Another nail in the Myers-Briggs coffin?

I am the first to admit I am not a fan of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  I wrote a blog Why it pays to be an ‘ambivert’ in 2013 that sets out my initial objections.  And recently one of my coaching clients sent me this YouTube clip Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless that eloquently argues the case against the MBTI.

Here is another reason the MBTI is in trouble.  In 2006 Robert R. McCrae and Antonio Terracciano published a paper National Character and Personality that included the image shown below.

 

Approximately 50 cultures are plotted on an extraversion scale (X axis).  Australians and Americans are ranked as highly extraverted while Ugandans and Indonesians are ranked as introverts.  However there are a considerable number of countries hovering around the middle, namely the ambiverts.  (The Y axis is Neuroticism)

I must confess some of the positioning is strange.  It is hard to imagine the English as being more extraverted than the Irish.

Also the German Swiss and French Swiss are ranked equally and there is no mention of the Italian Swiss.  This reminds me of one of my favourite jokes:

The German Swiss look down on the French Swiss who they consider to be intellectual snobs.

The French Swiss look down on the German Swiss who they consider to be only interested in money.

The two groups both look down on the Italian Swiss who don’t care because they are having too good a time,

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Chris Golis - Author

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