What is something that is used by major companies, overpaid intellectuals, and bored teens? Personality tests! 

One type of personality test that has garnered significant media attention and popularity among the masses is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test (MBTI Test). 

Despite widespread consensus that it doesn’t yield accurate results, it is extremely popular. American mother and daughter duo Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers collaborated on this questionnaire using Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s works as their main theoretical foundation. 

Basis:

There are four letters in a person’s personality MBTI type, each standing for a different characteristic. The first letter represents attitudes which are either “Introverted” or “Extraverted.” The second letter represents the dominance of either “Sensing” or “Feeling,” while the third is judging, either “Thinking” or “Feeling.” The fourth is lifestyle preferences which are either “Judging” or “Perceiving.” There are sixteen possible MBTI personality types that one can be assigned after taking a comprehensive test (www.verywellmind.com & www.myersbriggs.org).

Details:

After taking the diagnostic and being assigned their result, test-takers are generally briefed on the nicknames for their types (ENTP is known as “The Debater”), and the reasoning behind each letter they received (ENTP would be Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving). There are some statistics involved, displaying how common or rare the personality type is, in addition to generalized strengths and weaknesses (ENTP “values knowledge” but can be “unfocused”). 

This test is very comprehensive with a total of 130 “agree or disagree” sliding scale questions ranging from “you usually stay calm, even under a lot of pressure” to “you are very sentimental,” and takes about 15 minutes to complete (www.truity.com). It is usually taken online on the official website, and is free for a basic result. Some may choose to hire a “MBTI Master Practitioner” or even buy personalized online courses designed to “achieve greater self-awareness” among other things. Some people like YLHS Student Emily Moon (11) report that she thinks that the MBTI is “very conclusive, because there are a lot of different personality types that are offered, and [she] thinks [hers] is very accurate.” To fully understand the extent of the widespreadness of the test, 16personalities.com displays that it has been shared via their site a total of 1.3 million times!

Effectiveness:

According to mental health-oriented site Verywellmind, “studies have found that the reliability and validity of the instrument have not been adequately demonstrated” despite the Myers & Briggs Foundation’s claims. They cite a book by The Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance (CTEHP) and the National Research Council (NRC) that claims that “much of the current evidence is based on inadequate methodologies.”

Just like other more frivolous personality quizzes and tests, MBTI may just be a fad to be entertained during a sleepover party, but there is no denying the cultural impact that it has on society.