The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; Or Why You Sometimes Want to Scream When Your Loved Ones Do Things That Make No Sense to You

People Actually Are Different From One Another

In 1921, the renowned psychologist Carl Jung published a book called Psychological Types, whose main premise was that “what appears to be random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities.” The book, though filled with revolutionary ideas about why people behave the way they do, was difficult to read, as it was geared for an academic audience (not to mention that it was written in Swiss German).

Twenty years later, two American women, the mother-daughter team of Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers became deeply interested in Jung’s ideas, and decided that it was important for people to be able to understand and act on this personality typing that Jung created.

To accomplish this, they created a test, called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is still in wide use today. Their premise was that if you understood yourself better, you could take greater advantage of your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses. Additionally, if you understood other people better, you could comprehend what motivated them, and not react or get angry or hurt when they did things differently from you.

Isabel Briggs Myers then wrote a book, called Gifts Differing, which is a little easier to read than Carl Jung’s original work. At the end of this post I’ll list some other books that are even easier to comprehend.

What Are the Four Traits?

Introvert vs. Extrovert (where you get energy, what your relationships look like, and how you process information).

Intuitive vs. Sensing (what information draws your attention out in the world).

Thinking vs. Feeling (what criteria you use to make decisions).

Judging vs. Perceiving (how much information you like to take in before making a decision, plus your relationship to decision-making in general).

Full disclosure: I am an ENFJ-Extroverted, Intuitive Feeling Judging type. You’ll find out what that means below.

Introvert Does Not Mean Shy

The first way that the Myers-Briggs test classifies personalities is Introvert vs. Extrovert. In North America and Europe, the majority of people are Extroverts. This does not mean they love to talk to strangers, or they like giving speeches, or they aren’t shy, or they’re superior human beings. All it means is that they get energy from being with other people. After a long day at work, an Extrovert will look forward to going to a party because he knows it will energize him to be around other people.

Introverts get energy from being alone. They’re not afraid of people; they’re not defective or shy. They simply get energized by being alone. After a long, tiring day at work, an Introvert looks forward to a quiet evening alone because he knows it will revitalize him.

There is a lot of misinformation about introversion, especially because western society is so Extroverted as a whole. For some reason the majority-Extrovert society thinks there’s something suspicious about a person who enjoys spending time alone. Are they isolators? Stuck up? Don’t like people? What are they doing home alone anyway? Plotting?

Introverts tend to have fewer, deeper relationships; Extroverts can have an array of friends and acquaintances. You won’t find an Introvert standing around making small talk with people she doesn’t know—that’s viewed as a huge waste of time by an Introvert; whereas Extroverts might enjoy this.

Introverts process information or ideas in their heads first, then speak, then process. Extroverts are the opposite—they’ll talk first to hear themselves say what they don’t know they know; then they’ll think, then talk. If you’ve ever taught workshops or classes, you have to watch out that the Extroverts don’t dominate the discussion; while the Introverts are thinking and processing, the Extroverts already have their hands in the air, even if they’re not sure they know the answer. They’ll find out whether they know the answer when they start speaking.

Sensing vs. Intuitive

These two ends of a continuum look at what information you notice in your world.

Sensing types are grounded in the information that comes in through their five senses. A great example of a strong sensing type is a professional athlete; she is completely present to what’s going on in front of her, what her body is saying, where the ball is (if she’s playing a sport with a ball), and where her teammates are. Sensing types are grounded in reality.

Intuitive types (the Myers-Briggs test calls these “N’s—iNtuitive”) pay much more attention to the possibilities of things; what’s around the corner, what might happen, what’s coming up. They can lose sight of the reality in front of them, as a Sensing type can lose sight of what might be on the horizon that has not yet appeared.

There’s an inherent misconception that can arise with the term “Intuitive” specifically, that Sensing types don’t have intuition. This isn’t true—everyone has intuition; you just might not be aware of it. This continuum measures what information you pay attention to the most.

Thinking Type Feel, and Feeling Types Think, But…

The next way Myers and Briggs used Jung’s work to classify personalities is though how they make decisions. They called the two ends of the spectrum Thinking and Feeling.

Thinking types make decisions based on objective principles and impersonal facts. They like to be logical and consistent in their decisions.

Feeling types make decisions based on their personal values and what’s best for everyone involved. They are concerned about maintaining harmony.

Don’t misunderstand, though. Thinking types feel, and Feeling types think (although sometimes they each don’t believe that of each other).

Judging Doesn’t Mean Judgmental

One of the ends of this continuum is also unfortunately named, in my opinion (Judging). Maybe I’m sensitive because I’m a J—when people take this test then talk to me about their results, inevitably the ones who fall on the Judging side of the scale say “But I didn’t think I was judgmental.”

This scale doesn’t measure judgmental-ness. It measures how much information you want to take in before you make a decision; it also measures how comfortable you are once the decision is made.

Judging types like to have the decision made. When buying a sofa, they don’t drive all over town to look at ten different models; they might research a few on the Internet, then go see two or three and pick one. Extreme Judging types make decisions based on no information at all just because they like things to be settled and certain.

Perceiving types are the opposite (you’ve probably noticed by now that each category contains two opposites). They enjoy the act of gathering information. They love possibilities and keeping their options open.

One of my close friends is a “P.” Even though it drives me crazy sometimes, when we go out I like to delegate the restaurant choice to her. She’ll always show up with 5 or 6 options, and we might, on our way to the one we’ve chosen, change our minds at the last minute and go somewhere else. (That’s the part I don’t like—once we’ve decided, I just want to drive there; it makes me uncomfortable to change my mind on the way to the one we’ve already picked.)

As you may have noticed, extreme Judging types can make ill-informed decisions because they’d rather decide than gather information to inform the decision. Extreme Perceiving types might never make a decision. There’s always a little more information to gather.

If You Want to Know More

I’ve included a very simplified way to figure out if you’re an Introvert or an Extrovert and Thinking or Feeling type, because those are the two characteristics I use in my book, Your Marketing Personality.

However, if you want to read more about the test, or take a longer, official one, check out either of these books:

Please Understand Me, II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence, David Keirsey.

Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types that Determine How We Live, Love, and Work, Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen.

Take the Test At Home

If you do take the test out of one of these books, I advise taking it at home after you’ve relaxed from your day’s labors. Your business might require you to behave in a way that is different from your true personality (you might have to be more outgoing, or make decisions faster than you’d like to). Once you get home and relax, it’s easier to answer the questions as your real self.

While You’re At It…

If you’ve already noticed that understanding the types of the important people in your life might be very helpful for your relationship together, you would be right. Give this test to your college-aged kids, parents, spouse, partner, cubicle-mate or sweetie-pie, and watch understanding dawn on both of you. And while you’re at it, you could ask some of your best clients to take it, too. It will help you create marketing that speaks to their types. For more on this subject, read this book I wrote: Your Marketing Personality. It takes 30+ different kinds of marketing and describes which types of marketing are best for which types of people.

And Most Important…

Although he might not have realized it at the time, this is Carl Jung’s monumental contribution to world peace.