The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is commonly used for career exploration at numerous college counseling offices, and many Psychology and Business departments offer courses using the instrument, too. In spite of – or perhaps because of – its widespread use, there has arisen much debate about its application and value.
Should the MBTI be used in education? As the person primarily in charge of updating the instrument for the publisher for the past decade, I can attest that the answer isn’t a simple “yes” or “no”. It depends entirely on what you are using it for.
The MBTI assessment is somewhat unconventional both in its origins and its applications, and this can be disconcerting to some researchers and academics. As Murad Ahmed (2016) recently observed, it was “not the invention of white coats in laboratories or tweed jackets at universities.” Nor does it measure things in which research psychologists are typically interested, such as performance potential, pathology, or selection for certain roles. For these reasons, many in established circles of academic psychology do not value its insights.
Yet millions of people and thousands of organizations find it tremendously useful. Who is right? And how do you determine whether the MBTI is an effective tool for your particular setting? In education, there are a few questions to ask.
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