Monday, 30 August 2021

'Astrology For Businessmen'?

The Myers-Briggs Company is a $20m per year business (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/30/myers-briggs-test-history-personality-types). The company's wealth is due to its control of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI was developed in the Seond World War. It is loosely based on Carl Jung's 'theory' (hypothesis might be a better word) of personality. Jung decided that people showed preferences in 4 dichotomies. These were extroversion/introversion; intuition/sensing; thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving. This resulted in 16 'types', each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The MBTI appears to be popular, because it signifies a role for everyone. The test is much used in some business and academic circles. MBTI's basic problem, however, is that Jung's 8 categories are not especially clear (or accepted). Personality may not depend on these 8. The test also allocates people either/or within each dichotomy rather than determining the intensity of the predisposition. People can be somewhat introverted or extremely introverted. Although it may appeal to some, it seems very restricting to allocate people to roles based on this test.

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