Exploring the MBTI

Not a ‘test’ because there are no right or wrong answers, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment is designed to help you better understand what makes you uniquely you. It will help you understand how you relate to others, and how you can benefit from this knowledge in everyday life.

The Myers Briggs assessment helps you to identify your preferred way of doing things in four key areas. The letters refer to your preferences for:

• Directing and receiving energy—I (Introversion) or E (Extroversion)
• Taking in information—S (Sensing) or N (iNtuition)
• Making decisions—T (Thinking) or F (Feeling)
• Approaching the outside world—J (Judging) or P (Perceiving)

The Myers Briggs assessment is the world’s most trusted and widely used personality assessment. If you’re a student, inquire with your academic advisor or career counselor about taking the assessment. If you’re employed, your HR Manager may be able to offer you the assessment. Or the assessment is available to individuals online.

The MBTI assessment is not a test because there are no right or wrong answers and no best type to be. Thinking that you might want to ‘cheat’ makes no sense as the assessment aims only to identify your personality preferences in order to support self-awareness and personal development. The MBTI assessment is not suitable to be used in any other way, for example in selection, where results may be a more relevant indicator of success.

The MBTI questionnaire is not a test or a quiz. It helps you understand yourself and others, and there are no right or wrong answers or a best type to be. The MBTI assessment provides insight by exploring which four letters most accurately describe your personality: I (Introversion) or E (Extroversion); S (Sensing) or N (iNtuition); T (Thinking) or F (Feeling); J (Judging) or P (Perceiving). These four letters combine to one of 16 possible MBTI types.

The MBTI assessment is available online at MBTIOnline.com

The self-awareness you gain through the MBTI assessment allows you understand yourself and others better, so you can enhance your relationships with others.

The full interpretation process provides numerous insights into the way you think and behave, shedding invaluable light onto how you interact with others at work and in your personal life. Using the MBTI framework, you can consciously flex your natural style to improve communication, manage conflict more effectively, and make better decisions, for example. It also, and very usefully, provides a common language with which to talk about personality difference with other people.

The MBTI questionnaire should never be used in recruitment or selection because it does not measure a person's skills or abilities ̶ just their underlying personality preferences. These preferences are not necessarily reflected in their behavior, because as complex and adaptable human beings, we are able to modify our behavior according to what is most appropriate and useful in any given situation. The MBTI assessment is not constructed using scales that can predict a person's behavior: instead it uses broad categories to describe what motivates us.

The MBTI instrument is not designed to be used as a selection tool. It is a process, not just a questionnaire, and respondents are encouraged to decide which MBTI type best fits them, and then to determine what this means for them. It is simply not appropriate to use in a selection context.

There are many personality assessments on the market that have inbuilt mechanisms to make them ideal for selection, such as the CPI®.

MBTI Step I is the first and most well known form of the MBTI questionnaire. It sorts you into one of 16 types. You find out your best-fit type via a facilitated session, usually with a qualified MBTI practitioner.

MBTI Step II is a slightly longer version of the questionnaire which goes into greater detail by providing information on five facets linked to each letter of your MBTI type. It complements Step I by giving a more granular view of your personality preferences, motivations and outlook, and can be used to explain things about your personality that might seem inconsistent or confusing. It can also help you to clarify your Step I best-fit type.

Note: it is possible to order Step I reports from a Step II questionnaire – so if you know someone is going to use MBTI Step II at some point, they should complete that questionnaire at the start of their MBTI development journey.

Although there is no set cut off point for using the MBTI tool with younger people, as long as they have the reading capacity to understand the questionnaire, it is generally recommended that the MBTI tool is not be suitable for those younger than 13 years of age. There is the MMTIC (Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children), which is available for use with children in grades 2-12 (ages 7-18), but it is aimed mostly for ages 7-12. The MMTIC assessment can help children understand themselves better, and give parents and teachers better tools and insights to reach children with different learning styles. Find out more from People Stripes.

For young adults (16-24), the MBTI tool can be extremely useful for learning styles, self-awareness, working with others and career counseling.

When administering the MBTI assessment to young adults, emphasize that the process is voluntary and confidential, and reinforce the individual's own part in determining the results. This is particularly important as teachers, counselors or professionals who administer the tool will probably be seen as authority figures, so a respondent's answers may not be natural. Peer pressure and social desirability may be strong influences if they think that their results may be shared.

When giving feedback, it is important to make sure the questions asked are relevant to someone who is not in a work environment, so asking about how they work with other students on projects, for example, may be more applicable to them.