Utility of Myers-Briggs

[Guest guest]

Dr. Siff,

The MBTI can be a useful tool in helping some people

understand why so many people around them behave in

ways quite differently than they would. It uses a

series of questions that tends to reveal how the test

taker relates to the world.

Does the person get personal rejuvanation/stimulation

from external stimuli (other people or things) or from

internal activity (personal quite time)?

Does the person tend to see the world in more abstract

or more concrete terms?

Do they tend to make decisions based on rule and

facts, or based on feelings?

Does the person tend to rush to judgement, or tend to

wait to form an opinion or make a decision?

The answers tend to show a persons PREFERENCES. You

may think there is a " best " answer to each of these

questions, but the answers (the preferences shown) are

what make up the differnces between people. These

preferences tend to change a little as a person ages,

but is usually evident from a very young age.

Since the results are based on a test, taken at a

given moment in time, the results are unique to the

test taker and not related to the stars, year of

birth, or any other external factor. This is in

contrast to astrology, where all the babies born at

the same time, especially identical twins, are

supposed to be the same.

I believe that the greatest value of the MBTI is to

help people understand THEMSELVES and others in their

lives. For instance, there is not one best way to

live or think.

A personal example may help. I took the test at about

30 years of age. I was completing my PhD in Chemistry

at UCLA, and was married (at that time for 10 yeas). I

believed that a highly analytical way of life was the

ideal, and in fact I was pretty good at life. I had

won awards in athletics, scholastics, and was a leader

in every part of my life. I was cheerful, an early

riser, ... I thought that with effort, everybody

could achieve what I had. The only thing keeping them

back was their lack of effort. ( I was a joy to live

with-NOT)

After taking the test and seeing that it described me

so well, I started talking to others and found that it

described them vary well, too. My personal break

through was that people are different. My personal

approach to life was different-not better than the

approaches of those around me.

Later, I administered the test via overhead projector

to a collection of more than 300 students in a dorm at

UCLA. After going thru the questions and helping them

to score the results I asked the kids to raise their

hands if the resulting descriptions did NOT match

their own personalities. Only two hands went up. I

asked those kids to come forward and talked to them.

Our world requires a variety of people and approaches

to fill the needs of our population. It should be

obvious that actors and accountants, musicians and

engineers, truck drivers and brain surgeons have

noticable differences in their approach to the world,

themselves, and the people around them. The MBTI is

the best method I have seem to begin describing the

differences in a reproducible and useful manner.

Rande Treece

Denver, CO

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