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# From INTJ to ENFP: Your Myers-Briggs score doesn't mean much

By Kimberly Gillan
21 hours ago
The Myers-Briggs test is often handed out by companies as a way to screen potential candidates. (Image) iStock
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21 hours ago

We're a curious species often obsessed with personal development and growth, so it's no surprise personality tests are so popular.

One of the best known is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): 2 million people do the MBTI each year, often at the behest of corporations who use it to determine if somebody would be a good fit for a role.

It's the test that spits out a combination of letters — INTJ to ENFP — that might be familiar from your friends' social media profiles.

The MBTI is based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types developed in the 1920s.

In the 1940s, Isabel Briggs Myers used the theory to develop a series of questions that seek to differentiate people based on four categories: introversion or extroversion (I or E), sensing or intuition (S or I), thinking or feeling (T or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P).

There are 16 combinations of traits available that give you a particular type, such as ENTJ (extroversion, intuition, thinking, judging) — which is said to be somebody who is very organised, decisive, assertive and ambitious.

But despite the test's widespread use and popularity, psychology researchers argue that it's based on out-dated theories.

"The four dichotomies it points to really don't correspond to the main dimensions of personality as have been discovered over the last 50 years or so," Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne professor of psychology, told Coach.

One of the main bones personality psychologists have to pick with the MBTI is that it makes people one thing or another (introverted or extroverted) when in reality, most of us fall somewhere on a spectrum.

"There really aren't personality types – rather there are personality dimensions. People vary by degree along a continuum; they don't fall into separate boxes," Professor Haslam says.

Image By Jake Beech / Wikimedia Commons

### Why people love the Myers-Briggs

Just like many of us love online pop quizzes or astrology predictions, we often have a desire to know where we sit in the world.

"People love to take a little measure that tells you something about yourself," Dr Peggy Kern, University of Melbourne senior lecturer, told Coach.

"It's a test that says 'this is your type' – it's a way to put labels on things."

Dr Kern says the fact that the MBTI costs money and so many people do it seems to give it some credibility.

"You can think, 'If millions of people are using this, it must be a good thing' and 'If I'm paying this much, it must be good'," she told Coach.

"But the Myers-Briggs simply isn't taken seriously in mainstream personality research."

Yet so passionate are some fans of the Myers-Briggs personality assessment that they organise meet-ups with others who share their type.

"It's not the end of the world because they are potentially forming positive relationships," Dr Peter Jonason, University of Western Sydney senior lecturer in personality or individual differences, told Coach.

But identifying with your four-letter Myers-Briggs acronym could also be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"People might see their score and accentuate the aspects of their personality because it's been validated by the test," Dr Jonason says.

What you score on the Myers Briggs early in life may differ completely to a later test, which is part of why experts recommend against using the test to determine your best career choice.

"There's lots of evidence that personality changes," Professor Haslam says.

"As you get older, you'll tend to become less neurotic, you'll tend to become more conscientious and a little bit less open to new experiences and you'll tend to become a little more introverted, especially if you're a man."

### How to use personality testing wisely

Doing the MBTI is not necessarily a complete waste of time – you just need to be aware to take the results with a grain of salt.

"It does give you some information about what you're like – it just happens not to be terribly scientifically sound," Professor Haslam says.

"If you're talking about [using this] as a way of gaining some self-knowledge, that's terrific."

Remember that Myers-Briggs tends to paint a positive picture of all the personality types.

"There's something good about being an introvert and something good about being an extrovert – it's presenting people in terms of their strengths rather than providing some sort of negative evaluation of their personality," he says.

But that said, Dr Jonason says that sometimes it's good to know if our personality traits aren't exactly positive.

"The darkest parts of the Myers-Briggs are that you are judgemental," he points out.

"It doesn't get into thievery or counterproductive work behaviour or interpersonal aggression issues that you might have."

Psychologists say a better use of your time would be testing yourself on the 'big five' personality dimensions – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience – because it's based on solid scientific data and enables you to see where you compare to the rest of the population.

If you want to get some science-backed insights into your personality, then check out the University of Pennsylvania's Authentic Happiness online resource where you'll find all sorts of questionnaires to learn about your happiness, strengths, grit and work life.

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- personality test
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- psychology
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