Understand Yourself to Better Understand Others (2024)

People aren’t always easy to read — in fact, they're quite the opposite. Most of the time we can barely understand ourselves, so when you add other people into the mix it can get complicated. Fast. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a tool that aims to allow us not only understand ourselves better, but help us gain insight into others as well. It is used by businesses, educational institutions, the government, and more.

The theory of psychological type was introduced in the 1920s by Carl G. Jung and the MBTI tool was developed in the 1940s by Isabel Briggs Myers. Millions of people worldwide have used the tool since its first publication in 1962.

The MBTI helps us understand our unique personal style in different situations. MBTI Type theory states that we prefer one within each set of pairs. As a student and employee, it can hep with personal growth and help you develop a plan to improve future business and academic performance.

Our preferences are directly related to how we communicate and interact with the world. The theory behind this tool is that while our behavior may seem random, we each have basic differences in the ways we think, communicate, react, learn, etc.

The MBTI consists of a series of questions asking whether a person prefers one thing or another. The assessment results in a four letter identifying score. Within that four letter score, each letter represents an aspect of personality.

“Perception involves all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas. Judgment involves all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. If people differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach conclusions, then it is only reasonable for them to differ correspondingly in their interests, reactions, values, motivations, and skills.” — Isabel Briggs Myers

Extrovert (E) vs. Introvert (I) — do you prefer to focus on the outer world or your own inner world?

The main difference between extroverts and introverts is that introverts gain their energy by being alone and extroverts gain their energy by being with others. Introverts often enjoy social gatherings, but will get drained faster while in those settings. Extroverts also tend to want to be around people, but still sometimes need time alone sometimes.

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N) — do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning?

The main difference between sensing and intuition is that sensors take in information factually from their five senses, while intuitives take in information from patterns, impressions and possibilities.

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) — when making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or look at the people involved and the special circ*mstances?

Thinkers make decisions based on facts, and feelers make decisions based on values. Feelers typically will do whatever will establish or maintain harmony. Don’t let this fool you, though, it’s not that thinkers aren’t sensitive to others and feelers never think logically.

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) — in dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to decide things quickly or do you prefer to stay open to new options and information?

Judgers prefer their world to be structured and planned, while perceivers find having plans to be limiting. Judgers feel a sense of control in planning early and perceivers find a sense of control in leaving their options open.

The MBTI is not only a great tool for personal use, but it can also highlight changes that could be useful in the workplace. One of the biggest benefits of the MBTI is that we gain greater insight on how people really work. No one type is better than the other, and it helps us see through other people’s eyes.

The score can be used as a tool in the workplace since it directly represents our psychological preferences. Our workplace should align well with those preferences. When you understand your own personality preferences, you can approach your work in a way that best suits your psychological needs. We all have different approaches for time management, coping with stress, decision making, problem solving, etc. Understanding different personality types can help you better understand the people you work with and your role in the workplace.

Each personality is also tied to an interaction style, such as a “motivator” or “leader.” Managers that understand the various styles can utilize the strength of one employee to compensate the weakness of another. This helps develop teams that can play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and work together efficiently.

Learning the differences between the various communication styles can help organizations develop programs and minimize conflict to improve the communication between co-workers and their managers. The assessment can also be used in an organization to assist with coaching, training, change management, conflict management, and more.

Understanding how your co-workers think is crucial to creating strong team performance. Understanding others’ point of view can help you understand why people do the things they do, why differences arise, and how we can cope with these differences.

The goal of knowing about personality types is to understand and appreciate the differences between people since all types are equal. They are all different, but there is no best type.

You can take the assesment via the MBTI foundation, or there are many other online options. A simple and effective version of the assessment can be found here: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

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