Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment

Naomi L. Quenk

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780470343906
• eBook ISBN: 9780470504185
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Research & Methodology in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Quickly acquire the knowledge and skills you need to confidently administer, score, and interpret the MBTI

In order to use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) appropriately and effectively, professionals need an authoritative source of advice and guidance on how to administer, score, and interpret this test. Written by Naomi Quenk—who coauthored the 1998 revision of the MBTI Manual and the MBTI Step II Manual—Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment, Second Edition is that source.

Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy practitioners, and those in training, to quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of major psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.

Completely revised and up to date with discussion of new versions of the MBTI, such as MBTI Step II and MBTIComplete, Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment, Second Edition provides expert assessment of the instrument's relative strengths and weaknesses, valuable advice on its clinical applications, and several illuminating case reports.

Six
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF MBTI® STEP I™ AND STEP II™ ASSESSMENTS

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory reveals normal variations in personality. It can therefore provide a context for understanding healthy aspects of the individuality of each client, regardless of the presence of any pathology. From such a vantage point, psychological and emotional problems can be more appropriately assessed, possibly inappropriate diagnoses and perceptions avoided, and treatment styles developed that capitalize on a client’s natural proclivities. This way of using the MBTI assessment follows Jung’s recommendation that therapists strengthen the patient’s conscious approach to establish a solid, safe foundation within which unconscious factors can emerge on their own (Jung, 1954, p. 186). In type terms, this means affirming and strengthening the client’s dominant and auxiliary functions before dealing with the less conscious tertiary and inferior functions, which are relatively inaccessible to conscious control and direction.

Clinicians can also use the theory of type dynamics and development as a conceptual framework within which to understand and treat clients. You will recall from chapter 1 that in the Jung/Myers theory, individuals use their dominant function in the preferred attitude of Extraversion or Introversion and their auxiliary function in the corresponding nonpreferred attitude. But suppose someone habitually uses the dominant as well as the auxiliary function in the preferred attitude—for example, an ENFP who extraverts both dominant Intuition and auxiliary Feeling, or an INTP who introverts both dominant Thinking and auxiliary Intuition. Or suppose that someone does not have a preference for one pole of a dichotomy over the other—for example, a person who does not have a habitual, reliable way of accessing either Sensing or Intuition. These kinds of problems in type development can be manifested in two ways: Some clients have presenting problems that are a direct function of their difficulty in accessing and expressing their natural type effectively; your understanding of type dynamics can be used therapeutically to help these clients explore and gain confidence in “being themselves.” Other clients may have a variety of difficulties unrelated to their type that have nevertheless interfered with or are manifested in their type development; for these clients, focusing on issues of type development may improve their general level of functioning at the same time that it encourages them to persist in working on their other difficulties.

This chapter highlights practical insights that will enable clinicians to take type into account in assessing and treating their clients. The major focus is on the rich therapeutic insights that can be gained through understanding Step I type—the eight preference poles of the four dichotomies and the unique qualities of the 16 types that result from the dynamic interactions among the preferences. The therapeutic value of Step II interpretation is also discussed, primarily through examples showing how facet information can be used productively. The uses of Step I and Step II information in treating couples, families, and in chemical addiction are briefly considered, as is a perspective on working with type with more seriously disturbed individuals. The chapter concludes with cautions regarding inappropriate uses of the MBTI assessment in such areas as learning disabilities, attention-deficit disorder and related behavioral disorders, in general personality assessment, and in assessing the effectiveness of treatment.

Some useful generalizations about both therapists and clients who hold each of the eight preferences have emerged from a combination of empirical research and clinical observations. It can be helpful to keep such information in mind as you interview, assess, and treat clients of different types, recognizing that your own type preferences will serve as a pervasive backdrop to your interactions with clients.

One or another preference can become quickly apparent during an initial interview, or you may recognize a client who is very similar or quite different from you. Tentatively affirming the value of characteristics associated with a hypothesized preference can help a client feel understood and accepted, so rapport is quickly established. With experience, clinicians sometimes find that a new client’s whole type seems apparent very early in the therapeutic interaction; there are subtle nuances that are associated with the distinctiveness of one or another type. As experience with the MBTI Step II assessment increases, clinicians are likely to “hear” specific facets from clients rather than the totality of a preference, and even identify possible out-of-preference facets. This added richness in understanding a client’s type functioning can enhance therapy even if a particular client does not take Step II Form Q. Of course, it is important to suspend judgment about all type hypotheses until the usual process of verification has occurred. Nevertheless, tentative understanding of a client’s probable type and facets can be helpful, especially in couples therapy when the partners are engaged in “accusing” each other of being different or “doing that just to irritate me.”

It is usually therapeutic to share your type with clients, as this can serve as a vehicle for explaining and affirming differences and in dealing with rough spots and misunderstandings that occur during the course of therapy. For example, an Intuitive therapist can explain that it is harder for her to call up specific details of the last session without having those facts in a context. Giving clients information about your own type usually enhances the therapeutic process; however, some clients may incorrectly attribute your comments and suggestions solely to your type, rather than to your expertise, and dismiss them as irrelevant. As with all self-disclosure, discussing your own type with clients must be used selectively, judiciously, and with careful consideration of the client’s needs.

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE EIGHT PREFERENCES

This section looks at the eight preference poles from the point of view of the therapist’s preference in relation to clients who are either opposite or the same in that preference. The focus is on the kind of understanding and misunderstanding that may accompany similarities and differences. The comments below concerning similarities and differences in therapist and client preferences are neither exhaustive nor meant to apply in all cases; rather, they should be taken as suggestive and cautionary examples of some of the typological issues that can emerge.

Extraversion and Introversion

In a system of opposites, people who are most comfortably themselves while extraverting are likely to be less comfortable introverting, whereas people who are most comfortably themselves while introverting tend to be less comfortable extraverting. For extraverted people, the inner world can be too quiet, too lacking in stimulation, too inactive, too solitary. For introverted people, the outside world can be too loud, too stimulating, too demanding of action, too intrusive. Brain-mapping research shows a biological basis for these differences, such that Extraverts’ brains appear to be less stimulated than Introverts’ brains by the same stimulus (see Myers et al., 1998, for a summary of these and related findings; see Gram et al., 2005, for recent research that validates these results and also provides evidence for different patterns of cortical activity associated with each of the other MBTI dichotomies). It appears that Introverts are comfortably stimulated when “inside their heads” and may be overstimulated when interacting with the outside world; Extraverts are comfortably stimulated by the outer environment and understimulated when focusing on the inner world.

Concomitants of Extraversion-Introversion similarities and differences can be readily and frequently observed in the conduct of psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and families. Once a therapist is aware of th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• SERIES PREFACE
• One: OVERVIEW
• Two: HOW TO ADMINISTER THE MBTI® INSTRUMENT
• Four: HOW TO INTERPRET THE MBTI® INSTRUMENT
• Five: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE MBTI® INSTRUMENT
• Six: CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF MBTI® STEP I™ AND STEP II™ ASSESSMENTS
• Seven: ILLUSTRATIVE CASE REPORTS
• Appendix: Self-Selection Ratio Type Table: Counselors
• References
• Annotated Bibliography
• Index
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• End User License Agreement