What I Wish People Knew About MBTI
I was browsing articles online recently and tripped across an oft-memed quotation attributed to Albert Einstein that says, “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Or some variation thereof.
Considering his work delved into some of the most complex and mind-bending ideas then known to physics, I think it’s pretty safe to file this one next to Abraham Lincoln saying, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
Because I will leap at any opportunity to group myself with Einstein, I will say I don’t believe that idea is true either. It’s a quippy quote that attempts to satiate one of our greatest human desires: to simplify that which is complex. This is especially true when we’re discussing the human experience.
The problem is that anytime we try to codify the complexity of human experience, we are going to get it wrong. At least to some extent. Therein lies the beauty and frustration of being human.
I will go so far as to offer an up an opposing ethos: If you can explain people in simple terms, you don’t really understand them at all. When it comes to this whole homo sapiens thing, for a rule to be true, there must be an exception.
Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner, or People in Boxes
I say this because I know there will inevitably be people who think that what I’m about to talk about is a load of crap. Good. They’re my exceptions. I won’t mention that they’re probably STJs (Whoops...). My point is simply that people are too complex to put in boxes. When MBTI is studied and applied correctly, it doesn’t put people in boxes. In fact, it usually frees people from them.
Notice I said “correctly.” What that means is up for debate, but this is my article so we’re going with my definition! 👊 Applying MBTI correctly means using it as a tool for growth, not a dogma. This means we know that there’s more to the letters—the four-letter system is simply a way to structure the order in which a person uses their cognitive functions. Understanding that the whole enchilada is all about cognitive functions… and learning how to use them.
Forever Jung
So, WTF are cognitive functions? Cognitive functions are the foundation of Jungian Psychology. Carl Gustav Jung was a brilliant man and an O.G. people watcher. He was incredible at observing people and how they tick. He dedicated his career to building a theory about how we operate so that he could better serve his patients and evolve our understanding of psychology.
Successors Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Meyers were champions of Jung’s ideas and sought to systematize them in a way that would make general application easier. Thus, the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was born.
For those who have written off the MBTI as useless baloney because they’ve taken it on multiple occasions and got different answers every time, this part’s for you. You likely ride down the centerline on one or more of the function dichotomies like y’grandma after her post-church Brandy Old Fashioned every Sunday. (Hey, Wisconsin grannies, I’m looking at you!)
That’s totally cool, albeit frustrating when you’re trying to get something useful out of the damned thing. But this is where understanding the cognitive functions comes into play. For example, if you’ve taken the test five times and gotten INFJ as a result three times and INFP two times, you fall close to the center on the J/P (Judging/Perceiving) metric and those results tell you where to start looking.
At first glance, INFJ and INFP appear to be different by only one letter. The thing is, these two types share none of the same cognitive functions. In fact, an INFP shares all of the same functions with an ESTJ, its apparent opposite when you’re only looking at the four-letter name. However, they use those functions in very different ways. How you use your functions is partially determined by the order in which they are stacked. That is, the order of preference and skill in using them.
If I lost you on that last bit, don’t worry. It isn’t that important to my overall point and I’ll do a much deeper dive into this stuff in future posts. Basically, I just want you to know that the four letters of your MBTI results represent your personality dynamics, but they themselves are not the full picture. They serve to identify your location within a system that is both vast and nuanced—more like GPS coordinates than a definitive statement about who you are.
You Are Not Your Type
Which brings me to the larger point I want to make: you are not your MBTI type. Your type does not define your experiences; it simply gives you resources to get the most out of your experiences. MBTI and understanding cognitive functions are tools. They are not the be-all, end-all of who you are—no matter what the impassioned commenters in MBTI Facebook groups may tell you.
Like a person with poor vision being handed the proper prescription lenses and suddenly the world looks a whole lot less foggy, the system does not define who you are but it does offer clarity in understanding who you are.
Being an introvert doesn’t mean you never enjoy being with a group of people. Being a Thinker doesn’t make you a heartless automaton. And being a Feeler doesn’t mean you only care about rainbows and fluffy bunnies. All stereotypes hold bits of truth, but no truth can be wholly stereotyped. So I say again, you are not your type and MBTI is not dogma.
One last note on those cognitive functions I keep going on about: we don’t use all of our functions in equal measure at all times. So if you have acted so differently at various points in your life that you feel you can’t possibly be just one type, I ask you to revisit that belief with this in mind: our brains are beautiful, adaptive things with mechanisms to see us through all kinds of life experiences.
We use different functions for different experiences and our functions develop in maturity as we do. The function you were developing in your twenties has had far more practice by the time you reach your thirties and forties.
The Shameless Pitch
So here comes the shameless sales pitch (I mean it, I have no shame about helping people and having that help be valued). This stuff is like cotton candy for my brain because: a.) My primary cognitive function (Introverted Intuition) loves nothing more than to search through concepts and theories and mine them for useful nuggets, b.) I take great joy in using those nuggets to help others, and c.) I’m really good at using those nuggets to help my clients build new patterns and systems that benefit them.
All of this is to say that if you’re curious about how you can use MBTI and cognitive functions to elevate your life but you’re overwhelmed by it or just don’t want to take the time to learn the ins and outs, I can help.
I studied this so you don’t have to. Although I use a variety of methods when working with my clients, this is one of the ways we build the coaching relationship to serve you and your specific needs and wants. Nothing is canned, everything is catered.