The online Myers-Briggs 16 personalities test presents much controversy concerning its accuracy and helpfulness.
In 1962, Katharine Cook Briggs and daughter Isabel Briggs-Myers created a personality survey from which they eventually developed the popular personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory.
The results of this test are one of 16 personality types. According to this personality test, almost every person on the planet falls into one of these 16 personality types.
Personality types are determined through four categories: extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving.
The test determines which traits out of each of the four categories someone possesses.”
Like many college students, Auburn students often find themselves in a period of self-discovery as they try to understand their own personalities and decide what career path will best suit them.
Caroline Scott, junior in public relations, said reading up on the different traits assessed by MBTI has helped her better understand which of those traits she possesses.
“I think knowing these things about myself has helped me channel my strengths when it comes to searching for a job and narrowing down career paths,” Scott said.
She believes that regardless of the accuracy of the results, the test offers helpful information in its articulation of personality traits.
“I’m an ENFJ,” Scott said. “Meaning that I am mainly extraverted, my mind processes things based on intuition, I make decisions based on feeling and my lifestyle reflects judging.”
Scott said this means she is an organized planner.
“I’ve always known that I was extroverted,” Scott said. “But it has always fascinated me to see how I perceive, process and implement information in my life.”
The MBTI personality test has proven to be a popular resource for Auburn students, as some believe it provides excellent insight and clarity for students, enabling them to realize the best social and professional circumstances in which they may thrive.
However, others view the results of this test as a generally inaccurate description of each person’s personality as there is no way to narrow down the eight billion personalities in the world to a list of 16.
There are many issues with this test, both in the design of the measure itself and in how an individual’s type is determined, said Seth Gitter, lecturer in the department of psychology.
“It uses a categorical system, which basically says you are either this or you are that,” Gitter said. “This is problematic because when we look at personality characteristics, like extroversion/introversion, most people fall in the middle of that dimension.”
He said the scoring method results in people who are mildly introverted being considered the same as those who are extremely introverted and vice versa.
“What the MBTI does is take the mean of the dimension,” Gitter said. “It says that if you are below that point, you are introverted, and if you are above that point, you are extroverted.”
He explained that modern day personality theories do not put people into types like the MBTI does and that it is better to think of people as having a personality profile made up of where they fall on several continuous dimensions of personality.
Gitter said this is the most valid approach for measuring personality, like the method used by Big Five personality inventory.
“If you are undecided of the academic or career path you want to take, assessing your personality with the assistance of a professional could be helpful,” Gitter said. “But how helpful that will be is dependent on the measures being used.”
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