Goodbye To Mbti The Fad That Won T Die Analysis
In his Huffington Post article, “Goodbye to MBTI, The Fad That Won’t Die,” author Adam Grant discusses his personal experience with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, in addition to providing information about its perception by members of the scientific community. Grant notes the popularity of the psychological assessment, mentioning that millions of people take it every year, and that the MBTI is becoming an increasingly widespread method through which companies learn more about their employees. He gives a fairly accurate description of the test and its uses, initially providing just a simple list of the four personality categories, but later giving more information about how each trait pair is defined.
Despite the test’s popularity, he expresses …show more content…
Grant does mention his concerns about how particular moods and other transient personal factors can influence results, but only discusses how they impact the test’s reliability. The MBTI website allows individuals to purchase access to the official, standardized online assessment for $49.95, but the fact that many are unwilling to pay this price has resulted in the creation of dozens of alternate sites, each claiming to host a free version of the official test.
Because there are so many versions available online, it is difficult to determine whether or not individuals are actually taking the same assessment. For example, questions on one site’s version of the MBTI may differ from the items on another site’s version of the test, which could potentially influence individuals’ scores. Without standardization of the administration of the test, it is difficult to find any meaning in its results. One thing Grant does consider is the reason why the MBTI is still so popular, even though numerous articles criticizing the assessment have popped up online in the past several years. He seems to think that the motivation for individuals to accept their scores, even when they may not be accurate, stems from a desire to embody traits we deem as “ideal” (Grant,
Despite the test’s popularity, he expresses …show more content…
Grant does mention his concerns about how particular moods and other transient personal factors can influence results, but only discusses how they impact the test’s reliability. The MBTI website allows individuals to purchase access to the official, standardized online assessment for $49.95, but the fact that many are unwilling to pay this price has resulted in the creation of dozens of alternate sites, each claiming to host a free version of the official test.
Because there are so many versions available online, it is difficult to determine whether or not individuals are actually taking the same assessment. For example, questions on one site’s version of the MBTI may differ from the items on another site’s version of the test, which could potentially influence individuals’ scores. Without standardization of the administration of the test, it is difficult to find any meaning in its results. One thing Grant does consider is the reason why the MBTI is still so popular, even though numerous articles criticizing the assessment have popped up online in the past several years. He seems to think that the motivation for individuals to accept their scores, even when they may not be accurate, stems from a desire to embody traits we deem as “ideal” (Grant,