Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Description of the MBTI Based on Jung’s theory of types People are classified as one of 16 types (does not use dimensions) Easy to administer; people like feedback Used in a variety of settings: counseling, marital, business, vocational, education

Description of MBTI (continued) Pretty good psychometrics for the four dimensions Little support for Jung’s theory or typology Interpretation is relatively simple

MBTI Scales Extraversion-Introversion –Where do you prefer to focus attention? Sensing-Intuition –How do you take in information, find out about things? Thinking-Feeling –How do you make decisions Judging-Perceiving –How do orient to the outside world?

Jung’s Theory Typological Importance of EI –Unique interpretation of I Dominant and auxiliary functions Naming conventions (e.g., INTJ= introverted intuition with extraverted thinking) Evaluation

Counseling Student Types (n= 118) ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ ISTP ISFP INFP INTP ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

MBTI and the NEO-PI-R N E O A C E-I S-N T-F J-P (top correlation is males, bottom is females)