Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Personality indicators like the Myer Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) analyze and categorize people’s personalities through a series of questions. It is based on the work of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, Katharine Cook Briggs, and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.

The MBTI is still one of the most popular personality instruments in use. It measures answers in terms of four opposing qualities that characterize a person. Every quality is represented by a letter. Alina may be profiled as INFP, which stands for introversion, intuition, feeling, perception. She is an introverted intuitive team player who wants to involve everyone and prefers to take time making decisions rather than acting quickly.

Joana may be type ESTJ, which stands for extraversion, sensing, thinking, judgment. When she feels sad, she calls her best friends and meets up with them. It is easy for her to find logical solutions to nearly every problematic situation. But when trying to find solutions in a team, she always becomes anxious and impatient.

The MBTI's Preferences

(E) Extraversion <--------|--------> Intraversion (I)

Do you prefer the outer world or the inner one? Do you feel energized by people around you or do you need space to yourself to recharge?

(S) Sensing <---------------|--------------> Intuition (N)

How you absorb information? Do you intuitively interpret its meaning or are you factual, concentrating on what you can observe with your senses?

(T) Thinking <---------------|----------------> Feeling (F)

When making decisions, do you prefer to use logic and patterns first or do you first take the specific people and circumstances into account?

(J) Judging <-------------|-------------> Perceiving (P)

Do you prefer to have things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and new options?

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References

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Nils-Eyk Zimmermann

Editor of Competendo. Coordinator of the project DIGIT-AL Digital Transformation in Adult Learning for Active Citizenship. Network Secretary of the DARE network. Topics: active citizenship, civil society, digital transformation, non-formal and lifelong learning, capacity building. Blogs here: Blog: Civil Resilience. Email: office@dare-network.eu

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Related:

• Group-related and Interpersonal Aspects

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Also interesting:

• Personality Styles
• Mentoring

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