Talk:Myers–Briggs Type Indicator

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Assessment vs. Questionnaire

According to the website of the publisher, CPP, the correct term is Myer-Briggs Type Indicator® assessment. The site also uses the term MBTI® instrument. It's important to note that both Myer-Briggs Type Indicator and MBTI are trademarks; therefore, the terms should never be used as nouns, always as adjectives. Ajwenger (talk) 02:08, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe so but the term 'assessment' is not adequate by itself as it does not clarify what kind of assessment 'instrument' it is. As the MBTI is actually a questionnaire - and not some other kind of assessment - it would seem to be more appropriate to use a precise term in this article rather than a vague one. As for 'MBTI' etc being 'adjectives' because they are also trademark terms this seems a very dubious argument since the MBTI is principally a thing (a questionairre) and therefore the terms are not really *describing* something but *referring* to something. In any case many terms can be used correctly both as adjectives and nouns and I can't see any validity in your argument that the terms "should never be used as "nouns". Ontologicos (talk) 06:46, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

As a matter of U.S intellectual property law, trademarks should not be used as nouns. Also, according to the Wikipedia Manual of Style on trademarks, "Avoid use of trademarks as a noun except where any other usage would be awkward." Ajwenger (talk) 04:18, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

If you want to add that the assessment is a psychometric questionnaire, I think that would be good information. But while "questionnaire" may be an accurate description, "assessment" remains the name used by CPP. Ajwenger (talk) 04:18, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Learning by Example [Analysis Sections for the 16 Type Articles]

I noticed an interesting phenomenon among the specific MBTI type articles. In general, the style of writing observed in the article seemed to strongly reflect the temperament of the MBTI type it was discussing. This makes sense, because members belonging to a certain type have the greatest imperative to share their knowledge and experience regarding their respective type.

For instance, the INTP article is a somewhat exhaustive explanation, but the article itself states "exhaustive explanation" as a common tendency among INTPs. Therefore, it might benefit readers belonging to other MBTI types to see that point reinforced in an analysis of the article. To state another example, the ENFP page is rather brief, and lacks a depth of information regarding the type. However, the ENFP article describes ENFPs as people primarily interested in only the initial stages of a project or relationship, and implies that their introverted sensing is largely to blame. Readers belonging to other types might benefit from this analysis, seeing a correlation between the qualities described in the article and the actually quality of the article itself.

I'd like to see some people create article analysis sections for each of the 16 respective types. In doing so, we could further the understanding of those who may not be familiar with a particular type by giving them concrete examples of how that type thinks and operates. Even now, as you're reading this comment, I bet you're attempting to type me. If this is the case, then surely you understand the validity of my argument. Please help contribute to this cause!

Defintion of functions

How can Sensing and Intuition be the "perceiving" functions and Thinking and Feeling be the "judging" functions when you can have any combination of each (STP, STJ, NTP, NTJ, SFP, SFJ, NFP, NFJ)? I guess it's not clear from the description.Dujang Prang 18:04, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

That's the result of bad terminology. Perceiving and Judging refer to the dichotomy, but some people like using the terms to distinguish between decision making functions (T and F, inaccurately termed "Judging" because they make decisions) and information gathering functions (S and N, inaccurately termed "perceiving" because they analyze information from the outside world) As I understand, a type is considered to be of the perceiving dichotomy if their most preferred decision making function is introverted, in which they prefer to make decisions which are focused on their own internal world rather than the outside world.Ziiv 09:30, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't say it's the result of "bad terminology." The S/I dichotomy and the T/F dichotomy are cognitive functions, while the J/P dichotomy is an attitude. Individuals with a Perceiving attitude use their perceiving function (sensing or intution) when interacting with the outside world. Individuals with a Judging attitude use their judging function (thinking or feeling) when interacting with the outside world. The terminology may be confusing, but Isabel Myers chose it intentionally and for good reason. Myers herself, in Gifts Differing, called T/F the judging function and S/I the perceiving function. So it isn't inaccurate to refer to them that way.Ajwenger 04:00, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Dominant Function

Some confusion has been introduced into the article regarding dominant vs. preferred function. Each of the sixteen types has one dominant function: Thinking, Feeling, Sensing, or Intuition, which will be either introverted or extraverted. But on each dichotomy, the individual also exhibits a preference, for a total of four preferences (as opposed to one dominant function). So, for instance, as an INFJ, I prefer Feeling to Thinking, but my dominant function is Introverted Intuition.

Also, I don't think the tertiary function should be called an auxiliary function. In "Gifts Differing," Isabel Myers refers to the secondary function as the auxiliary function. The terminology is confusing enough without saying that both the auxiliary function and the tertiary function are auxiliary functions.

I'm going to edit the article accordingly.Ajwenger (talk) 03:08, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

It is factually incorrect to say, "According to Jung and Myers, all people use all four functions." In Gifts Differing, Myers writes: "Good type development thus demands that the auxiliary supplement the dominant process in two respects. It must supply a useful degree of balance not only between perception and judgment but also between extraversion and introversion. When it fails to do so it leaves the individual literally 'unbalanced,' retreating into the preferred world and consciously or unconsciously afraid of the other world. Such cases do occur..." (page 20, ISBN 0-89106-074-X).Ajwenger (talk) 22:52, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

As orignally referred to by Jung - and correctly understood - the so-called 'tertiary' function is also an 'auxiliary' function but I accept that in MBTI-related publications that only the first auxiliary is referred to as such. In Jung's 'Psychological Types' both are referred to as 'auxiliary' functions so it is not out of place in this article to clarify this difference in how the term is used. Ontologicos (talk) 06:31, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

My concern about using "auxiliary" to describe the tertiary function has nothing to do with its correctness with respect to Jung's writing. In the context of this article, I believe it does more to create confusion than to add value. So for the sake of the reader, I believe it's better left out. And at any rate, this article isn't about Jung, except in terms of his influence on Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers. Ajwenger (talk) 03:04, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Whilst this article is not directly "about Jung" I am not persuaded that it is not useful or important to clarify differences in terminology. The way in which Myers and Briggs used Jung's original terminology can be very confusing and has lead to various misunderstandings and distortions of Jung's typology by MBTI facilitators. Perhaps a separate section on this is possible? Ontologicos (talk) 08:49, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I think a separate section would be quite useful, since Myers differed from Jung on many points. A "he said / she said" approach throughout would muddle the article; but a separate section would offer clarity. Ajwenger (talk) 17:13, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Criticism

The criticism section is being edited out of existence in crappy little incremental steps - you're on notice that I'm going to overhaul it. --Coroebus 23:21, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Critism section definitely needs overhauling. There needs to be another point in there entitled "Stubborn rejection" or something. The ability of someone to utterly reject MBTI and all it stands for, with either no knowledge whatsoever, or with a small amont of knowledge and no understanding. Human nature is rife with example of such rejection (indeed, such a stand-point is critical to progression of real knowledge). But it is one of the biggest critisms, and could do with being in there. For another example of such critism read the history of the theory of plate tectonics 75.30.71.184 03:44, 25 February 2007 (UTC) nousernameyet

If you think that's needed then fine. Just be sure to find (and Cite) a reliable source. --Ybbor^T 04:05, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I think the paragraph in the Introduction that begins "Most academic psychologists have criticized the indicator…" actually belongs under Criticism. Would anyone object to moving it there? Ajwenger 23:14, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, it seems to me that there is a middle ground here. Moving it to the Criticism section pulls something relatively important (from an overview perspective) out of the initial paragraph, where it probably belongs, but the sentence as written ("Most academic..."_ is probably too strong. How about leaving it up top, but changing it "Most" to "Many"?Yorker 04:26, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I compromised, changing "most" to "many," as suggested. I also moved the info about the Forer effect under Criticism > Reliability, since there was already a mention of the Forer effect there. The tone of the Introduction now seems more neutral to me. Ajwenger 22:55, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Coroebus didn't think that the expanded information on personality descriptions belonged under Reliability, so I moved it to Whole Type. There was already information about personality descriptions there. Ajwenger 05:35, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Meh, the article claims people get different results variating the time of the day or if they take it again a week or month after. In my case for the last 6 months (the time I have been familiar with this test) I've always gotten the same result: INFP. 201.150.67.84 (talk) 03:42, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

The article confounds Criticisms and Psychometric Properties. There should be a statement of fact outlining the Psychometric Properties of MBTI instrument; particularly Validity_(statistics) and Reliability_(statistics). The Criticisms section should then outline how the particular psychometric properties that have been used to criticises the instrument. 149.171.6.250 (talk) 22:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

I undid the changes by LeContexte, but added references to help address the stated concerns. I removed a lot of the requests for citations, since in most cases the references were there; they just weren't duplicated every half sentence. ThreeOfCups (talk) 01:54, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

I would still rather see this section renamed to "Psychometric Properties" and clearly separated from "Criticisms". While low Reliability_(statistics) and low Validity_(statistics) could be charactersied as criticisms it is more appropriate to first establish the measures of reliability and validity then to infer the instruments strengths/weaknesses from them.Alephsmith (talk) 06:39, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

That sounds great! Are you volunteering to do that? ThreeOfCups (talk) 02:49, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Separating Academic Psychologists from Skeptics

I made copy-editing changes to parse and clarify which groups offer which criticisms at the top of this article. Lumping together psychology academics and skeptics blurs the distinction between the two groups. The academic psychologists who critique the MBTI do not critique the idea of psychometrics while skeptics do. The skeptic sources listed in this article are not research papers; lumping the critiques of academics who have researched studies vs. the skeptics dictionary, which is a philosophical document without research conflates all forms of criticism. There must be a skeptic author who has published a research paper, but none of them are mentioned here. Most of the academic psychologists who have critiqued the MBTI do so by comparing it to their instrument of choice, the Big 5. Skeptics are skeptical of both, so this adds to the confusion for new readers.

The current version tries to separate out Pittenger (academic psychologist) into the "skeptics" group, which seems pretty silly if you want to make that distinction. If you want to include some more academic rejections of the MBTI you could also include McRae & Costa and Stricker & Ross (probably the two most significant). Also - I'm not sure where your evidence that the sole "skeptic" you have identified here, Todd Carroll, is skeptical of psychometrics. --Coroebus 21:08, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I reinstated my parsing of these two groups because the anonymous user http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/69.11.31.46 seems to have reverted my parsing by working with an old copy of the article. Also, this anonymous editor's changes were not what the Edit summary said, so it could possibly be editing vandalism. JazzyGroove 04:06, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Main Article vs. sub-articles

This article is really a mess. The sections seem like major tangents into typology theory and typology criticism. This article has everything but the kitchen sink. In this case, the kitchen sink would be simple and clear information about what the MBTI is, how it is used, who uses it, how it differs from personality instruments administered by psychologists, and why it has become so popular. Everyone's pet theories and criticisms should be separate sub-articles with short summaries within the main article. If I were confident enough with wiki-editing I would do the honors, but might end up deleting everything and making the archives unruly.JazzyGroove 04:16, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I am with JazzyGroove on this. If I was a reader trying to understand what the heck MBTI is about, then the current article would fail this test. For the sake of NPOV, it is right to include criticism as a section; ideally as JazzyGroove says some of the content should be moved out to separate articles.

The only thing I didn't get, though, was your comment "how it differs from personality instruments administered by psychologists": as whilst it's the case that not all practitioners of MBTI are qualified psychologists, some are. Could you clarify this for me? Thanks.

I will plan to have a crack at a clean-up during June 2007, taking into account any further feedback in this discussion page. Hope that's OK with y'all... Wee Paddy 14:30, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Clean Up Now in Progress

The overall clean up and restructure of this article is now largely complete and could do with peer review Wee Paddy 22:29, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

The intention overall has been: to improve clarity; add references where appropriate; move (or remove) secondary or redundant content; make it easier for someone with no or limited prior knowledge to have a clue :-)

I have used the Wikipedia article on Neuro Linguistic Programming as a bit of a guide to the structure and headings, as this article seems more approachable.

My limited qualifications for this clean-up were: comments on this talk page; I am step I and step II qualified, so quite familiar with the instruments; I have some degree level training in psychology; and can structure and write reasonably clearly (you be the judge - QED). But I am not claiming to be an expert, thought leader or guru! So for those of you who are any or all of those things, please weigh in with your thoughts and contributions, to make this the best it can be.

Now a Separate Article: MBTI Step II

I think the proposed changes look good and would encourage you to proceed with the expansion of the article... -- Johnfos 07:42, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and I apologise for the incorrect spelling of "pejorative". Interesting, as etymologically, it presumably has the same root as "perjury". I stand corrected... I normally pride myself on correct spelling and grammar, this one somehow passed me by! Wee Paddy 09:17, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I hope you all don't mind, but I added some information in the introduction to counter the suggestion that MBTI is nothing more than the Forer effect at work. Unlike the Forer effect, MBTI offers 16 personality descriptions that differ from one another in substantial ways. Perhaps this information belongs elsewhere; but in that case, so does the reference to the Forer effect.Ajwenger 04:12, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Spam Section, Link Farming

It's a WP guideline that articles should not be advertisements or link farms. The new section about qualified practicioners does not justify the horde of links at the bottom of this article. I'm going to put citation needed remark to the newest claim. JazzyGroove 18:46, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Katharine Cook Briggs

I've removed the link from this name, as it was just a redirect leading to Isabel Myers Briggs page, and was a bit confusing.--Quywompka 13:59, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Another editor added the link back in. I'm not sure why. I think your reasoning for removing it was good, Quywompka. Ajwenger 23:09, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

"Correlations to Other Instruments"

This section makes no sense to me. I think something, particularly, needs to explain exactly what the graph represents (does a high number indicate that someone who is very E is also likely to be very extroverted?) What I don't understand, I guess, is why the axes are being correlated, rather than extremes on the axes. The Jade Knight 04:54, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

"Correlation to other instruments" corresponds to a well accepted manner of assessing construct validity. This section should ideally be moved to the validity section of the article with a statement of fact concerning the relationship between this measure and other measures of the same construct. Higher correlation between this instrument and other instruments that purport to measure the same underlying construct provides more support for construct validity. Furthermore, construct validity can be partitioned into convergent and divergent validity, information that should be readily available in any of the many academic papers outlining the psychometric properties of MBTI instruments. 149.171.6.250 (talk) 22:29, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Famous people

The pages INTJ, ENTJ, and ENFJ all contain lists of people who are asserted to have those personality types. Unfortunately these lists are almost certainly total crap. In many cases, the entries are unknown and unknowable: there is clearly no way that we can meaningfully assign a personality type to, say, King David, or the emperor Augustus. Even for the living people there is no evidence given. The data seems to come from one person's website which itself contains nothing beyond a simple assertion that these people have or had these personality types.

Is there any reason at all why any of this information should not be deleted? 82.16.99.2 23:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

No reason other than the hordes of MBTI/Kiersey/Socionics obsessives who will revert you in a second. --Coroebus 14:49, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm an obsessive, and I say: Delete! There are no reliable sources. — Starylon 14:54, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

There're two websites I know of that categorize celebrities - http://keirsey.com/matrix.html and http://typelogic.com/ - and while some of it is obviously uncited (ie. Charles Darwin), some of it is (ie. Princess Diana - http://www.advisorteam.com/newsletter/200412_diana.html). However, I think that an expert's deduction of what famous people fit in which category is a reasonable enough source, but that's a matter of opinion.

Experts "deducing" the personality type of famous people is a corruption of the MBTI, in my opinion. As Myers wrote in Gifts Differing, "These basic differences concern the way people prefer to use their minds." If people always acted according to their preference, we could deduce how they prefer to use their minds based on their behavior. But balanced individuals adapt as the situation requires, and often exhibit non-preferred traits. Ajwenger 03:39, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Population breakdown chart

The chart claims that "inferential statistics" were used to generate its numbers. Wouldn't this be OR? Unless it came from a third party source in which case it should be cited. - Keith D. Tyler ¶ 16:32, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Thinking vs. Feeling

I edited this section to remove the word "values" from the description of how Feeling types reach decisions. Everyone makes decisions based on their values; but what Thinking types value is logic, while Feeling types take personal considerations into account. The aptness of each style of reasoning depends on the situation: Feeling is better suited to decisions involving people, and Thinking to decisions involving objects or facts. Ajwenger 23:02, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

ENFP and ISTJ

In all materials I've read, the canonical example types are ENFP and ISTJ. I don't think the same can be said for INFP and ESTJ. I'm changing those back, and if there's any issues I guess I'll have to do a review of the literature to support my position. Can anyone confirm that we should stick to ENFP and ISTJ as examples, or is there disagreement here? -FrankTobia (talk) 15:05, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, but I changed these back to ESTJ and INFP. This is to be consistent with the order in which the dichotomies are presented in the sections that follow: E-I, S-N, T-F, J-P. This is the order Isabel Myers uses in "Gifts Differing." My main concern is that if we use ISTJ and ENFP in the examples, someone will change "E-I Preference" to "I-E Preference" again. Ajwenger (talk) 21:04, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Tests

Please do not post Internet links to so-called Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tests. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the term "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" is a registered trademark of THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR TRUST. No one else can legally use that term to describe their test. Ajwenger (talk) 04:58, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Spelling of "Extraversion"

The correct spelling is "Extraversion," not "Extroversion." (Check your dictionary, as well as the writings of Isabel Briggs Myers.) "Extroversion" is a back-formation from "Introversion" and an unnecessary variant. Please, let's try to be consistent. Ajwenger (talk) 05:01, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

The OED gives both spellings, and extraversion directs you to extroversion, suggesting that the 'o' spelling is predominant. Carl.bunderson (talk) 20:29, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

My copy of "Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary" gives "extraversion" as the preferred spelling. Moreover, that's the spelling that Isabel Briggs Myers used, and that's the spelling that the MBTI uses. The article needs to be consistent; and since the topic is the MBTI, and the MBTI uses "extraversion," I believe that's the spelling that should be used. Ajwenger (talk) 05:11, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

I agree that since MBTI is based on her work we should use her sp in this article, but the dictionary argument is a weak one. The OED is more authoritative than is Webster. Carl.bunderson (talk) 08:45, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

From my reading of the Oxford English Dictionary article, it seems the OED seeks to catalog all spellings and usages of all English words through the ages. So it makes sense that they would have both spellings. In any case, I think we agree to use "extraversion" throughout the article? -FrankTobia (talk) 14:12, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree that "extraversion" should be used here. So the OED point is moot, but interesting. It does catalogue all sp and usages, but when there are variant spellings, it usually gives a preferred sp, and lists the others under that word. In this case, though, they are treated as two separate words, where this particular definition redirects, rather than the entire word redirecting. Carl.bunderson (talk) 20:15, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

I changed the spelling back to Extraversion and added a note that this is the spelling used in Myers-Briggs terminology. Thanks!Ajwenger (talk) 04:27, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

The 16 types

"To find the opposite type of the one you are looking at, jump over one type diagonally". I'm sorry, I really don't understand what "jump over one type diagonally" means. Can someone clarify? --Dweller (talk) 22:17, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

I changed this to, "…move diagonally, jumping over one type." Does that clarify it? Ajwenger (talk) 05:23, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

INFPs exuding personal warmth

I am curious to know the source of the idea that 'the INFP exudes a personal warmth that is unspoken and sympathetic'. My understanding was that within an INFP's inner circle of friends, an INFP may reveal an intensely compassionate side that is usually held back in day-to-day life. However, the rest of the time, INFPs come across on the surface as being so withdrawn and out of touch with reality that people often perceive them as cold and aloof. Their Introverted Feeling is not revealed to most people, unless their values are threatened.

Carl Jung made a point of this (I know this is MBTI, but the basic concepts are the same) in saying:

A superficial judgment might well be betrayed, by a rather cold and reserved demeanour, into denying all feeling to this type. Such a view, however, would be quite false; the truth is, her feelings are intensive rather than extensive...To the outer world, or to the blind eyes of the extravert, this sympathy looks like coldness, for it does nothing visibly, and an extraverted consciousness is unable to believe in invisible forces.

I'd also be interested to know the source of the idea that INFPs often fight for civil rights or the environment. I was under the impression that INFPs were more concerned with a personal inner quest for harmony than external campaigning for action, which sounds more like something an ENFP or ENFJ would do. I am not saying any of this page is wrong. I would just like to know where these ideas came from. Excitation needed (talk) 11:59, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

According to MyersBriggs.org, INFPs "want an external life that is congruent with their values...[They] can be catalysts for implementing ideas." Their quest for harmony isn't merely internal; they seek harmony between their inner and outer worlds. Ajwenger (talk) 03:58, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I changed "exudes a personal warmth that is unspoken and sympathetic" to "radiates a pleasant and sympathetic demeanor." Isabel Myers wrote in Gifts Differing: "Introverted feeling types...wear their warm side inside, like a fur-lined coat." Ajwenger (talk) 01:29, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

An INFP is perhaps the most sympathetic of all types when the object being wronged has not gone against one of the INFP's deeply held values. However, I'm still not sure whether this sympathy would radiate to people around, but I don't know any mature INFPs so I don't think I can comment on this. Thanks for the replies.Excitation needed (talk) 08:57, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

With due respect to Carl Jung (or perhaps his translator), I don't think "cold" is quite the right word to describe the demeanor of the INFP. In my experience, they tend to express themselves dispassionately, much the way you might expect of a Thinking type. But when their values are threatened, INFPs may respond with a sudden emotional intensity that seems to come out of nowhere, in a way that you'd never expect of a Thinking type. Most of the time, though, INFPs tend to appear calm, open, and attentive to the wants of others. It's the receptiveness of their auxiliary extraverted intuition, acting in conjunction with the warmth of their dominant introverted feeling, that makes them seem sympathetic. Ajwenger (talk) 20:08, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Is there any scientific validity to this test?

From my gander at the article it seems like there isn't. However, from my gander at this talk page, some people seem to take it seriously. Am I missing something? Is there any reliable evidence that this test is at least somewhat scientifically valid? If so, it should be included so as to clarify that the intention for this test is not a gullibility experiment. --216.165.32.126 (talk) 03:06, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, there is evidence of scientific validity. For instance, studies show that, to a statistically significant degree, individuals of certain personality types are overrepresented in certain professions, while those of other types are underrepresented. For example, thinking types are overrepresented among lawyers, and judging types are overrepresented among school administrators. I agree that this article should feature more scientific evidence of validity. I just don't think there's a huge body of unbiased literature out there. Ajwenger (talk) 04:49, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I am pretty sure (but not 100%) that this test is NOT scientifically valid. The point about personality profiling questionnaires is that some of them have been very thoroughly researched and, very importantly, statistically validated by the British Psychological Society (BPS) or other equivalent body for another nation. If you want to know what I mean by 'thoroughly researched' and 'statistically validated', read 'The Scientific Analysis of Personality' by Professor Raymond Cattell, a book which describes the many years of painstaking research that went into the development of a personality profiling instrument known as the 16PF. A phone call to the BPS will tell you whether MBTI has been BPS approved. I will be surprised if it has.Snookerrobot (talk) 22:34, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

'Sensing' vs. 'Sensation'

The MBTI uses the term 'Sensing.' Perhaps some translation of Jung's Psychological Types used 'Sensation,' but I'm not sure that a translator ought to be the ultimate authority on the subject. The word 'Sensing' in this context is a gerund, that is, a participle used as a noun, as is also the case with 'Thinking' and 'Feeling.' ThreeOfCups (talk) 22:35, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Lifestyle

Dcompane (talk) 15:04, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

There seems to be some problems with the last 2 paragraphs of the section. Can someone validate that? Thanks!

The last two paragraphs are correct. For types who prefer Judging, the decision-making function is the one used with the outside world. So if the Judging types are Extaverts, who use their dominant function with the outside world, the decision-making function is dominant. If the Judging types are Introverts, who use their auxiliary function with the outside world (reserving their dominant function for their internal world), their decision-making function is their auxiliary function. I agree that the concept is very confusing, and this section probably needs to be clearer. ThreeOfCups (talk) 04:43, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

External links

Please note that linking to sites that primarily promote a product is considered spam. To avoid the appearance that a link is spam, be sure to link to a page that contains information that supplements the article, rather than one that offers a product. If no such information appears on the site, it is spam. ThreeOfCups (talk) 04:38, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

For more information, refer to WP:EL and WP:SPAM. If you're unsure whether a link is appropriate, or if you believe it's appropriate but it's been deleted more than once, you can post it here on the talk page and ask for comments. A civil discussion is preferable to an edit war. ThreeOfCups (talk) 04:01, 13 June 2008 (UTC)