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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Description of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Explanation.

 

Definition Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Description.

 

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality model which classifies people according to their Learning Styles preferences on scales derived from psychologist Carl Jung's theory of psychological types (1920s). It was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers during World War II.

 

Managers / Employees / Students / People may be:

  • FAVORITE WORLD / ATTITUDE: Extraverts (try things out, focus on the outer world of people) or Introverts (think things through, focus on the inner world of ideas).

  • INFORMATION / PERCEIVING: Sensors (practical, detail-oriented, focus on facts and procedures) or INtuitors (imaginative, concept-oriented, focus on meanings and possibilities).

  • DECISIONS: Thinkers (skeptical, tend to make decisions based on logic and rules) or Feelers (appreciative, tend to make decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations).

  • STRUCTURE: Judgers (set and follow agendas, seek closure even with incomplete data) or Perceivers (adapt to changing circumstances, resist closure to obtain more data).

The MBTI type preferences can be combined to form 16 different personalities / learning style types. For example, one manager may be an ISTJ (Intravert, Sensor, Thinker, Perceiver) and another may be an ENFJ (Extravert, iNtuitor, Feeler, Judger).

 

In academic circles the opinion of MBTI is low and it the model is often dismissed as commercial or pseudo-psychology. The MBTI can be seen as an example of Trait Leadership Theory.

 

Compare with: Whole Brain Model  |  Cognitive Bias  |  Active Listening  |  Emotional Intelligence  |  Spiral Dynamics  |  Six Thinking Hats  |  Groupthink  |  Johari Window  |  Action Learning

 

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End of description Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. An explanation.

 

 

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