Temperament elements

In 1921, a Swiss physician named Carl Jung published a book called Psychological Types. He believed that people do not share the same temperament at birth. He also believed that these preferences don’t change during our lifetimes. This means that once we identify our own temperament type or someone else’s temperament type, we can better understand and predict behavior.

Jung explained that some people are born Extraverted, while others are born Introverted.

Some people focus their attention on the iNvisible things in life, while others experience life primarily through their Sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

Some make decisions based on how they Feel, while others prefer to make decisions based on what they Think.

In 1923 Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Myers, read Jung’s book and began their own research. Three years later, Katharine published an article about personality types entitled “Meet Yourself.” It met with little recognition or success.

With the onset of World War II, Reader’s Digest© published an article on the need for a people-sorting instrument, “a device to place the worker in the proper niche, keep him happy, and increase production.” Wanting to help the American war effort, Katharine and Isabel began to measure temperament type as a way of helping people choose suitable work.

In 1962, after decades of type watching, Isabel published Introduction to Type. The book included the now-famous questionnaire she and her mother developed, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Her publication identified another important factor in determining temperament type: some people seek routine and plan ahead for results (Judging), while others thrive on spontaneity (Probing).

This revelation led to the definition of the 16 distinct temperaments we know of today.

Jung's 8 Temperament Types

Myers-Briggs 16 Temperament Types