Quick Reference Guide to MBTI: The 16 Personality Types Simplified

Here’s a Beginner-Friendly Guide to MBTI

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a four-letter code that represents a personality type based on cognitive functions.

What is “MBTI” or “Myers Briggs Type Indicator”?

Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a type code of psychological type developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs, but the original model was based on Carl Gustav Jung’s theories on psychological types.

Carl Jung’s theory on the 8 cognitive functions helps us understand communication styles, personality preferences, and decision-making logic of the 16 unique personality types.

In 1962, the publication “Gifts Differing” by Isabel Briggs Myers took Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types and developed a four letter code that tells you the dominant 2 functions that each of the 16 types use.

The personality types tend to have a certain way of orienting themselves to the world that is identified through this psychological framework.

One word of caution is that many people may take the Myers-Briggs personality test and get a particular type as a result that may be inaccurate.

Any free Myers Briggs test or online personality questionnaire tends to be quite limited.

Verifying a person’s type through the demonstrative use of cognitive functions works best to find out someone’s personality type. You may even consider professional interpretation by a MBTI-certified practioner.