The MBTI Step III was the final piece of Isabel Myers' dream to help people be at their best: to know their strengths and to to effectively work on their developmental challenges. The Step III instrument was first published in…
The venerable MBTI turns 70 years old next year. In that time, the MBTI has become one of the most researched, respected and widely used personality inventories in history. It has remained relevant over 7 decades despite the emergence of…
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) I is an instrument that describes the broad strokes of an individual personality. Do you tend to be “warm and sympathetic”, like an ESFJ or “logical and detached” like an INTP? One of the goals of this questionnaire is to group people who have similar general tendencies, “birds of a feather”, so to speak. However, it is also clear that even though
people have like-minded characteristics with those of their ilk, they also exhibit a vast array of individual differences. Parrots mimic; eagles eat fish; and owls like to hang out at night. However, within their type, each bird is distinctly different from another. The MTBI II serves to capture these differences in people who have the same personality type. Now there is the MBTI III, a questionnaire that gauges type development. How well does an individual use his/her dominant and auxiliary functions characteristic of that type? Can that person effectively shift to the non-preferred third and fourth functions when necessary?
My interest in the MBTI system was piqued as a result of my work with patients and families in a functional rehabilitation setting and later, in my training and experience as a life coach. Truth be told, raising 3 children and getting to know their friends was also helpful. There is no doubt that how an individual takes in information and uses it, has a great impact on what strategies will be used to attack a problem, communicate with others, and provide energy or motivation. One example that stands out in my mind is when I served a patient who suffered a memory loss after encephalitis caused by a mosquito bite. I recommended placing colorful post-it notes all over her house to stimulate her memory. To my surprise, she rejected my idea by explaining all of that clutter would drive her crazy and she preferred a nice leather planner instead. I was certain she would lose it because in my own mind, I would misplace something like that. However, she always knew where it was. More than likely, her MBTI type code contained an “SJ” possibly ESTJ or ESFJ. These types prefer order in their living space and my “brilliant” idea of eye-catching color all over her house fell flat.