The Growing Trend of MBTIs

By URANIA SHI ‘28 and ANDREW YANG ‘27

It’s the start of a new school year. “Hi, what’s your name?” echoes across campus. Soon follows the familiar question, “What’s your MBTI?” 

Wait. What even is an “MBTI”? MBTI, also known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, is a survey that gives you five letters that determine personality type, each letter indicating a different trait. One can have many personality types, ranging from introversion-sensing-thinking-judging to extroversion-intuitive-feeling-perceiving.  Each letter constituting MBTI results has the following definitions and criteria:

E - Extroversion

Extroverts prefer social interactions and are often more outgoing and enthusiastic than introverts.

I - Introversion

Introverts favor keeping endeavors private rather than interpersonal. They also tend to show higher sensitivity to external stimuli.

N - Intuitive

Intuitive individuals are often more abstract and think more futuristically. They are usually more open-minded and value creativity above balance.

S - Sensing/Observant

On the other hand, sensing individuals tend to think more in the present and are good at remembering physical details. They are often more stable and better maintain habits or routines .

T - Thinking

People with thinking personalities tend to be more utilitarian and rely on logic to support their decisions. They often value efficiency over social harmony.

F - Feeling

People with the feeling type personality often follow their hearts more than  their heads. They value expressing their emotions and are usually less competitive but more sympathetic than the thinking person.

P - Prospecting

Prospecting individuals like to go with the flow and have less trouble adapting to new situations than judging individuals. They are good at capitalizing on their opportunities and like to have the freedom to choose.

J - Judging

Judging personalities like to stick to their plan and often maintain routines well. They value clarity over spontaneity. They usually have more trouble adapting to new situations but are highly organized.

Lastly, this fifth aspect of our personalities defines our confidence and decision-making abilities rather than personalities,appearing on our personality type as a -A or a -T.

A - Assertive

Assertive personalities are often more confident and calm but are more prone to being egotistical.

T - Turbulent

Turbulent personalities can be more prone to stress and are often more insecure, but are success-driven and always eager to improve.

There has been a clear trend of people using MBTIs for self-introductions and even determining compatibilities of romantic partners. Where does this trend stem from?

As we all know, human personalities are complex and very unpredictable. Generalizing our personalities into five letters simplifies human personalities and justifies our decision-making processes. For example, you meet a new Exonian on the quad who describes himself as an INTP. Immediately, a stereotype of him emerges in your head—known as the logician, he’s probably super intelligent but socially awkward. Two months later, he gets a GPA of 11. You’d probably think, “Aha, that’s very INTP!” Four letters said a lot about him. MBTIs can rationalize arguments, friendships, and romantic relationships similarly. It becomes a tool to help us navigate social interactions. Adding this description to our self-introductions helps make our actions, reactions, or emotions much more predictable. 

Additionally, MBTI test results are succinct and mostly encouraging. Thus, we tend to fall into the trap of confirmation bias, which is the act of processing information that’s consistent with one’s beliefs. When our MBTIs’ values overlap with a couple of our beliefs, we feel validated and tend to accept the stereotypes of that personality type, thinking that the test “perfectly describes them”. What’s more, in difficult situations, some act according to their MBTI guidelines rather than their own due to the former’s clarity and seeming objectiveness. They are written down and explained explicitly. In contrast, our beliefs are not that obvious. Not a lot of people know exactly what their true set of beliefs are. Thus, the easier and more rational decision would be to follow their MBTI’s clearer, simpler set of beliefs. These beliefs, in this case, become a set of rules that we abide by when making decisions in our daily lives. However, if we humans are simply divided into 16 personality types, and each person follows their MBTI  like a book of instructions, what are we more than NPCs, each thinking and acting the same as millions of people out there?

So can we define someone entirely with five letters?

Not really! People are complex, and certain behaviors may depend on one situation, environment, and mood. Your MBTI results also come in percentages, but the short five-letter explanation of your personality doesn’t account for the nuance within your results. For example, you could have an I in your MBTI with an extroversion percentage of 45 percent and an introversion percentage of 55 percent, but in that case, you would be more of an ambivert. MBTI defines you in black and white, while there’s much more of a gray area than you think. 

This Myers-Briggs personality test also takes these letters in a mutually exclusive manner, which is not entirely true. For example, there are correlations between the S and the J aspect. If an individual is S- type (sensing), then they are more present-oriented, and have sturdier habits. If an individual is J-type (judging), then they are often more organized and have a strong routine. These two aspects are similar and seem to be associated. In the ‘Personality Type Distribution in the General Population’, the top three personalities have both the S aspect and J aspect, and in total, make up 37.7 percent of the population. 

In conclusion, MBTIs aren’t the best measure of someone’s personality. Everybody is complex and has their own set of beliefs that are shaped by their cultural, racial, and sexual identities, among others. The unique differences between our decision making processes should not be defined by 16 personalities. After all, we’re not NPCs. We’re human. However, this is not saying that they are not good conversation starters!