The Myers-Briggs Guide for Writers

Chapter 2: The Basics

I'm not sure how much you know about the Myers-Briggs already.  Perhaps you've used it on some of your characters.  Perhaps you've used it on yourself.  Perhaps you've even forced a few of your friends and family members to use it.  If you already know the basics of the MBTI--the formatting, the meanings of each letter, etc.--feel free to skip this chapter or use it for review.  It's the framework the rest of the chapters will build off of.

For the rest of you, your journey begins here!  This chapter will be a little dull and you may know parts of it already, but it is imperative that you understand everything fully before moving on.  Things only get more complicated from here--and hopefully more fun!

Okay, let's start at the beginning.  The Myers-Briggs is comprised of 16 distinct "types", each a combination of four letters that represents a personality.  There are eight letters paired in groups of two, and, while it may be easier to think of them as polar opposites, I suggest you look at them as two points on a continuum.  Nothing is black-and-white in typology.

The letters are: E and I, S and N, F and T, and P and J.  You can only choose one from each pair, and they are always presented in that order.

Each letter describes one aspect of human thought, and, while everyone uses all eight, people will almost always lean to one side or another.  Here is the list of meanings and a brief description of each:

E: Extravert--gains energy from being in social situations

I: Introvert--gains energy from being alone

S: Sensing--perceives the world as concrete objects

N: iNtuition--perceives the world as abstract ideas

F: Feeling--judges situations based on emotions

T: Thinking--judges situations based on logic

P: Perceiving--uses their perceiving function to interact with the world

J: Judging--uses their judging function to interact with the world

Of the eight, P and J are the most complicated functions, and the intricacies of their workings will be covered in a later chapter.  For now, it may help to know that perceivers tend to be more open to change and spontaneous, while judgers tend to be better planners and more strictly scheduled.  This is not even close to a hard-and-fast rule, though, as you will see.

The important thing to remember about these functions is that none of them are any better than the others.  As you read that list, you may have recognized yourself in a few of those traits and, if you're honest, possibly felt a sense of superiority over the other traits.  So did another person reading that list who recognized traits exactly the opposite of yours.  While you may come to prefer some types to others, it does not and will never make them better.

A vivid example of this problem can be seen in the way some introverts and extraverts treat each other.  Extraverts, at least in the United States, generally find it easier to fit in due to their increased capacity for social interaction, and often try to help their introverted friends do the same, telling them to "come out of their shells" or "stop being so shy".  However, what they don't realize is that introverts often feel a much stronger desire to be "authentic" than they do.  Viewing the extraverts as superficial for being willing to sacrifice their "true self" for a social life, introverts respond by touting their intellectual and/or emotional superiority online.

Introverts thus come to falsely believe that their "uniqueness" is what gives them value as human beings, while extraverts just-as-falsely maintain that their ability to "be social" allows them to lead more fulfilling lives.   In the end, both groups' arguments are steeped in straw-man fallacies and a general misunderstanding of what each side values.  Writers who take these exchanges to heart will find it impossible to write convincing characters; they will begin looking at both sides in terms of stereotypes (introverts are always bookworms, extraverts are always party animals) and the second they label their character as one or the other they will have already doomed him or her to the trash heap.  This can happen with any trait; introversion vs. extraversion is just the most extreme example.

So before you go any farther, check your preconceptions at the door.