The Jungian Type Index (JTI) is an alternative to the
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
In personality typology, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The test attempts to assign ...
(MBTI). Introduced by Optimas in 2001, the JTI was developed over a 10-year period in Norway by psychologists Thor Ødegård and Hallvard E: Ringstad. The JTI was designed to help capture individuals' preferred usage of the psychological functions identified by
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...
in his book ''
Psychological Types'', such as thinking vs feeling and sensing vs intuition.
The JTI's questions and methodology for identifying the preferred functions differs from the MBTI. For example it eliminates word pairs, which can be troublesome to translate from English into other languages. In many languages, the sentence context frames the meaning of a word, while in English the words themselves may denote more meaning.
Overview
Similar to the MBTI, the JTI identifies four categories from which the 16 types are formed: Extraversion/Introversion, Intuiting/Sensing, Thinking/Feeling, Perceiving/Judging. A personality type is reached through an examination or introspection about these categories. For example, an Intuiting, Thinking, Judging Extravert would be classified as an
ENTJ. However, further complexity lies below this surface-level classification. Each personality type has its associated
Jungian cognitive functions
Cognitive functions, also referred to as psychological functions, as described by Carl Jung in his book '' Psychological Types'', are particular mental processes within a person's psyche that are present regardless of common circumstance. This is a ...
, which aim to further explain the ways in which people with each type perceive and interact with reality. Each type has all four of the cognitive functions (Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting, and Sensing) arranged in a different order and with different levels of introversion/extraversion. Of the two middle letters of any type, one will be the primary function with which they interact with the world, and one will be the auxiliary. For example, an ENTJ's primary function is (extraverted) Thinking, and their secondary function is (introverted) Intuiting.
Commercialization
Though it is relatively unknown in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, it has some market share in Scandinavia although the original MBTI tool is still the most commonly used. In Norway and Sweden, the JTI is also gaining users in conjunction with other tools that complement the JTI for career development and coaching. It also has distributors in the Netherlands, China, and Germany.
Debate about type dynamics
Some MBTI practitioners argue that the application of type dynamics (e.g. with inferred types like "Extraverted Sensing") to MBTI is a logical category error that has little empirical evidence backing it. Instead, they argue the best evidence for Myers Briggs types comes when the types are viewed as separate categories that function independent from one another as
dichotomous
A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be
* jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and
* mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simult ...
types.
See also
*
Analytical psychology
Analytical psychology ( de , Analytische Psychologie, sometimes translated as analytic psychology and referred to as Jungian analysis) is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, to describe research into his new "empirical science ...
*
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) is a self-assessed personality questionnaire designed to help people better understand themselves and others. It was first introduced in the book '' Please Understand Me''. It is one of the most widely used pers ...
*
Socionics
Socionics, in psychology and sociology, is a pseudoscientific theory of information processing and personality types. It incorporates Carl Jung's work on '' Psychological Types'' with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism. Socio ...
*
Jungian cognitive functions
Cognitive functions, also referred to as psychological functions, as described by Carl Jung in his book '' Psychological Types'', are particular mental processes within a person's psyche that are present regardless of common circumstance. This is a ...
*
Personality testing
A personality test is a method of assessing human personality constructs. Most personality assessment instruments (despite being loosely referred to as "personality tests") are in fact introspective (i.e., subjective) self-report questionnaire ...
*
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
References
External links
Optimas website (in English)
Personality tests
Analytical psychology
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