Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used a lot by big organisations to help them understand more about their employees and for the employees to understand more about themselves (often in team-building events and leadership or management training programmes).

Fundamental to the theory developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel (Briggs) Myers is the theory of psychological type originally developed by the famous psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung described two pairs of cognitive functions, rational (judging) and irrational (perceiving) functions. Rational functions are those of thinking and feeling, irrational functions those of sensing and intuition.

The Myers Briggs type Indicator measures four bipolar factors:

Your resulting ‘type’ being expressed as a 4 letter combination – for which you can then read up on the type description and compare yourself to others of this type, famous role models etc. With such categorisation it then becomes possible to explore which ‘types’ work best together in a variety of situations (work, marriage, sports…) and how best to interact with each type in any given situation.

Note that the terms used for each of the above dichotomies have specific technical meanings relating to the MBTI which differ from their everyday usage.

EXTRAVERTED (E) vs. INTRAVERTED (I)

Introverts need time for reflection. They expend their energy through action. They prefer to reflect, take action then reflect again. Decisions will often be considered rather than immediate. Introverts need time alone and away from excessive activity in order to rebuild their energy.

Extroverts draw their energy from action. They tend to act, reflect then act further. Extroverts thrive on human feedback and rebuild their energy with breaks from time spent in reflection. If they are inactive, they may become demotivated.

SENSING (S) vs. INTUITION (N)

Sensing and Intuition describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches.

On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern). They may be more interested in future possibilities. They tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from the unconscious mind. The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.

THINKING (T) vs. FEELING (F)

Thinkers have a tendency to weigh up options (whether on-the-fly or at length) before making decisions and thus do so logically and in an analytical manner with an emphasis on what needs to get done in terms of tasks and perhaps their order and what outcomes need to be accomplished.

People who have a preference for feeling make their decisions more emotionally perhaps more driven by their own values and with more concern for environmental impact with particular attention to how their decisions and actions may affect other people.

JUDGING (J) vs. PERCEIVING (P)

People who prefer Judging have an inherent drive to order the outside world. They rely on either their Thinking or Feeling preference for this purpose.

People who prefer Perceiving are driven to experience the outside world rather than organise it. They rely upon either their Sensory or Intuitive preference to run their outer life.

Free Online Myers Briggs Tests

There are several free Myers Briggs online tests out there which are quick to take. All of these are based on the work of Carl Jung, Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs but are not officially MBTI (because they can’t be). This is because MBTI is supposed to have its results interpreted by a certified practitioner. However, if you are a fairly intelligent person who doesn’t mind reading (potentially) 16 type descriptions, you’ll get pretty accurate results without paying. The main reason a practitioner’s guidance is needed is because your type can vary depending upon how the questions are answered – a qualified MBTI practitioner will give guidance and keep you honest. So there’s nothing to say that if you can be honest with yourself and use a bit of nouse if something doesn’t seem right (perhaps re-visiting your responses if you need to) that you can’t get some pretty accurate results yourself.

Our Recommendation

In terms of popularity, Myers Briggs is one of the most popular of all theories of personality type testing.

This can be an eye-opening test for team-building and group discovery activities where people can learn about each other and use MBTI as a means to discuss further their relationships. In this case, it is as much the process as the test itself which becomes powerful. MBTI is certainly a very robust and proven test for such purposes.

For employers: if you’re looking for something to add a bit more interest to your team building or management training event, then get a qualified Myers Briggs practitioner involved and get those attending to take the fully fledged test. It is well worth it, not only in terms of getting to know your employees and team-building but also in terms of the increased productivity that generally comes out of it for those who pay attention to and want to work with the results.

For employees: perhaps knowing a little more about Myers Briggs you will spot the opportunity to attend events you may have otherwise missed or could even influence your management or training department to offer some.

For individuals: you can learn more about this fascinating area for free – there is plenty of information available, don’t just take it from one source. If you are going to take a free MBTI test, bear in mind it is probably a smaller and less accurate version, but that’s not to say you wouldn’t get the same results as the full test. Try several free tests and see what results they get you – if you get the same 4 letter combination from several different free tests, then that is very likely to be your true type.