The Myers-Briggs Indicator is one of today’s most popular personality tests, not least because of its ambitious nature.

Unlike other personality measurement instruments, which measure very specific aspects of our behavior and thinking patterns, the Myers-Briggs Indicator was developed to explore the most important and unique aspects that would serve to describe the way each individual is through 16 personality types.

The latter means that the Myers-Briggs Indicator was made with the desire to describe personality in a global way, instead of measuring very concrete aspects of people’s way of being. This idea, based on what is usually known as “holistic” approaches, is very attractive to many people who see in this personality test a way of knowing the most essential aspects of people, that which defines them in a more complete sense .

However, today the Myers-Briggs Indicator has critics who point to the validity and usefulness of the test and, consequently, of the 16 personality types it proposes. Let’s see what the defence and negative criticism of this system of personality classification is based on.

What is the Myers-Briggs Indicator?

The MBTI is a personality test based on the work of Carl Gustav Jung and the personality types he proposed.

The Myers-Briggs Indicator borrows 8 of the psychological functions that Jung used to theorize about different personality types and proposes a system of questions that serve to study the way in which people’s preferences and ways of being fit into these categories.

If you want to know more about these ideas of Carl Jung, you can read this article:

  • The 8 Personality Types according to Carl Gustav Jung

How does the MBTI work?

The Myers-Briggs Indicator uses four dichotomies with two ends each to study personality. These are as follows:

  • Extraversion (E) or Intraversion (I)
  • Intuition (N) or Sensation (S)
  • Thought (T) or Feeling (F)
  • Judgment (J) or Perception (P)

Each person responds to the questions posed in the test by reflecting on their way of being, thinking and feeling, which makes this a measurement tool based on introspection. Based on these answers, the data obtained are grouped and in this way it is established which of the 16 personality types serves to best describe one’s way of being and preferences.

The 16 personality types

Based on the data crossing of these 8 variables established in the 4 dichotomies, the 16 personality types of the Myers-Briggs Indicator are formulated. They are as follows.

1. ESTJ (Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging)

People who like to have control over what happens around them , always look for a way to make everything work as it should and, if necessary, implement it themselves.

2. ESTP ((Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving)

People who belong to this category are spontaneous, cheerful and active , but like what happens with YST, they tend to exercise dominance over others, in this case through their capacity for observation and their charisma.

3. ESFJ (Extraverted Sensing Feeling Judging)

These are people who are very dedicated to the needs of others , especially if they are part of your close circle: family and friends. Therefore, whenever they can, they give their help and try to ensure that their close social circles always remain stable and in good health. This is why they tend to avoid strong conflicts and are diplomatic when there are clashes of interests.

4. ICPF (Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving)

These are happy and spontaneous people who enjoy entertaining themselves and others . Fun is one of the most important pillars of their lives, and they are close and warm-tempered. They love novelty and talking about personal experiences.

5. ISTJ (Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving)

A personality type defined by its strong sense of morality and duty . They like to plan and implement systems of rules that allow teams and organizations to function with a clear logic and order. They place a high value on rules and the need for reality to correspond to how things should be. Although they are introverted people, they do not shy away from interaction with others.

6. ISTP (Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving)

These are reserved people, oriented to action and practical solutions to everyday problems . They are also defined by their tendency towards logical thinking and their spontaneity and autonomy. They like to explore environments and discover ways to interact with them.

7. ISFJ (Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging)

They are people defined mainly by their desire to protect and help others and, in short, to be reliable for others.they strive to do everything that is expected of them, but they do not have high aspirations or show great ambition. They tend to think that it is wrong to ask for compensation or raises in exchange for the sacrifices they make when working, since this should be a goal in itself.

8. ISFP (Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving)

People who live totally in the here and now, in constant search of novelty and sensorially stimulating situations .They are reserved, but also cheerful, spontaneous and warm with their friends. They have a special talent in the world of the arts.

9. ENTJ (Extraverted Intuitive Thinking Judging)

This is one of the 16 personality types most related to leadership and assertiveness . The people described by this category are communicative, agile and analytical thinking and predisposed to lead teams and organizations. They adapt well to change and make their strategies fit in with the changing environment. In addition, they almost always know how to explain their projects or stories in a way that is of interest to others, which makes them very suitable commercials.

10. ENTP (Extraverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving)

People especially moved by curiosity and by challenges that in order to be solved require facing intellectually stimulating questions. Their mental agility and their ability to detect logical inconsistencies make them predisposed to be interested in science or philosophy. In addition, their tendency to be competitive makes them very active during the day, always trying to reach innovative solutions to complex problems.

11. ENFJ (Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging)

People who constantly learn about all fields of knowledge (or a good part of them) and help others to learn, guiding them in their own evolution. They like to offer tutoring and advice, and are very good at influencing the behaviour of others. They focus on their values and ideals and do their best to improve the well-being of as many people as possible through their ideas and actions.

12. ENFP (Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving)

One of the 16 personality types with the greatest propensity for creative thinking, the arts and sociability. They are cheerful, enjoy interacting with other people, and act with their position as part of a “whole” formed by humanity in mind, and are not individualistic. In fact, they often engage in collective tasks to help others, thinking about the social impact of their actions. However, they are also easily distracted and often put off tasks they consider boring or too simple and routine.

13. INTJ (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging)

A personality type oriented towards solving specific problems based on analytical reasoning . Those described by this category are people who are very focused on their own ideas and theories about how the world works, which means that they analyze their environment by focusing on their ideas about how the world works. They are aware of their own capabilities and trust their own judgment, even if it goes against some superiors.

Very often they become experts in a very specific field of knowledge, as they like to have enough knowledge about something to be able to take into account all the factors that come into play in its functioning and, from there, know what can be done or what will happen in the future.

14. INTP (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving)

One of the 16 personality types most defined by the propensity for reflection . These people like theories with the ability to explain everything that can happen in a system, and their tendency towards perfectionism makes them correct others on multiple occasions. They value accuracy in theoretical terms more than pragmatism and the resolution of concrete problems.

15. INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging)

People who are very sensitive, reserved and moved by very defined ideals and who, moreover, feel the need to make others benefit from these ideals as well. This makes them prone to both reflection and action, which can be so much work that they become overloaded with too much responsibility. They show a great capacity to successfully interpret the mental states of others and try to use this information to help them before the other person asks them to.

16. INFP (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving)

Less moralistic than the INFJs, the INFPs are also very concerned about helping others from their position as reserved persons. They show an aesthetic and artistic sensibility that makes them creative.

Criticisms of the Myers-Briggs Indicator

There are many researchers and academics who deny the idea that the MBTI has any value for science, basically because it is based on some ideas (those of Carl Jung) that were not born through the use of the scientific method and because, in addition, they consider that the 16 personality types are too ambiguous and abstract to be used to predict thought or behaviour patterns.

That is, anyone could read the descriptions of these personality categories and see themselves reflected in many of them at once, being so general. This phenomenon is an example of the Forer effect, according to which when the personality categories are sufficiently ambiguous, anyone can identify with them to the point of believing that they fit well with their way of being and not with that of others. This, in turn, is a case of confirmation bias.

So… it’s not useful?

The problem of the ambiguity of the personality categories with which the Myers-Briggs indicator works also occurs in a similar way, for example, in Carl Jung’s personality proposal. It is assumed that a personality model has to lay the foundations to be able to isolate relevant psychological variables and that in certain research they have a certain predictive value (i.e. they clear up doubts about what is going to happen, for example, if a person with high levels of neuroticism begins to work in a public-facing environment with a lot of pressure.

When the popularity of a personality model is based on the Forer effect, little is to be expected from its usefulness as a research tool, because everyone is capable of being identified by virtually any personality type and the end result will depend on minor factors, such as the description of personality style read earlier, for example.

That is why, although the Myers-Briggs Indicator is still used in organizational contexts to select staff or assess the possibility of someone’s promotion, in the research field this tool has been so heavily criticized that its use is a rarity.

Now, that does not mean that, in its own way, there can be certain utilities for the Myers-Briggs indicator. For example, the possibility to be inspired, to make us think about how our personality is structured and how these aspects of personality relate to each other.