The MBTI Personality Test: Science or Pseudoscience?
The MBTI personality test has become popular on social media, but is it scientific? This article explores the nature of the MBTI test and its implications for self-understanding and career choices.
The MBTI Personality Test: Science or Pseudoscience?
In recent years, the MBTI personality test has taken the social media world by storm. Four mysterious letters have replaced horoscopes as the new labels for young people to express themselves and new codes for surfing the internet. The MBTI test classifies people into 16 different personality types. For example, ENFJ represents the leading protagonist personality, and INTJ represents the rational and resolute architect personality.
What is MBTI? The MBTI, short for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, is a personality test developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katherine Cook Briggs in the 1940s. It is based on the psychological type theory proposed by the famous psychologist Carl Jung. Jung divided people's personality types into two basic mental attitudes of introversion (I) and extroversion (E), and four functions of sensing (S), intuition (N), thinking (T), and feeling (F). On this basis, Myers and Briggs added another dimension of judgment (J) and perception (P), forming 16 types, each represented by four letters.
Why is MBTI so popular? Experts believe that in addition to marketing promotion, it does fit the processing patterns of the human brain and some current social mentalities. The core of such tests is to classify people, and the human brain is best at simplifying the complex world by processing categories to quickly understand a person or thing. On the other hand, more scientific tests that describe personality with five traits are not so easy to understand and therefore difficult to become popular. The intuitiveness of MBTI also makes it popular through entertainment, from various MBTI memes to MBTI book lists, outfits, and interior design styles.
Is the 16 personality types scientific? Can it define us? For example, a writer named Xiao Qi, who is sensitive to numbers and good at statistical induction, got the result of 'actuary' in the MBTI test. While surprised by the highly consistent result, she began to doubt her career choice. However, experts point out that personality is only one of the considerations when choosing a career. Other factors such as interests, abilities, values, and the work environment are also important. Moreover, personality is not static. So, personality tests should not be the main guide or obstacle for career choices.
Although MBTI has a psychological theory background, its scientific nature has always been controversial. On the one hand, Jung's 'psychological type theory' has not been empirically tested. On the other hand, scientific personality tests need to pass quality tests of reliability and validity, but MBTI's performance on these two indicators is not convincing enough. For example, some people may get different results after taking the test multiple times.
Caution against self-stereotyping MBTI's popularity in the internet age is moving from self-understanding to 'group bonding'. In various online communities, people with the same personality type seek answers to life questions and discuss a wide range of topics. Psychologists warn that while quickly finding social belonging and group identity, we should also be cautious of the tendency of self-stereotyping and group polarization. In this pursuit of efficiency era, the popularity of similar tests always comes and goes. But all psychological tests are only reference tools and should not be regarded as absolute truths or even become shackles. Human change and growth are more worthy of expectation.
The popularity of MBTI has also driven various commercial marketing related to psychological counseling. Some tests require payment to view the results, and there are also MBTI courses and professional consultations. Experts suggest that the test results are for reference only, and it is difficult to distinguish the qualifications of so-called professional consultants. Improving oneself professionally may be more practical.