The Truth About Myers Briggs Personality Tests

First do you know who Myers Briggs is?

Well, actually Myers Briggs isn't anybody. But Myer, Briggs are two people. What they are is a mother and daughter who became enamored of a book Carl Jung wrote in 1921 called Psychological Types.

Katherine Cook Briggs read a book and got all excited about it. So, she told her married daughter Isabel Briggs Myers about the book.

Well on to their qualifications. Katherine Cook Briggs as near as I can tell was an upper middle class housewife with a lot of free time on her hands. I don't find any record of her formal education. But, her dad was on the board of directors of a university and her husband was an attorney. So, she had access to a lot of people to try out the survey she was creating and legal protection if things didn't go well.

On the other hand Isabel Brigs Myers did have a degree. After being home schooled by her mother, who by the way was home schooled by her own mother, she was able to obtain a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science. Yes, Political Science.


Really? Yes, really. In fact a quote from Isabel's writing may bring things into clarity for you.  " you can do things without having formally studied them."

Okay, so who is Carl Jung, again?

The answer to that question will be the subject of the next post.