The Book of Una

This week in my Assessment and Appraisal class we are reviewing the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This is a very popular assessment test used in a variety of areas including schools and workforce. There is no right and wrong answer to the MBTI and the creators stress that it is NOT a personality test, but more so an assessment of personal preferences.

The MBTI is designed to identify eight characteristics based on Jung’s (1923) theory of psychological types. There are four dichotomous scales.
1) Extravert (E) vs. Introvert (I)
2) Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)
3) Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
4) Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
In total, there are 16 different personality types, each identified by a four letter code (e.g., ISTJ or ENTP).

I took the MBTI over the summer in my Career Counseling course (June 2008) and again this past week in my Assessment and Appraisal class. The results were almost identical to each other. My four letter code is ENFJ, which means I scored higher for extravert, intuition, feeling and judging. Below is what Myers Briggs says my personality type is. Some of it I think is dead on while some parts are not so much. What do you think?




Characteristics frequently associated w/ENFJ

Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate other in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.

People with ENFJ preferences are highly attuned to others, using empathy to quickly understand emotional needs, motivations, and concerns. Their focus is on supporting others and encouraging their growth.

ENFJs are friendly persuaders who can often build consensus among people whose interests and motives are quiet diverse. They often act as catalysts, including everyone and drawing out the best in others. They can be inspiring leaders as well as loyal followers.

Characteristics of ENFJs
ENFJs base decisions on personal values. They use their Feeling primarily externally, radiating warmth and energy. They look for and find the best in others and prize harmony and cooperation. They are warmed by approval, responding with energy and devotion, and are especially sensitive to criticism or tensions. ENFJs are likely to be warm, compassionate, supportive, loyal and trustworthy.

ENFJ's main interest in life is giving love, support, and a good time to other people. They are focused on understanding, supporting, and encouraging others. They make things happen for people, and get their best personal satisfaction from this.

ENFJs see meanings and connections and can be very insightful about others. They are curious about new ideas and stimulated by possibilities for contributing to the good of humanity. ENFJs are likely to be imaginative and creative and like variety and new challenges.

ENFJs naturally see the potential for growth in others and devote energy to help others achieve it. They are sensitive facilitators. ENFJs take responsibility for organizing interactions of colleagues, friends, or family so that all are involved, harmony prevails, and people have fun.

ENFJ's tend to be more reserved about exposing themselves than other extroverted types. Although they may have strongly-felt beliefs, they're likely to refrain from expressing them if doing so would interfere with bringing out the best in others. Because their strongest interest lies in being a catalyst of change in other people, they're likely to interact with others on their own level, in a chameleon-like manner, rather than as individuals. The ENFJ may feel quite lonely even when surrounded by people. This feeling of aloneness may be exacerbated by the tendency to not reveal their true selves.

People love ENFJs. They are fun to be with, and truly understand and love people. They are typically very straight-forward and honest. Usually ENFJs exude a lot of self-confidence, and have a great amount of ability to do many different things. They are generally bright, full of potential, energetic and fast-paced. They are usually good at anything which captures their interest.

ENFJs like for things to be well-organized, and will work hard at maintaining structure and resolving ambiguity. They have a tendency to be fussy, especially with their home environments.

ENFJs are energetic, enthusiastic, and very aware of others. Their genuine interest can usually draw out and involve even the most reserved people. They listen to and support others but also have very definite values and opinions of their own, which they will express clearly. ENFJs are energized by people and are socially adept; however, they also have a strong need for authentic, intimate relationships. They bring great enthusiasm and intensity to creating and maintaining these.

ENFJs like their lives to be organized and will work to bring closure to ambiguous relationships or situations. However, if people’s needs conflict with schedules and rules, they will put people first. Others usually see ENFJs as sociable, personable, congenial, gracious, expressive, responsive and persuasive.

Potential areas for growth
Sometimes life circumstances have not supported ENFJs in the development and expression of their Intuitive and Feeling preferences.
- If they have not developed their Intuition, ENFJs may not see possibilities, making decisions too quickly without taking in enough information or considering factors beyond their own personal values.
- If they have not developed their Feeling, their decisions may be inconsistent and poorly formulated. They may then accept the judgments of others too readily.

If ENFJs do not find a place where they can use their gifts and be appreciated for their contributions, they usually feel frustrated and may
- Worry, feel guilty, and doubt themselves
- Become insistent and controlling in their desire for harmony
- Be overly sensitive to criticism, real or imagined
It is natural for ENFJs to give less attention to their non-preferred Thinking and Sensing parts. If they neglect these too much, however, they may
- Make decisions based solely on personal values when logic is needed also
- Find it difficult to admit to problems or disagreements with other people they care about
- Overlook details required to realize their ideals

Under great stress, ENFJs may find themselves suddenly and uncharacteristically critical and fault-finding with others. They generally keep these negative opinions to themselves, but they find such thoughts troubling and upsetting.

ENFJs do not like dealing with impersonal reasoning. They don't understand or appreciate its merit, and will be unhappy in situations where they're forced to deal with logic and facts without any connection to a human element. Living in the world of people possibilities, they enjoy their plans more than their achievements. They get excited about possibilities for the future, but may become easily bored and restless with the present.

In the work place, ENFJs do well in positions where they deal with people. They are naturals for the social committee. Their uncanny ability to understand people and say just what needs to be said to make them happy makes them naturals for counseling. They enjoy being the center of attention, and do very well in situations where they can inspire and lead others, such as teaching.

ENFJs have a special gift with people, and are basically happy people when they can use that gift to help others. They get their best satisfaction from serving others. Their genuine interest in Humankind and their exceptional intuitive awareness of people makes them able to draw out even the most reserved individuals.

Most Chosen Careers for ENFJ:
Actors, Clergy and Religious, Consultants, Counselors, Entertainers, Facilitator, Home Economists, Musicians and Composers, Optometrists, Pharmacists, Psychologist, Social Worker, and Teacher.

Least Chosen Careers for ENFJ:
Bank Employees, Coal Miners, Computer Specialists, Factory Supervisors, Farmers, Managers, Pollution Control Tech, Restaurant Worker, School Bus Drivers, and Social Services Workers.


Information from:
Briggs Myers, I. (1998). The MBTI Introduction to Types, 6th edition. Mountain View, CA: CPP. Inc.

Handout from the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, Gainesville, FL, 1988.

The Personality Page: http://www.personalitypage.com/home.html

Plake, B. and Impara, J. (2001). The fourteenth mental measurements yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.




I'm working on putting together my paper and I realized that this is paper number 8, and today day is November 8, 2008. Eight is a lucky number, right?? OK...maybe I'm just getting punchy after looking at this stuff for the past many hours.

Just a side note about the MBTI because I know many people have taken it....Even thought the MBTI is one of the most popular assessment tools out there, the research done to test the reliability and validity isn't so great. I believe Paul M. Mastrangelo, Associate Professor of Applied Psychology and Quantitative Methods at the University of Baltimore said it best when wrote “The MBTI should not be ignored by scientists or embraced by practitioners to the extent that it currently is”. He went on to say “the most widely used psychological measure should demand scientific scrutiny to improve service to the public (Plake, B. and Impara, J., 2001, p. 819).

Translation: the MBTI is one of the popular kids who has B-/C+ grades. I'm not saying the MBTI is a bad assessment tool. I'm just saying don't put too much weight on the results, at least until they do some more testing on it.