Whether you're a Psychology major or just a fan of personality quizzes in general, or both, then you no doubt have heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. In case you aren't familiar, the MBTI is a questionnaire that was created by Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers and is based on Carl Jung's theory stating that people experience the world using four main psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. The test itself was designed to measure the differing psychological preferences that people generally perceive the world around them and make decisions based on those perceptions. The four main functions can be simplified as follows:
Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)
Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)
Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
You pretty much get a sense of where your personal traits could fall using these four clear-cut spectrums by each function's name, but you never really know exactly which combination of these spectrums you may possess until you take the test for yourself. There are 16 (yes, 16) different personality combinations that this test is capable of measuring based on your answers to the questions. So, why should you take it? Here are my personal five main reasons for why you should (in no particular order…)
1. Why not?
Aren't you just curious of exactly how you see the world? And based on the statistics for how many people there are in the world with your specific type, you would feel some sort of satisfaction in knowing either how common your type is, or in my case, how rare it is…
2. It's both short and simpleÂ
According to 16 Personalities, the site on which you can access the test, the test only takes less than 12 minutes of your time and the questions are usually straightforward. Try both to answer the questions as honestly as you can and not to put any neutral answers; otherwise, you wouldn't be giving the test a fair chance in having it assess how you really are.
3. It's freeÂ
Yes, it's free! Why wouldn't it be? The test is free to take and so are your results and the follow-up information for those results. However, the site does offer "Premium Profiles" for the types (all 16 of them) each of which, according to 16 Personalities, is "framework created exclusively to help you discover who you really want to be with a map to get you there," and every one of these costs $32.99. It's not necessary, but if you want to know more about how to navigate your type, then go for it!
4. You'll know exactly how you operate in the working worldÂ
One of the main reasons why people don't find satisfaction in making a living is how unfit their jobs align with their personalities. If you read the follow-up information under your type, you will come across how someone of your type, whatever it may be, typically is in the workplace, wherever it may be. Knowing just how you are in handling certain things, like dealing with data, organizing or categorizing, writing or editing, or maybe even speaking in front of crowds of people, is one of the first steps in trying to find a job that is right for you.
5. You'll find solace in knowing who you are as a personÂ
When I said that my personality is rare, it really is rare, as in less than two percent of the entire population! Yet, I didn't know this until my college years! Since I went digging further into my specific type quite some time after taking the test, I found out a lot of certain details about the type from 16 Personalities and several other MBTI-related articles on the web. I found that I pretty much fit the overall INFJ description to a tee, from the little things to the grander things.
And I felt so relieved.
I mean, I knew I was special in my own way, but I could never really put a finger on exactly what made me feel so different from everyone else, and as soon as I discovered my type as well as its traits that I embody, I found peace in the fact that I behave the way I do mainly because of this very rare type: a vital part of my identity as of this point. Believe me when I say that you'll rest easier knowing exactly what your type entails, because you could be just as surprised as I was when I found out about mine…
If you are determined to discover your type and what it's all about, here is the link for the MBTI test on the 16 Personalities site.
Happy self-exploring!