What is the MBTI?

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator was developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother,
Katharine Cook Briggs. After more than 50 years of research and development, the MBTI is
one of the most widely used team building and personal development instruments available. It
explains basic patterns in human functioning and is used for a variety of purposes including
the following:

• Career development and exploration

• Team Building
• Management and leadership training
• Self-understanding and developments
• Organization development
• Problem solving
• Relationship counseling
• Education and curriculum development
• Diversity and multicultural training
• Academic counseling

MBTI looks at 16 different personality preferences. All of the types are good and we use all of
them from time to time. The purpose of the instrument is to identify the individual’s style
they are most comfortable with and the style they enjoy using the most. The MBTI helps an
individual learn about their most preferred preferences and their least preferences and how to
use both of them. The MBTI results identify valuable differences between normal, healthy
people, differences that can be the source of much misunderstanding and miscommunication.

The MBTI results are reported as a four-letter personality type (e.g. ESTP, ISFJ). Each letter
corresponds to an individual’s preference in each of the four pairs of personality types on
the MBTI.

Letter One: E or I: Extraverts focus more on people and things, introverts on ideas. Letter
Two: S or N: Sensing-dominant personalities prefer to perceive things though sight, sound,
taste, touch, and smell, while intuition-dominant types look to past experience and are more
abstract in their thinking. Letter Three: T or F: The third subtype is a measure of how people
use judgment. Thinking types use logic to judge the world, while feeling types tend to view
things on the basis of what emotions they invoke. Letter Four: J or P: Everyone judges and
perceives, but those who are judging dominant are said to be more methodical and results-
oriented, while perceiving dominant personalities are good at multi-tasking and are flexible.

For more information regarding the MBTI, please contact Kanice Newton in the Human
Resources Office.