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The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: Personality Pseudoscience?
On the validity and reliability of this widely popular personality measure and whether we can really understand ourselves
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most popular personality tests in the world. Developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers and based upon Carl Jung’s work, it categorises individuals into 16 distinct types based on four dichotomies: Introversion vs Extraversion, Sensing vs Intuition, Thinking vs Feeling, and Judging vs Perceiving. Despite its widespread use in a variety of settings and its apparent utility (Pittenger, 1993), from corporate team-building to personal self-discovery, the MBTI has faced significant criticism from the scientific community.
Although influential, Jung’s work is mainly considered speculative (Mayer, 2005)2 and not subjected to rigorous scientific testing. His typology was derived from clinical observations rather than systematic research, making it a weak foundation for a personality assessment tool. In contrast, modern personality psychology relies on empirical studies to validate theoretical constructs and measurement instruments.
