Introduction
Definition of Personality
Enduring characteristics of an individual that are fairly consistent and
predictable is considered to be the personality of that particular individual, which is
distinguishable from others at the given situation or point of time.
Carl Jung developed a theory of personality that said, what appeared to be
random patterns of human functioning in situations was in actuality the different
means that people prefered to use their mental capacities- of perception and judging
(organising information).
This preference for expression of the two mental capacities was expressed in
either an introverted form or an extraverted form. Each individual’s cognitive
functioning seems to be energised more from an external world (extraversion) or the
internal world (introversion).
Self Report Measure
Self Report Measures refer to psychological measures of assessment that rely
on the individual to report their own levels of behaviour, attitude, experiences among
others. These allow for the reliable self-reports from the individual for their
experiences. However, they do not provide against personal biases of social
desirability and acquiescence.
Trait vs Type Theories of Personality
Trait Theories. The have been devised multiple ways to categorise theories of
personality like the biological, humanistic, behavioural and psychodynamic theories
of personality. One of the most used theories are trait theories and type theories. Trait
theorists like Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell believed that personality could be
understood in terms of specific traits that each individual possessed. Allport divided
traits into cardinal,where the traits are integral to the individual, central traits which
are the prominent traits expressed in most situations and secondary traits, which traits
are usually understood in terms of preference of the individual in a particular
situation. Cattel on the other hand, categorised traits into surface level traits, which
were manifestations of the source traits and source traits,
which are the underlying structure of personality.
Type Theories. These theories consider personality to be a type or a category
that contains common characteristic features that are usually dependent on
temperament or body type as a determiner of personality. Some of the most common
type theories are Hippocrates type theory based on the four humours, Carl Jung’s
theory of personality as types of introversion and extraversion and William Sheldon’s
types of endomorphs, ectomorphs and mesomorphs. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
was developed based on Carl Jung’s theory of personality. According to Jung,
personality could be categorised into eight types that were dependent on opposing
attitudes based on which the individual had a predisposition to behave (Cattell, 1965).
He considered feeling, thinking, sensation, and intuition to be the four major functions
of personality.
Development and description of the test
MBTI was developed in the year 1942, based on Carl Jung’s theory. The Form
M of the inventory is the most used and contains 93 items. The test requires almost
15-25 minutes on average to complete. Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother
Katherine, developed the test as an attempt to work towards developing a ‘sorter
instrument’. This instrument was expected to help people easily identify their
personality type preference. In order to achieve this, they created an individual
question (indicator) and collected data to test for validity. The data collection was first
initiated with 20 close friends and relatives. After the data verified their results, larger
samples were used. In 1944, the Form C of the test was established for utilising it as a
tool to recruit employees, which later included other kinds of applications such as
helping the medical field, where professionals could be more content in this
profession.
(Boyle, 1995).
MBTI attempts to identify preferences that are driven through our interests,
values, needs, and motivation. The preferences are denoted by letters, which are E
(extraversion), I (Introversion), S (sensing), N (intuition), T (thinking), F (feelings), J
(judgement), and P (Perception).
These 8 personality types have a combination of 16 personality types in total
that an individual can identify with. Murphy and Charles Meisgeier developed a
version of the test exclusively for the age group of 7-13. The questionnaire contains a
series of items that require the individual to make a choice between opposites to
determine habitual choices.
Each item has one answer that will be scored in favour of one of the 8
preferences according to the choice made by the subject.
Psychometric properties
Reliability tests the consistency of whether the test measures what it aims to.
The reliability of MBTI is better than the other personality tests. On a test of this test,
three out four preferences have been the same from 75% to 90% (Boyle, 1995). The
type change in the result has been indicated within the dichotomy pair and in the one
where the clarity preference was indicated low (Scott, 1999).
Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
and how well reality is. The validity of the MBTI test has been studied and proven
over three features, on the basis of the four preference scales, the validity of the
combinations and the validity of the pair of dichotomies (Atay, 2012).
Applications of the Test
MBTI has many applications in various fields and mostly in organisational
settings. It is used test the quality system, teambuilding, leadership while recruiting
employees as well as for performance appraisal. The results of the test can be used to
develop effective coaching and training models for new employees and different
stress intervention models for different personality types. This is helpful as a
complimentary tool for organisations during interviews. Knowing group members’
preferences, leadership etc. helps the leader to know where to place them and what
roles will suit them best. This kind of appraisal improves overall work performance as
well as motivation of the group. It helps people identify the skills that they can easily
pick up on by themselves with a little self-reflection. This has therefore become
particularly useful in educational settings.
teachers and the students themselves a better idea about what works better for
them. Teachers can put students in effective groups depending on this. This also helps
the trainer to involve and engage every member according their type.
References
Atay, S. (2012). The standardization of myers-briggs type indicator into turkisk: An
application on students. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 39(2).
Boyle, G. J. (1995). Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): some psychometric
limitations. Australian Psychologist, 30(1), 71-74.
Cattell, R. B. (1965). The scientific analysis of personality. Baltimore: Penguin
Books.
Scott, G. D. (1999). Psychometric properties of the myers-briggs type indicator
Masterscoursework thesis, department of psychology, The University of
Melbourne.
