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Understanding the MBTI ® and Personality Types
Dynamics of Personality Type
Page 1. Introduction
Page 2. J & P Attitudes
Page 3. Traits & Mental Processes
Type Dynamics: Interpreting the code of MBTI Myers Briggs MBTI Personality Types
By Ross Reinhold, INTJ
Page 3. MBTI Mental Preferences and Personality Traits.
Appendix A: Hierarchy of Preferences By Personality Type
Extraverted Types Hierarchy or Order of Preferences |
||||
| Type | 1st/E | 2nd/I | 3rd/E | 4th/I |
| ENFP | N | F | T | S |
| ESTP | S | T | F | N |
| ENTJ | T | N | S | F |
| ESFJ | F | S | N | T |
| ENTP | N | T | F | S |
| ESFP | S | F | T | N |
| ESTJ | T | S | N | F |
| ENFJ | F | N | S | T |
| E = Extraverted Energy Orientation I = Introverted Energy Orientation |
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Introverted Types Hierarchy or Order of Preferences |
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| Type | 1st/I | 2nd/E | 3rd/I | 4th/E |
| INFJ | N | F | T | S |
| ISTJ | S | T | F | N |
| INTP | T | N | S | F |
| ISFP | F | S | N | T |
| INTJ | N | T | F | S |
| ISFJ | S | F | T | N |
| ISTP | T | S | N | F |
| INFP | F | N | S | T |
| E = Extraverted Energy Orientation I = Introverted Energy Orientation |
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Prefer pictures over charts or tables? Then take a look at the link below.
TYPE FACE DIAGRAMS - THE PATTERNS OF PERSONALITY TYPES 
Appendix B. Self-scoring test to validate your Dominant MBTI Mental Function.
The tables below presents some characteristic ways1. people use the four mental functions or mental processes of the MBTI Personality Type model. They are arranged in pairs of polar opposite concepts and under the particular mental function they are associated with. Read them to determine which of the opposites of each pair is most inherently characteristic of you (i.e. your natural bent vs. what wisdom or experience may have taught you). Remember it is OK and normal to have "some" characteristics that are opposite your favored preference ( as is it is OK and normal to have none that are opposite).
Click the radio button of the opposite of each pair that best fits. (Doing so will simply serve as a visible checklist to help you get acquainted with some trait correlates of these four mental functions; the checked boxes do not automatically score any test. (Persons seeking a scientifically pedigreed assessment like this are urged to seek out a qualified MBTI practitioner who has the credentials to administer an MBTI Step 2 Assessment)
| Sensing | Intuition |
| Concrete - depend on verifiable, factual information and direct perceptions. literal, mistrust fuzzy information | Abstract - comfortable with and inferring meaning from ambiguous and non-literal information. Perceptive. |
| Realistic - value being practical, cost-effective, and exercising common sense. | Imaginative - enjoy being ingenious, clever and novel . . . for its own sake. |
| Pragmatic - highly values the usefulness or applications of an idea - more interesting than idea itself. | Intellectual - learning, acquiring knowledge, mental challenges are valued as an end in itself. |
| Experiential - heavily grounded by first hand, past experience. Reluctant to generalize beyond direct experience. | Theoretical - conceptual, automatically search for patterns in observed facts, comfortable with theories and inventing new ones. |
| Traditional - trust what is familiar, support established groups and methods, honor precedents. | Original - values initiative and enterprising, inventive, and novel solutions. Often mistrusts conventional wisdom. |
| Thinking | Feeling |
| Logical - values and trusts detached, objective, and logical analysis. | Affective - trusts emotions and feelings, values human considerations, in touch with feelings. |
| Reasonable - is clear-thinking, objective, reasoned, and logical in everyday decision-making. | Compassionate - makes decisions on overall impressions, patterns, and feelings (including emotional likes and dislikes). |
| Questioning- intellectually independent, resistant to influence, self confident. | Accommodating- seeks consensus, deferential, conflict avoiding, seeks harmony. |
| Critical Analytical - comfortable making distinctions, categorizing, making win/lose choices, being in adversarial situations. | Accepting - tolerant towards human failings, see positive side of others, instinctually seeks win/win resolutions of problems. |
| Tough Minded - results oriented, will push for valued ends, stick on task. Firm | Tender Hearted - use gentle persuasion to influence, reluctant to force compliance. |
Picking your Dominant Mental Function (Mental Process)
Based upon what you understand about the 4 mental functions (S, N, T & F) [For a review you might want to re-read the Introduction to Type page. Click here to bring it up in a separate window] and a review of the selections you've just made above, consider which of the four mental functions (S, N, T or F) may be your most fundamental guiding preference, your Dominant Mental Function. (Some may find it helpful to talk over these considerations out loud and/or with another person.)
Does this square with what the Hierarchy Table suggests is the #1 function for people of your type? If not, it may be an indicator you are atypical for your type. Or it may signal that a different type might be a better fit for you.
I've recently developed another set of descriptions that may be helpful in self-determining your dominant and auxiliary mental functions. See how the various Myers-Briggs Mental Functions are experienced in Understanding the Mental Processes of the 16 Personality Types.
1.The above material was adapted from the work of David R. Saunders, Ph.D. who performed the initial psychometric research on trait correlates of the MBTI from "test" questions that Myers employed over several years in her endless quest to broaden the base of Type knowledge. Saunders research eventually resulted in the development of the "Type Differentiation Indicator" and the "Expanded Analysis Report." His work was later extended by others, re-constituted, and updated into what is now known as the Step II and Step III MBTI Personality Assessments published by CPP, Inc.
® MBTI, Myers-Briggs, Meyers Briggs, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust in the United States and other countries (aka meyer briggs or myers briggs).
Go Here to Learn more about Type Dynamics: The Faces of Type Development
Go Here to Learn more about The Myers-Briggs Test *
*While commonly called a "test" the MBTI ® is not a test but a personality inventory in which there are no right or wrong answers.
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