Back in August 2023, I appeared on the Colin McEnroe show, an NPR show through their member station affiliate at Connecticut Public Radio. I had the pleasure of delving into the intricate world of personality assessments with host Colin McEnroe.
MBTI, a widely recognized and frequently used personality assessment tool, often comes under scrutiny in the academic sphere. Alongside my writing partner, Randy Stein, we tackled the ambitious task of measuring the validity of MBTI using three distinct metrics. The goal was to dissect the theory that forms the backbone of the assessment — an essential step to ensuring that the instrument’s measurements are transparent, assumption-based, and prediction-ready.
During the conversation, we also touched upon the reasons why MBTI remains popular despite academic criticism. It’s an interesting phenomenon that may tie into the self-validation and self-esteem boost that people experience when their personality is seemingly encapsulated in a neat, four-letter type.
As the conversation wrapped up, I reflected on the human tendency to find comfort in categorization — whether through MBTI types, Hogwarts houses, or even our favorite ‘Sex and the City’ character archetypes.
Here’s the link the episode: https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/2023-08-03/are-you-an-enfp-an-istj-a-look-at-the-history-validity-and-potential-of-myers-briggs