16 Personalities Test
16 personalities test in three versions (16, 40 or 80 questions): find your four-letter code based on your energy, how you decide and your lifestyle.
16 Personalities tests
16
The test available
The 16 personalities test, also known as the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), is one of the most widely used personality frameworks in the world.
It builds on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types and was turned into a practical questionnaire by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.
It organizes personality into four independent dimensions:
- Energy: Extraversion or Introversion.
- Information: Sensing or Intuition.
- Decisions: Thinking or Feeling.
- Organization: Judging or Perceiving.
Combining these preferences produces a four-letter code, such as INFJ or ESTP, corresponding to one of the 16 possible types.
Why its scientific standing is debated
Unlike the Big Five, it sorts people into qualitative types rather than placing them on a continuous spectrum: that makes it intuitive and memorable, but its scientific standing has been debated for decades.
The most frequently cited academic critique is David Pittenger's (1993), published in the Journal of Career Planning and Employment: he reviewed the MBTI's statistical structure and concluded that it falls short of several basic standards expected of a psychological test, including predictive validity.
One clear contrast with the Big Five: the latter has robust, widely replicated meta-analyses supporting its predictive validity at work (Barrick and Mount, 1991), while the MBTI lacks an equivalent body of evidence on that front.
Here you'll find its origin, the four dimensions explained, and a breakdown of each type. None of this content replaces a professional psychological evaluation or the official MBTI® assessment.
Sources
- Jung, C. G. (1921). Psychologische Typen (Psychological Types).
- Myers, I. B., & McCaulley, M. H. (1985). Manual: A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Consulting Psychologists Press.
- McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1989). Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator from the perspective of the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality.
- Pittenger, D. J. (1993). Measuring the MBTI... and coming up short. Journal of Career Planning and Employment, 54(1), 48-52.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 16 personalities test?
It's a personality indicator (also called the MBTI) that sorts people into 16 types by combining four dimensions: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving.
Who created this model?
It's based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types (1921) and was turned into a practical questionnaire by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.
Is it scientifically reliable?
It's very popular as a self-discovery tool, but it has less empirical support than the Big Five: its test-retest reliability is lower, and it sorts people into fixed types instead of continuous spectrums.
What's the most common type, and what's the rarest?
The most common tends to be ISFJ (around 13.8% of the population), and the rarest is INFJ (around 1.5%).
How reliable is the MBTI's test-retest score?
Lower than most users assume: research such as McCarley and Carskadon (1983) found that a notable share of people get a different type when they retake the test weeks later, especially on dichotomies where the original score landed close to the midpoint. That doesn't invalidate the model as a reflection tool, but it does temper the idea that your resulting type is fixed and unchanging.
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Start here
How to Find Out Your Personality Type
The MyersBriggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a selfexploration questionnaire that sorts a person's preferences on four scales and sums them up…
6 min readRead
How Many Questions Does the 16 Personalities Test Have?
Questions on the official MBTI test (Form G and Form M) The official MyersBriggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has gone through several versions ov…
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Population Percentages by Personality Type
The statistical snapshot: how the 16 types are distributed The distribution of MBTI profiles in the population isn't symmetrical. The data…
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Each result, explained
ENFJ: The Protagonist. They inspire and guide others' growth.
ENFP: The Campaigner. They explore the world with creative enthusiasm.
ENTJ: The Commander. They drive teams toward goals with determination.
ENTP: The Debater. They question everything to create new ideas.
ESFJ: The Consul. They help maintain social harmony.
ESFP: The Entertainer. They fill their surroundings with energy and fun.
ESTJ: The Executive. They manage projects by imposing order and rules.
ESTP: The Entrepreneur. They take calculated risks by acting fast.
INFJ: The Advocate. They seek the deeper meaning of things.
INFP: The Mediator. They act guided by values and empathy.
INTJ: The Architect. They build long-term logical strategies.
INTP: The Logician. They analyze theories and love solving mysteries.
ISFJ: The Defender. They protect and care with quiet loyalty.
ISFP: The Adventurer. They express their art by living flexibly in the present.
ISTJ: The Logistician. They organize processes based on real facts.
