Recent Assessments of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Abstract

The present paper focuses on approximately two dozen recent published studies that examined reliability and validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in clinical, counseling, and research settings. Several assessments of split-half and test-retest reliability of the standard Form F and shorter Form G of the Inventory have yielded generally satisfactory correlations for all four scales. A larger number of studies of construct validity of the MBTI have yielded support for research hypotheses in situations ranging from correlations of the MBTI with a personality inventory, to couples problems in a counseling setting, to line judgment in groups, and others. Therefore, the applications of the MBTI have been broad, although somewhat unsystematic, and with generally favorable validity assessment. Continued attempts to validate the instrument in a variety of settings are needed.

Supporting agile team composition: A prototype tool for identifying personality (In)compatibilities

“…Judgers like pre-planning and order whereas perceivers live through adoption and spontaneous decision making. Several studies have demonstrated that these preferences influence the ways in which individuals interact in groups, and the validity and reliability of the MBTI instrument have been verified in studies reported by Carlson [6], Johnson [7] and McCarley and Carskadon [8].…”

Using data mining on student behavior and cognitive style data for improving e-learning systems: a case study

“…So, there are two categories of subjects: judgers who structure and order that promote predictable surrounding where decisions could have been brought quickly, and perceivers who need to keep options open unconcerned for deadlines. As MBTI is well theoretically conceptualized, 43 and metrically evaluated instrument 44,49 , we believe that it might be useful to apply it on problem of distance learning. Carlson examined great body of reliability tests for this scale and found that coefficients for splithalf reliability goes from .66 to .92, and test-retest reliability shows that results are relatively stable (coefficients in different studies are ranging from .69 to .89).…”

Item Format and Social Desirability: Implications for Interpretation of the MBTI

“…The scale is intended "not to measure people or the traits they are said to 'have' or possess, but rather to sort people into groups to which, in theory, they already belong" (Myers et al 1998, p. 127). Despite the claimed primacy of the measure as reflecting fundamental aspects of personality, the manual and most literature on the MBTI does not refer to other theories of personality or to other measures of personality (Carlyn, 1977;Carlson, 1985), although the relevant research to link the MBTI to other personality models does exist (Francis, Craig, & Robbins, 2007).…”