Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
XXXXX XXXXX
SERP 563
University of Arizona
25 March 2013
XXXXXX XXXXXX, Ph.D.
Overview of the MBTI
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was created by Katherine Briggs and Isabela Briggs-Myers in 1943 and is the most popular personality measure in history (Erford, 2006). MBTI is a personality inventory based on Jung's theory of psychological types (Pittenger, 1994) that can be used in career counseling for helping clients to identify suitable occupations for exploration (Healy & Woodward, 1998). In the MBTI manual, Myers and McCaulley (1985) referenced many studies indicating workers in different occupations obtain distinctive MBTI scores, and they claim career counseling clients will benefit from reflecting about the meaning of the scores themselves and about how their scores compare with the scores of various occupational groups (Healy & Woodward, 1998).
The authors of the MBTI recommend interpreting each of the four bipolar scales by the dominant pole, but continuous scores can be computed for research (Healy & Woodward, 1998). In brief, the MBTI's four bipolar scales describe people as follows:
Extroverted-Introverted (EI). People have either a more outward focus to their environment or a more inward focus to concepts and ideas. Sensing-Intuitive (SI). People are inclined to attend either to the immediate, practical, and observable, or to future possibilities and implicit or symbolic meanings. Thinking-Feeling (TF). People evaluate their decisional paths primarily emphasizing thinking and objective logic or feeling and subjective values. Judging-Perceiving (JP). People tend to either control their lives in a very organized, planned, expeditious way, making quick and final decisions, or they adapt to life spontaneously through constant information-seeking and inquiry while keeping their options open (Healy & Woodward, 1998).
The MBTI Instrument
In its basic form, the test consists of a...