Because I extensively use the MBTI when coaching executives, and because of my general interest in the work of the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), I was looking forward to read ‘What’s Your Type? – The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing’ by Merve Emre.
For those not familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the MBTI has been developed by Katherine Briggs (1875-1968) and her daughter Isabel Myers (1897-1980) on the basis of Jung’s Personality (‘Type’) Theory. It enables the categorization of individual personalities in 4 dimensions, resulting in the (well-known) 16 different ‘types’ (e.g., ‘ISTJ’ or ‘ENFP’).
| Function | Preference | Preference |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | I – Introversion (ideas) | E – Extroversion (people) |
| Perception | S – Sensing (data) | N – Intuition (intuition) |
| Judgment | T – Thinking | F – Feeling |
| Attitude towards outside world | J – Judging | P – Perceiving |
Until a decade ago, the MBTI was one of the most popular personality assessment instruments, and, although it is far less popular today than it used to be, it is still extensively (ab)used.
For this reason, I was very curious to read the book. Unfortunately, I found it a mixed bag.
Dirk Verburg 