Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Monograph Review by Jack Falt

McCaulley, Mary H., The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: A Measure for Individuals and Groups, Merenda, Peter F., Additional Comments Regarding the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, McCaulley, Mary H., Additional Comments Regarding the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: A Response to Comments, Gainesville, FL: Center for Applications of Psychological Type,1990, (Reprints from Measurement and Evaluation in Counselling and Development/January 1990/Vol. 2 & January 1991/Vol. 23, 23 pp

In this monograph Mary McCaulley gives a brief overview of what is included in the Manual. She includes a short history of how Isabel Meyers with her mother, Katherine Briggs, developed the MBTI® instrument. She describes what the Indicator measures and how it is used.

Peter Merenda in his Additional Comments clarifies some of McCaulley’s statements, particularly Jung’s concepts of Individuation and the conscious and unconscious parts of the self.  He is concerned that people understand the differences between the work of Myers and Jung. Jung/Myers theory looks at observable behaviour while Jung looked at both behaviour and the unconscious portions of the mind. He wanted people to be clear that while the MBTI® instrument was based on the ideas of Jung, it is not identical to Jung’s theories.

In the final portion McCaulley has a response to Merenda. She also discusses how Myers went beyond Jung’s three dimensions and added a fourth, the J-P dimension. Both McCaulley and Merenda are concerned with the ethical use of the MBTI® instrument.

This material is a concise introduction or a short review of the Jung/Myers theory theory and how it relates to the work of Jung. If you haven’t dug out your Manual in a while, this might be a worthwhile refresher for you.

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List of Articles by Jack Falt