that the proportions of MBTI personality groups in different occupations do not differ significantly and are nearly identical to the proportions in the entire population.

Therefore, the MBTI is essentially unable to predict a certain person’s likelihood of success in a particular career. Even the MBTI document mentions that requiring candidates to take the test as a criterion for selection is inconsistent with corporate ethics and sometimes may even be illegal. The documents also discourage the use of the MBTI test to predict an individual’s career success. However, thousands of people seem to ignore these warnings and continue to use this test for the wrong purposes.

What can the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test do?

People are drawn to tests like the MBTI because of their desire to learn about themselves and others. ‘The four dimensions from which the MBTI type is derived are all useful in describing a person’s personality,’ Ashton said.

Even if the MBTI results don’t exactly match your intuition or are wrong, they can still provide insight. A former Bridgewater Associates employee took the test and concluded that while the MBTI doesn’t fully describe a person, its value lies in pushing us to ‘bridge the gap between test results and what we really know about ourselves.’ Here are some common uses for the MBTI test:

Business-oriented environment:

• Develop leadership skills;
• Team building;
• Screen and interview employees;
• career choice;
• Consider team and organizational culture.

Personally Oriented Development:

• Self-growth;
• Work with the team;
• Understand stress response;
• Career Development;
• Working relations;
• communication methods;
• Resolve conflicts;
• Change management;
• Solve the problem.

The difference between MBTI test and other personality classification tools

MBTI and DISC

DISC is a professional testing tool that observes an individual’s behavior to identify their personality at a specific time, and is based on the research of psychologist William Moulton Marston. Both MBTI and DISC are assessment tools that provide insights into personality and behavior and are used globally by individuals, organizations and companies. However, there are clear differences between MBTI and DISC:

• The DISC test is shorter than the MBTI (DISC usually has 24-30 questions, whereas most MBTI tests have 90 questions).
• DISC focuses on four main types of behavior. According to the DISC theory, each person’s personality falls into four behavioral patterns: D-dominance, I-influence, S-stable, and C-submissive. DISC uses four main opposing personality categories: direct-indirect, task-oriented-people-oriented.
• MBTI assumes that personality is fixed and unchangeable, while DISC believes that different situations and environments may lead to different behavioral characteristics within an individual.
• MBTI mainly indicates people’s internal thinking style, while DISC measures the relationship between simulated inner personality and external behavior.

PsycTest free DISC personality test: www.psyctest.cn/t/JBx2j9x9/

MBTI AND BIG FIVE

The Big Five Personality Test (also known as the OCEAN test) is based on the five most basic aspects of human personality, namely Openness to Experience (O), Conscientiousness (C), Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), and Neuroticism ( N). The test has been recognized for over 100 years and has been tracked and completed by many psychologists. Standardized tests are statistically designed to measure five specific characteristics that are fully present in everyday expression, making their validity and reliability very high.

The difference between the Big Five and MBTI is that the Big Five model does not label an individual’s personality type into which group, but instead examines what percentage or score the individual has in each of the five aspects mentioned above.

Furthermore, according to personality psychology, human personality can be analyzed under six models: dispositional tendencies, biology, internal psychology, cognitive/experimental, social and cultural, and adjustment. This means that human personality is fixed from birth, inherited from parents, and changes based on their environment and experiences.

Although the MBTI is widely used, it is somewhat inflexible in classifying or labeling personality types, ignoring the fact that personality changes over time and environment. Meanwhile, the Big Five model is widely used in research because it does not classify human personalities, but instead marks the continuum of five aspects of their inherent personality, including human personality factors that undergo change.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the Big Five has higher validity and reliability than the MBTI because its variability does not differ much.

PsycTest Free Big Five Personality Test: www.psyctest.cn/t/Bmd7Qm5V/

MBTI and Enneagram

Enneagram, also known as the Enneagram, is based on an individual’s natural personality traits and environmental influences. According to this test, a person’s personality is not fixed but constantly changes depending on the environment and external influences. The nine types of Enneagram correspond to certain habits of individual thinking, emotion and behavior, and are divided according to unique development paths: 1-Reformer, 2-Helper, 3-Achiever, 4-Independent, 5-Investigator , 6-loyalist, 7-enthusiast, 8-challenger, 9-peacemaker.

The biggest difference between MBTI and Enneagram is that MBTI focuses on individual nature, while Enneagram prefers environmental cultivation. The reason the Enneagram is so popular for career orientation at the secondary school level is that it provides a two-way assessment of existing personality and external influences. Therefore, the results of this test are more realistic and credible.

Although Enneagram is comparable to MBTI in complexity, Enneagram is an easier test to design than MBTI through its ‘Basic Fears’ and ‘Basic Desires’ approach. Therefore, the Enneagram’s validity and reliability are relatively good compared to the MBTI (but still less valid compared to other tools).

PsycTest free Enneagram personality test: www.psyctest.cn/t/jNGev35M/

Positioning of MBTI personality test

Although Isabel Briggs Myers initially used testing as a tool in choosing a career, gradually it became a tool that helped her in every aspect of her life. She sees it as an important tool in pursuing career, education, marriage, and relationships. She claimed that she had a happy married life thanks to her ability to perceive personality types, explaining that the differences between her (INFP personality) and her husband (ISTJ personality), after using the MBTI test, they easily understood and Have sympathy for the other person.

This categorization became such a part of Myers’ life that her family said that in the last few years of her life she talked about nothing but her MBTI. She wants people to see their strengths and help them understand that they can best contribute to the world around them. Her tireless efforts to promote classification testing show that this tool is sure to be of great benefit to anyone who accesses it. At one of her last professional events, she told a colleague: ‘I hope that my work will continue to help people long after I am gone’.

This is not a test designed to accurately classify people, but rather a test designed to make people feel happier after doing it. This is one of the reasons why MBTI has long existed in the corporate world despite being rejected by psychology. Ultimately, it’s not the MBTI label, but the power of inner examination that can develop insights and sometimes inspire people to take steps to change one’s situation.

Spillover effects of MBTI testing in practice

Application of MBTI in enterprise management

The results of the MBTI personality test not only affect individuals, but also large groups with complex structures. If you want to lead and manage a successful business, the MBTI test is an indispensable tool. Business management is largely related to human resource management: personnel recruitment, company culture or the role of the leader.

recruitment

The MBTI test is a tool that helps recruiters analyze a candidate’s personality. By dividing the candidate into 16 groups, they can understand the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition to professional knowledge, the personality of the candidate is also very important. Employers will rely on test results to assess a candidate’s suitability for the organization’s environment and people. This is part of the MBTI test in human resources recruitment.

human resource Management

When recruiting candidates who fit the company culture, managers need to have human resource management methods and solutions to achieve maximum work efficiency. In addition to analyzing the personality of each group through the MBTI test, it is also necessary to analyze how each group performs in the work process - this is very valuable information for managers.

An important criterion in human resource management is understanding of employees. The purpose of this criterion is to understand employees’ personality traits, how they react to work stress, how they work in a team, and how focused and creative they are.

Understanding the above factors will help managers assign appropriate positions and tasks to appropriate individuals, develop appropriate discipline and reward standards, organize the company’s professional ethics to reduce conflicts among employees, and optimize the performance of the entire organization.

Support the formation of corporate culture

Selecting employees based on the application of the MBTI test provides managers, in part, with a qualitative tool for shaping their corporate and organizational character. Based on the MBTI classification system and other research, Stanley D. Trusky, president and CEO of the Management Science and Development Corporation, developed a successful corporate culture model—the L4 model—in 2011:

• The cooperative model (based on the SF personality group), whose key elements include cooperation, teamwork and diversity, are an important part of the corporate culture.
• Inspiration model (based on the NF personality group) whose key elements include work challenge, interpersonal relationships, career development, training and upskilling, and motivating and inspiring employees.
• Achievement Model (based on NT personality groups) whose key elements include discovery and advancement in pursuit of excellence.
• Consistent model (based on ST personality groups) that emphasizes the importance of discipline in corporate culture to achieve stability and sustained development.

Application of MBTI in career orientation

Personality has a great influence on the career field, so the results of the MBTI test are also formulated and oriented for career tests. The following is a summary of job areas suitable for the 16 MBTI personality groups:

• ENFJ – The Giver: They are suitable for work environments with a lot of support and encouragement, especially in jobs that require communicating with and understanding others, such as diplomats, psychologists, social workers, teachers, consultants/consultants, human resources Resource manager, event organizer, writer.
• ENFP – Champions: They excel in jobs that require interesting ideas and are retained by a large audience for the long term, such as consultants, writers, reporters, reporters, actors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, reporters, researchers, programmers, computer systems analysts.
• ENTJ – Field Marshal: ENTJs are well suited to organizational and leadership roles, such as entrepreneurs, CEOs, judges, teachers.
• ENTP – Visionary: They are suited to work in many fields, especially those where they have the freedom to pursue creativity. Suitable positions for ENTP groups: lawyers, consultants, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, photographers, sales representatives, actors, and personal marketers.
• ESFJ – Provider: They do a good job of maintaining order and structure, plus they feel comfortable doing things that serve people.
• ESFP – Performers: They are suitable for jobs where they can use their excellent communication skills and they don’t like to be bound by theory.
• ESTJ – Supervisor: They are suitable for jobs that require order and structure.
• ESTP - Doer: Suitable for roles that require thinking, quick reaction, and without any complicated regulations.
• INFJ – Counselor: They are suitable for careers related to the mission of creating something meaningful.
• INFP – Idealist: They should work in a field where they can live their daily lives according to their values while bringing many good things to humanity, such as writers, musicians, composers.
• INTJ – Mastermind: They often associate their career with independent thinking and having complete insight into something.
• INTP – Thinker: They should seek out and analyze fundamental principles and ideas in an independent work environment.
• ISFJ – Protector: They should choose jobs where they can use their excellent observation and organizational skills.
• ISFP – Composer: Most of the world’s famous artists fit into the ISFP personality group.
• ISTJ – Inspector: They maximize their abilities by working around traditional traits, authority, security, or logical facts.
• ISTP – Craftsman: They work best when working independently or in an environment with enough flexibility where they can apply excellent reasoning skills or solve practical problems.

Application of MBTI in Education

The MBTI personality test or other personality tests are great tools for teachers, coaches, and education professionals. The MBTI divides personality into 16 different types, providing them with a standard system for classifying personalities and recognizing tendencies and talents in students to develop specific directions for each personality type.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test also helps each individual better understand themselves so that they can act as their own coach, find the most effective way to learn, and choose the direction of future development. In addition, the MBTI test provides individuals and educational institutions with effective guidance on soft skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and leadership.

In summary, the support of the MBTI test in the field of education includes teaching and learning methods, different levels of course specialization, and the adaptation of education and training to different cultures.

Don’t know your MBTI personality type yet? PsycTest provides free MBTI personality test: www.psyctest.cn/mbti. If you are also interested in MBTI, welcome to visit PsycTest for more exciting content.

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