Introduction
Psychology, the scientific discipline of the study of human and animal behavior, is a young science. Before the late 19th century, the study of “mind” was a discipline practiced as a philosophical or spiritual endeavor. Because psychology is a new science, we should expect continued evolution of psychological theory, as well as adjustments and revisions of existing theories.
A brief history of psychology
In 1879, the German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt used the laboratory environment to conduct psychological experiments. He is known as the “father of experimental psychology”, also known as structuralism.
William James, an American scientist, psychologist, and philosopher, introduced the concept that the practice of psychological theory must be practical. That is, use psychological theory to bring tangible benefits to people.
Sigmund Freud introduced psychoanalytic techniques to discover the first causes of behavior. One of Freud’s protégés was the psychiatrist Carl Young, who later broke with Freud and developed his own theory of analytical psychology. Carl Jung was the first to declare that the psychological makeup of a person is religious by nature. He defined the process of a person becoming a whole as “Individuation”. Individuation is the process of balancing the opposites, that is, the unconscious with the conscious, but still maintaining a measure of separation. In fact, the central concept of analytical psychology is Individuation.
Jung then posited the reality of two distinct groupings of psychological functions: the “rational” functions of judging, sensing, and thinking, and the “irrational” functions of perceiving, intuition, and detection.
Jung then claimed that dichotomies are projected extroverted or introverted.
An analogy of these dichotomies is seen in the expression of right-handed or left-handed. One develops it early in life or is born with it.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
From Jung’s original concepts, Myers and Briggs developed their own psychological type theory, on which the MBTI is based.
They worked on the MBTI during World War II as a tool to help women in wartime industry focus on the quality of work they would be most satisfied with. The first test became the MBTI in 1962.
Isabel Briggs Myers’s mother, Katherine Briggs, began researching personality traits in 1917. She looked at personality differences between members of the same family. She identified the connection between Jung’s theory and her own. Katherine Briggs’ four personality types were compared to Is, EP, ETJ, and EFJ.
Daughter Isabel advanced her mother’s work, which she took over completely when her mother retired.
The MBTI has been used for more than 50 years as a tool to bring tangible benefits to people. It is a measure of personality preferences. That is, how the relative strength of a person’s personality preferences is used to psychologically navigate the world.
An enduring use of the MBTI is in the field of career guidance. The MBTI Career Report helps people focus on fields of work with which others with the same personality type have reported a high degree of satisfaction. As such, the MBTI Career Report is a statistically valid testing instrument.
It can be used as a starting point for career searches and as one of the many career tools and guidance counselors, life coaches, and corporate managers they can use to help others achieve a higher degree of job satisfaction.
Criticisms of the MBTI center on two points of contention. (1) For decades, the MBTI has sometimes been used inappropriately, as a psychotherapeutic tool or as a forced testing instrument within the corporate environment. (2) Conflicting studies question the validity of the MBTI as a predictor of job satisfaction.
The MBTI should not be used as an end-and-all approach to understanding personality preferences. The same can be said for any testing instrument in the field of psychology. Human behavior is a manifestation of a complex web of biological imperatives, psychological drives, and intangible but identifiable motivations based on values, ethics, morality, and spirituality. The use of the MBTI must be kept in perspective and applied in the context of such complexity.
For many, job satisfaction can be an ideal, a goal that is never fully achieved. Many factors can affect job satisfaction beyond working at a job that is complementary to a person’s personality preferences, including the relative health of a person’s interpersonal relationships and the person’s age. A job that is attractive to a 20-year-old may be less satisfying to a 40-year-old.
conclusion
Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a predictor of job satisfaction is one of several tools a person can use to gain insight into what career might be rewarding. Similarly, the MBTI is a useful and interesting tool to help gain insight into how one psychologically navigates through life. Ideally, the use of the MBTI should be combined with other tools and guidance to help a person identify fulfilling careers.
