Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® is a system of personality evaluation developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs. Their aim was to create a tool to indicate, validate, and put to practical use Carl Jung's work on Psychological Type. According to psychological type theory, people are born with a predisposition for how they use certain mental functions and attitudes. Each person has four pairs of opposing attitudes and functions in total and each will have a preference for using one from each pair. Because people prefer these attributes, they will use naturally use them more often and with less effort. Over time, people tend to rely on the preferred functions and attitudes and as a result, they become stronger and more developed as life progresses.

Psychological type affects everything you do: your learning style, your teaching style, your management style, your counselling style, your parenting style, your relationship style, your style of communication, the way you are at home, at work, and under stress. Type influences the way you plan, the way you react to things, the way you solve problems, and the way you deal with people.

By gaining an understanding of personality type, one can become more familiar with one’s own personality and the personality types of others and gain insight into why people act and react the way they do. As this happens, a greater acceptance of the differences in others and a reduction in judgement of people for not being the same begins to grow. This ultimately changes relationships, and conflict and stress diminishes through deeper understanding of where people are coming from. The struggle of individuals to develop as human beings and manage their lives has been greatly aided by the MBTI®‘s emphasis on the value of all types and on appreciating and working in harmony with one's natural preferences.