What Is MBTI?
The name of the MBTI comes from the names of developers Katharine C. Briggs and her daughter Isabel B. Myers. They developed the MBTI based on the personality theory of Carl Jung, psychoanalyst who created analytical psychology. MBTI has four criteria: attention focus, awareness function, decision function, and lifestyle. And each of them is divided into the anodes of Extraversion(E)/Introversion(I), Sensing(S)/Intuition(N), Thinking(T)/Feeling(F), and Judging(J)/Perceiving(P), resulting in a total of 16 combinations. According to the Korea MBTI Institute(KMI), MBTI was introduced to Korea in 1990 and has been used for corporation recruitment and students’ career understanding. And the original purpose of the MBTI was to identify the ‘congenital preference tendency’ unlike what is known on social media these days. The research director of KMI said that MBTI is a way to check which situations the examiner feels most comfortable in. However, there is a strong perception among the public that MBTI is a tool of distinguishing personality types.
The Reason MBTI Became Popular
Why did MBTI, which came to 1990 in Korea, suddenly become so popular? There are both social and psychological reasons for this. The popularity of MBTI was attributed to Social Distancing caused by COVID-19. According to the Dong-a Ilbo, the portal’s MBTI search volume was about 61,200 hits in July last year, but it reached 464,000 in March when Social Distancing first took place, and 1.15 million in June. The informal MBTI tests on the Internet can be easily done by anyone in about 15 minutes with about 50 questions. The trend has spread rapidly with higher accessibility. Furthermore, MBTI is divided into 16 types, a larger number than horoscope or blood types, which were previously used to divide personality types for fun in Korea. In addition, because MBTI is based on the theory of Carl Jung, it was believed to be reliable and more appealing than existing personality tests. According to Health Chosun, Yoon Dae-Hyun, a professor of Seoul National University Hospital Healthcare System Gangnam Center, talked about the reason why MBTI is popular. It is because of the coexisting instinct of human, ‘categorization instinct’ that people want to be involved in a class and ‘gap instinct’ that people want to be different from others.
The Influence of MBTI in Korea
MBTI Contents
As MBTI became popular, a number of MBTI-themed contents have appeared. Various posts started being shared on social media, including not only jobs, but also animals, cartoon characters, and friend types that match the features of each MBTI profile. MBTI was also introduced on public TV. MBC variety show <Hangout with Yoo> showed the process and results of conducting an informal test to identify the personality types of Yoo Jae-seok, Lee Hyo-ri, and Rain. MBC show <What Is Study> also introduced the ‘ENFJ-specific study method’, which was unveiled by expert Lee Byung-hoon under the name of ‘MBTI-tailored study method’. In addition, MBTI is actively used as YouTube content. On the YouTube channel ‘20birds’, which deals with stories of twenties, uploaded a video about MBTI which garnered 450,000 views. As such, MBTI is not just a type of inspection, but is being reinterpreted as a content and meme, and is actively used in Korean media.
MBTI Marketing
With the popularity of MBTI, Korean companies are actively using MBTI for marketing. This is done in various fields such as fashion, beauty, tourism, and advertising. Fashion brand ‘Nerdy’ presented ‘MBTI Style Look’ and introduced T-shirts tailored to each MBTI, such as ‘Big Logo T-shirt’ for ISTJ and ‘The New Wave T-shirt’ for ENTP. Beauty brand ‘Mamonde’ posted pictures matching five types of MBTI to recommend the existing toner line under the name of ‘MBTI Test by Toner’, such as ‘ISFJ Brave Trouble Guardian’ and ‘ESTJ Strict Pore Manager’. In addition, ‘Oak Valley Resort’ unveiled the ‘Oak Valley MBTI Summer Event’, allowing resort guests to enjoy relaxation and leisure according to their taste and travel types. ‘KakaoTalk Gift’ also revealed recommended gifts for each type of MBTI such as ‘Practical TJ’ and ‘Being Ever-Changing EN’ under the name of ‘Gift Story by MBTI’. As such, MBTI is actively used in marketing of various fields.
Misunderstanding and Truth of MBTI
MBTI Internet Informal Tests
The informal MBTI tests, which are now popular on the Internet, are different from the official MBTI test. The formal MBTI test is not free and consists of about 100 questions, but the Internet informal tests are free with only about 50 questions. The ’16 Personalities’, which provides the informal MBTI test uses a Likert-type scale, where the answers are divided by degree of agreement, neutrality, and nonagreement. However, a formal test should be answered yes or no without neutrality as using a forced choice method. Moreover, ‘16 Personalities’ doesn’t hold a copyright to MBTI, and doesn’t have any of the same questions as the formal MBTI test. Myers Briggs Company(MBC), the MBTI general agency based in the U.S., grants copyrights and publication rights to only one institution in each country. In Korea, the KMI holds copyrights and Assesta holds publication rights of Korean-language editions. Assesta claimed that the tests on the Internet can’t be regarded as a true MBTI test. However, most of the MBTI contents in vogue on social media are based on the unofficial Internet tests.
Credibility of MBTI Tests
The informal Internet tests have spread the perception that MBTI is a pseudoscience. Pseudoscience means it is accepted as if it were science, even though it is not a real science. Experts express concerns that MBTI, a proven test, is being dismissed as pseudoscience because of the Internet tests which are not based on the formal MBTI test. In addition, KMI and Assesta claim that the MBTI test is a tool developed over a long period of time based on Jung’s theory and “is not pseudoscience.” Indeed, MBTI research began in the 1940s. To make the MBTI test, developer Myers has been continuously communicating with Jung. And since then, MBTI institutes in each country have been carrying out research to improve the accuracy of the test by adjusting the statistics and correcting questions according to the times. In addition, the MBTI test is not intended to identify an individual’s personality, but to identify a congenital preference. Therefore, it is fair to classify a person in terms of 16 similarities and tendencies rather than dividing a person’s personality into 16 categories.
MBTI is interesting in that it classifies people into 16 types. It is attractive to have a group membership by four alphabetic combinations. MBTI has a huge impact on many fields in Korean society. However, excessive trust in MBTI should be refrained. And MBTI should be used as a means of understanding oneself, not defining or typifying others. Remembering this, let’s take it just for fun because MBTI in vogue on social media is not a formal test. Let’s watch the positive changes that MBTI, which has heated up social media and became a meme of modern society, will bring to Korean society in the future.
