MBTI

MBTI for teachers

The MBTI (Myers–Briggs Type Indicator) is a psychological inventory or test, based on an introspective self-report questionnaire, and is designed to indicate a person's psychological preferences for how they relate to others, the world, and themselves, and how they make decisions.

Because teaching and classroom learning involve social and interpersonal dynamics, the quality of the interpersonal as well as intellectual dynamics is important for success in teaching. The MBTI (Myers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory) can be helpful for examining ourselves and others that we teach. This is not a theory of learning styles or teaching styles. Rather, it is a way for people, including teachers and students, to better understand themselves and others. Teachers can better understand how they interact with others, and what energizes, frustrates, or tires them personally; and to some degree, they can understand the differing personalities of colleagues and students (e.g., when a relevant MBTI dimension manifests itself clearly in a person).

The MBTI posits four different dimensions, and each dimension has two categories:

1. I/E: introversion – extroversion
2. S/N: sensing – intuitive
3. T/F: thinking – feeling
4. J/P: judging – perceiving

These then combine to form one of sixteen categories that a person could be classified as, e.g., INTP, ESFJ, and such. The S/N and J/P dimensions in particular have implications for learning preference, while the I/E and T/F dimensions have implications for interactions between you and your students. The descriptions below are adapted mainly from Myers, McCaulley, Quenk and Hammer (1998).

1 Precautionary notes

Note that the MBTI is a classification of personality types and preferences, not abilities; it is not appropriate to draw conclusions about your abilities from your MBTI. They are not about teaching and learning styles directly, but they can influence or indirectly relate to your learning styles and how you would interact with people, namely, your students. So your MBTI type may tell you about your strengths and weaknesses in teaching and learning that are due to your personality preferences. Also, each personality type has its advantages and disadvantages; none are inherently better or inferior to others.

Also, keep in mind that the following descriptions are tendencies, not absolute. In fact, these dimensions are not necessarily either/or, but in some, one could be in-between. Some people, for example, might be in between introvert and extrovert. One might in general tend toward one direction, but how extroverted or introverted one behaves can also depend on the situation. Thus, if such a person takes the MBTI more than once, s/he might get different results for this dimension. Thus, it is best to think of each dimension as a scale or continuum, not an either/or classification. In some dimensions a person might fall absolutely in one category or another, while in other dimensions they could be in-between.

It can be helpful to know your own MBTI type. The main purpose of MBTI is for personal awareness and understanding. It may indicate the kinds of teaching and learning activities, and even careers, that you may prefer, but again, it deals with preferences, not abilities. Also keep in mind that you cannot diagnose your students' personality types. While you can gain some sense for some of their tendencies, and accordingly adjust how you interact with them and what you do, the main benefit will be your own self-awareness.

A person might get two different results after taking an MBTI inventory twice. For example, one might get the result of INTP, but later, ENTP, differing along the introversion/extroversion dimension. This is probably because the person is near the middle; s/he might lean toward introversion overall, but is not strongly introverted, and might get a result of ENTP if the testing conditions or something affecting his/her mood before the test activated the more extroverted tendencies while taking the test. Thus, these are not either/or scales, but each dimension is a continuum, e.g., ranging from very introverted, to moderately introverted, to slightly introverted, and so on.

The test is not a perfect or complete test, as it only covers four major dimensions. It seems to work well for its intended purpose, which is better self-understanding. Like other popular psychological tests, it is not without criticism from psychology researchers. It would thus not be valid as an official psychological or evaluation instrument (.g., for any official or formal purposes of evaluation or classification), but only as an unofficial and informal tool for self-awareness.

One may be able to take an official MBTI from a university counseling center. Taking it from a professionally trained psychologist or counsellor would be the best way to get a reliable result. There are also various informal or unofficial versions of the MBTI online that one can find for free; some are better than others, so trying several is suggested.

2 I/E: Introversion / extroversion

This dimension has to do with not only one's social preferences, but more fundamentally, where one's mental energy comes from. Extroverts are not only socially outgoing, but more importantly, they derive their mental energy from stimulation from social interactions. They prefer to direct their energy and attention to the outside world. Introverts find this tiring, and instead need time alone to recharge. This does not mean that they are unsocial or necessarily shy, but that they need time alone. They also prefer to direct their energy and attention inward, and enjoy personal reflection and contemplation. They prefer to think through problems themselves, while extroverts like to talk things out. These preferences have implications for learning and learning environments.

introvert

extrovert

Introverts prefer studying and learning alone or independently. Their strength is reflective thinking and analysis (thus, some of the best scholars are introverts). They may enjoy abstract learning, and learning things sequentially. They tend to prefer quiet, and have to shut out external stimuli to focus on their thinking. Social interaction is draining, and they need time alone to recharge. In studying, and in language learning (like English as a second language), introverts may prefer individual study and traditional rote learning. Group projects or group work may not be their best style, but they may need to adapt – get out of their shell, improve their social skills, and discover the advantages of working and learning in groups.

Extroverts depend on their external social world for mental stimulation; they get their energy from social interaction, not from being alone. They like group activities, like group tasks in class or outside of class. In learning a foreign language, they like to speak it and use it communicatively. They may prefer concrete, hands-on learning than abstract learning. They may be more comfortable thinking and working when with their peers, but may need to work on personal reflective thinking at times. They are more likely comfortable with risk-taking and thinking on the spot.

There are advantages and disadvantages for each of these for learning and studying. In teaching, group interaction is important, and introverts may need encouragement to focus less on self-study and memorization, which may not always be the best strategy for effective learning, and instead open up to group work in a tutoring session with fellow tutees and with a tutor. Extroverts may need more encouragement to reflect on themselves, e.g., to develop a greater self-awareness of themselves and of their learning – what we call metacognition.

(In these descriptions, extrovert and extroversion are the normal English spellings, but for some reason, the MBTI creators chose to label them extravert and extraversion.)

3 I/S: Intuitive / sensing

This dimension has to do with the kind of information that one prefers to deal with – and the types of information and learning that one is interested in and remembers well. Sensors like to notice or focus on details, facts and realities of their world; they like to be practical people, who trust their experience and common sense. Intuitives are interested in connections among ideas, facts, and possibilities; they like to be imaginative, creative, theoretically oriented people, and may like to trust their instincts and intuition.

intuitive	sensing
Intuitive types are more comfortable with abstract or conceptual thinking and problem solving. They tend to think more holistically, and may prefer more innovative, imaginative creativity.	Sensing types prefer hands-on, practical, or experimental learning. They tend to prefer analytical, methodical, sequential learning, and focusing on details. They may prefer adaptive creativity – creating or synthesizing based on what they have learned, after learning fully about a topic.

Intuitive types may like logical problem solving, theoretical work, and more holistic and creative styles of thinking and approaching problems. Sensing types will enjoy working on more realistic kinds of problems and information, and more analytical kinds of problems. In group activities, it can be helpful to have both kinds of learners working together on problems. Giving a group of tutees real or realistic kinds of problems can be helpful, where students have to discover the principles needed or work through the application of ideas to solving a problem. Since much of learning involves understanding both concepts and how to apply them, each type can learn from the other. Problems can arise if a person is very strongly intuitive fails to see the need for practical application of ideas, or has difficulty explaining ideas to others; or if a strongly sensing person wants to do hands-on or analytical work without dealing with the underlying concepts. Tutors may need to steer students away from these extremes.

4 T/F: thinking / feeling

Thinkers like to decide and act based on objective criteria, logic, or what makes sense, and thus, they may be seen as cold or impersonal. Feelers like to decide and act based on personal values, feelings, and concern for others; they may sometimes seem too emotional.

thinking

feeling

Thinkers prefer and tend to be good at logical, systematic thinking skills and types of learning. They tend to more abstract conceptual learning, as well as retaining factual information. They prefer logical arguments and argumentation. In moral reasoning and decision making, they focus on justice and self-justice. They can be self-motivated workers who don't depend so much on others' approval or encouragement. But they can be less sensitive to others' needs or feelings, and may need to learn to be more social, sensitive to others' feelings, or encouraging to others.

Feelers can be good team workers, social leaders, and encouragers, but less comfortable with the demands of logical thinking tasks. They may require more encouragement from others, and their feelings may get hurt more easily. They also like to give encouragement and praise to others. They tend to like holistic thinking and learning. In moral decision making and reasoning, they focus more on caring, concern and empathy for others. They prefer supportive relationships with teachers or students.

If you are a feeler, it is natural for you to give others encouraging remarks, positive feedback, and praise. If doing so is natural for you, this will be helpful for your students. Students will need such verbal support, especially if they are feelers, or if they feel discouraged. If you are a feeler, then you yourself expect encouragement from others, and may feel disappointed, even drained over time, if you do not receive such support. As an instructor, you may feel disappointed if you do not receive compliments from your colleagues or even your students, and you may need to seek support or satisfaction elsewhere (or wait until they express it after the semester).

If you are a thinker, it is less natural for you to give encouragement (thinkers tend to find giving or receiving a lot of such expressions as insincere). But doing so will be a helpful, even necessary, habit to cultivate as a teacher. Your students, especially the feelers among them, may be in special need of encouragement, and if they do not receive any from you, they can become more discouraged or demotivated. Thinkers themselves do need encouragement, but not as much. In fact, a lot of encouragement might come across to them as insincere.

If you are a feeler who naturally provides encouragement, do not be surprised if your students do not seem to respond to encouragement. There could be two reasons for this. They could be thinkers, who only need small amounts of encouragement, e.g., a moderate amount of positive feedback for significant accomplishments, rather than praise for minor things, or seemingly excessive praise (to them) for significant accomplishments. Alternatively, a person who does not respond to praise may suffer from deep discouragement, poor self-esteem, demotivation, depression, or other issues. The best thing can be to provide more positive but honest feedback, and more specific feedback, noting specific positive aspects, and specific advice on how to improve.

5 J/P: Judging / perceiving

This last dimension speaks to how people like to process information and make decisions, and the kind of cognitive environment they prefer. Judgers prefer structured, ordered and predictable environments, and so they like to make decisions as soon as possible and have things settled. They are thus organized and productive. Perceivers like to experience as much information and as much of the world as possible. They like to keep their options open, and tend to be flexible, curious and non-conforming, but adaptable. They prefer to take in as much information or experiences as possible before making decisions. They are comfortable with things being open-ended or unresolved, in contrast to judgers, who are more uncomfortable with such situations. Thus, perceivers can be more patient when it comes to learning new things, especially when they do not understand, while judgers can become impatient when they do not understand, and may more likely give up.

judging

perceiving

Judgers want to make decisions and move on to the next task, and they put less importance on trying to understand or learn everything (thus, a more holistic type of decision making). They are comfortable with (and probably good at) decision making, things that are clear-cut (unambiguous), setting and implementing study or work priorities, and getting things done. They prefer things that are more structured (like traditional classroom lessons). Because they like to decide things quickly, they may sometimes want to make decisions too hastily, when they need to get more information, learn more, or consider the needs of other people. They are uncomfortable with uncertainty, and may get frustrated or want to give up when they do not understand something, rather than accepting unresolved, ambiguous or open-ended situations.

Perceivers want to understand more and get more information, rather than to make decisions. They can be more patient in learning, and are less likely to get frustrated or give up when they don't understand something (ambiguity tolerance). In decision making, they can focus more on specific details. They can wait until they are able to understand something or find the information they need; they can move on to another task and come back to the unresolved matter later. They are more comfortable if things are unresolved, open-ended or ambiguous. However, they may have trouble making decisions when they need to.

As a professor, you may need to encourage judgers to be more patient and flexible, especially when they have difficulty understanding new concepts. You may occasionally need to encourage perceivers to come to conclusions or decisions and move on.

Academia tends to favor perceivers, and many perceivers probably go into academia. This kind of orientation is of course ideal for research and scholarly work, as long as one does not spend too long on one project. Otherwise, one might spend too long without producing a final product, if one spends too much time on the information collection, conceptualization, or analysis, especially if one does not set and adhere to specific, attainable, and reasonable goals. A particularly problematic combination can be a strong perceiver orientation with a perfectionistic personality. In that case, a person can become so entangled in trying to learn or analyze as much as possible because one wants to be perfect, and one is unable to finish the project – because one's goals are vague and unrealistic. This can lead to procrastination, demotivation, and burnout.

Judgers have to be careful not to try to rush through projects too quickly. However, the judging orientation can be a strength for managing a class, a lab, and projects, as well as for administrative duties. Many judgers enter the business world and can be effective managers. The danger is when one makes decisions too quickly, without wanting to consider all the necessary facts, information, and ramifications of their decisions. Such overly impulsive and uninformed decision making can lead to poor decision making in companies, and has contributed to some great business failures.

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