16 Personalities: Unpacking The Myers-Briggs Personality Ty (2024)

Do you feel lost? Alone? Unsure of the future? Do you wake up feeling uneasy about your job? Do your relationships rub you the wrong way? Deep down inside, do you question the decisions you make in life or fail to understand why you do the things you do? If so, you're not alone. But there's a reason for this. It's because your life path is misaligned with your personality type. Look, all humans boil down to one of 16 personalities. And if your decisions are not harmonious with your personality type, you'll continue to feel lost and unsure of the future.

The 16 personalities aggregate all types of human beings into one cohesive framework. This framework helps bring awareness to our lives. It allows us to better understand why we do the things we do. Did you turn down a job you once thought you wanted? Did you end a relationship you were once devoted to? It's likely because somewhere deep down inside you realized that the path you were on was misaligned with your personality type.

The better you understand your personality type, the more you'll understand why you do the things you do. After all, an understanding of the 16 personalities and how you fit in brings greater clarity. It provides insight and a deeper understanding of the inner workings of your mind. You'll no longer have to feel uneasy about the future. Nor will you have to feel lost or unsure of what tomorrow holds. Instead, you'll feel determined about the future. Invigorated. Enthusiastic.

The 16 Personalities stem from the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. They describe human beings through a self-assessment personality test based on four factors. These factors, when combined, help to generalize personality types. This is important for many reasons. But especially important when it comes to things like hiring in the workplace, dating or relationships, choosing long-term partners or business associates, and so on.

The four factors are broken down as follows:

The first factor determines your focus. Are focused on the outward world and others or are you focused more on yourself? There's often a clear difference between an extrovert and an introvert. That's why self-labeling as one or the other typically isn't too difficult. Many factors go into this such as your natural ability or tendency to talk to others, how reserved or private you might be, whether you like to think out loud or work things out in your head, and so on.

The second factor relates to an information preference. How do you like to take information in from the world? Some rely on factual data and empirical information. They are more literal and specific in their approach to processing information. Others rely on their intuition or "gut" feeling. They look for the interconnectedness of ideas and can see the bigger picture. They're more imaginative about the future and can paint a vivid picture in their minds of the possibilities of the future.

The third factor relates to the decision-making process. How do you make decisions about various things in life? Do you look at things with logic and take the time to really think things through? Do you value things like fairness and search deeply for flawed arguments? Or do you base your decisions on a more harmonious approach with a greater sense of empathy for others? Maybe you care deeply about the impact your decisions have on others.

The fourth factor is about your approach to life in general. What lens do you look at general events, people, and experiences with? Do you adhere strictly to the rules and care deeply that all rules should be greatly revered and respected? Do you need to have a complete understanding of things before diving into it headfirst? Or do you like to keep your options open and figure things out as you go? Maybe you're spontaneous and sporadic and believe that what is best for you always happens.

The 16 Personalities evolved over the last century. It started as a genuine inquiry into human behavior by Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Meyers. Briggs Senior started contemplating personality types after meeting her son-in-law in 1917. That's when she noticed stark differences between him and her family. She went all-in to understand personality typology. That's the varying differences in personalities between people.

She dove into understanding the history and background of each individual to better understand personality types. That's when she made a discovery. She realized that all individuals had four varying temperaments:

In 1923 she read the English-language translation of Carl Jung's book entitled, Psychological Types. She realized that her work was very similar to Jung's work. Jung proposed that psychological types also boiled down to four variations:

She published her findings in 1926 and dove deeper into understanding human behavior and psychological types. Her goal? Figure out how this could be applied to a practical application. However, many years passed. And it wasn't until just before the end of World War I, in 1944, that they finally started to piece together how the information could be used to help women entering the industrial workforce for the first time. The aim? Find out the best job suitable for women based on their personality types.

That year, the pair published the book,Briggs Myers Type Indicator Handbook, revealing all of the findings of their work. In 1956 it became the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator "MBTI" Decades later, their work attracted the interest of many institutions and scholars who were studying psychology and personality types. And in 1962, the first MBTI manual was published. In the decades since that manual has evolved and developed into a scoring system called the Type Differentiation Indicator (TDI).

The MBTI helps create a variance in humans based on 16 personalities (psychological types). These derive from four primary factors (dichotomies). Originally, Myers-Briggs theorized that people naturally prefer one of the pair of the dichotomies. That led to the theory that all humans can be categorized as one of 16 personality types. The 16 personalities take one letter as the abbreviation for each of the four positions of letters. Four to the power of two positions equals 16.

Analysts are dominated by the trait of thinking for themselves. This gives them a logical path toward solving problems. Their intuition helps fuel their creativity, allowing them to think deeper and make more complex connections while solving problems. They're the independent, curious, free thinkers in our society.

Introverted / Intuition / Thinking / Judging

Architects are detail-oriented tactical individuals who love perfecting their crafts. They enjoy expressing creativity in the things that they do and applying that creativity to their work. By nature, they are incredibly curious individuals who are rational and logical in their approach to things. Architects also rely heavily on empirical data, questioning just about everything to its root cause. They do this to better understand problems and infuse their intuition and logic into solving those problems.

Introverted / Intuition / Thinking / Perceiving

Logicians are incredibly smart. Some of the greatest minds have been logicians. They grapple with the deepest problems humans face and are fascinated with the origins of the universe. Their overactive minds force them to continuously tackle problems day and night, looking for creative solutions. They are independent and brilliant, allowing them to unlock some of the greatest mysteries that have perplexed humans since the dawn of time.

Extroverted / Intuition / Thinking / Judging

Commanders are incredibly disciplined. They're achievers and often push through no matter what's standing in their way. They are leaders. Not followers. They approach everything with incredible determination to see things through. That often disturbs some people. But these individuals are incredibly impressive, invaluable members of society. They're able to lead large groups of people toward an intended goal and actually achieve it.

Extroverted / Intuition / Thinking / Perceiving

Debaters are incredibly intellectual and savvy. They can think freely and come up with solutions on the spot. They're quick to debate others, leading often to controversy. That's because they're not afraid to vehemently share their views on any subject or topic. Some would describe them as contrarians. They're willing to enter into debates with anyone. But that doesn't mean they automatically disagree with everything that they hear. They are just strong-willed and single-minded.

Diplomats have a deeper sense of connection with others and genuinely care about the well-being of people in their communities and societies. They are naturally empathetic individuals, highly acute and aware of the feelings of others. Because of their deep connection to others, they have an underlying need to belong in society. They are extremely creative and need a role that fulfills that creativity.

Introverted / Intuition / Feeling / Judging

Advocates don't want to just be part of the crowd. They desire to create change and actually matter in life. They're not sheep. You often cannot lead them. But they are compassionate and caring individuals who are looking out for the greater good. They try to not lose sight of their hopes and their dreams and have a very clear sense of who they are, what they believe in, and what actually matters. They often never lose sight of that.

Introverted / Intuition / Feeling / Perceiving

Mediators are dreamers. They're highly creative and imaginative, able to see wild-eyed possibilities in life. They tend to hold onto the past and have a strong sense of nostalgia when it comes to certain things. They feel deeply and form deep bonds with others. But they also hurt deeply when those bonds are broken. Mediators are special because of their innate drive to explore all the potential scenarios that life has to offer.

Extroverted / Intuition / Feeling / Judging

Protagonists are extremely determined and goal-oriented individuals with a strong creative drive. They are achievers who look to impact large groups by adding exceeding amounts of value to the world. They're action-takers and go-getters, born to lead others. They can easily inspire others to join their cause and have a strong sense of determination to help others grow and blossom into all that they can become in life.

Extroverted / Intuition / Feeling / Perceiving

Campaigners are freewheeling, heart-first individuals who strive to achieve big things in life. They're not shy about going after big goals and dreams, no matter what stands in their way. They're intense individuals who are extremely focused and determined to get to where they want to be in life. Oftentimes, nothing can stand in the way of a campaigner looking to achieve something big and bold. They're also highly imaginative and care very little about what others think about them.

Sentinels rely deeply on their character and are described as incredibly competent in their roles in society. They work hard and believe in things like safety, security and the ability to maintain a stable life. They are consistent with a solid work ethic and often follow through on what they promise to deliver to others. Sentinels can also be described as methodical and diligent.

Introverted / Sensing / Thinking / Judging

Logisticians are men (and women) of their words. If they tell you they'll do something, they nearly always follow through with doing it. That makes them dependable in many settings. Especially in terms of the workplace and getting things done. They're often respected members of society because of their reliability and devotion to the cause to get things done. They pride themselves on having high levels of integrity and are often revered because of it.

Introverted / Sensing / Feeling / Judging

Defenders have a meticulous attention to detail. They're caring, loyal, and highly dependable. However, they're not one to care about the limelight. They prefer to operate in the background and avoid the recognition of being front and center. They're thoughtful and always remember to recognize others during special occasions. They also have a very high set of standards for themselves and believe in showing up every day no matter what.

Extroverted / Sensing / Thinking / Judging

Executives believe in an orderly world and follow rules to the tee. They know the difference between right and wrong. They often follow through on what they set out to do no matter how difficult the task or the road ahead might be. They loathe slothfulness and laziness and will avoid surrounding themselves with those kinds of people at all costs. They tend to carry a high level of responsibility for the group and are champions of moving the ball forward in any situation.

Extroverted / Sensing / Feeling / Judging

Consuls are highly social people who love to surround themselves with others. They are very respectful of others and hospitable in all situations. These traits make them great at interpersonal relationships and make them very responsible in life. They try their best to accommodate for the needs of others, even if it means doing that in spontaneous situations. Lots of people rely on consuls for their advice in all types of situations.

Explorers embrace change. They can think freely on their feet. And they can handle the onslaught of the storm in a variety of situations. They're described as free-wheeling risk-takers willing to set out on a journey of discovery and achievement. Rather than seeking perfection, they value being useful in society. By nature they are spontaneous. But they're also hard-headed when it comes to improving any area of their lives.

Introverted / Sensing / Thinking / Perceiving

Virtuosos are incredibly curious and love to get their hands dirty working on projects. They don't mind at all when they have to get in knee-deep just to get things done. They're natural problem-solvers and don't wait for others to help them. Rather, they will get to work immediately to come up with creative solutions for all types of problems. Although they are authentic and caring, they tend to buck the trend and don't always follow the rules.

Introverted / Sensing / Feeling / Perceiving

Adventurers are seekers. They set out into the world with an open mind to explore life and all it has to offer. They are free-spirited and are willing to embark on most situations without the certainty of knowing how it will end. They are typically very humble and revered for their views and outlooks on life. That's because they approach situations with the zeal of a child discovering the world. They enjoy spending time with others but also rely on alone time to rest and recharge.

Extroverted / Sensing / Thinking / Perceiving

Entrepreneurs are lively and energetic. They are teeming with unlimited possibilities in their mind for what the future might hold. They are goal-oriented and not afraid to go after what they want in business and life no matter what stands in their way. They're easy to talk to and oftentimes fun in most situations. Especially when engaging in topics that interest them. They don't like to move with the crowd. Instead, they prefer blazing a trail that others can follow.

Extroverted / Sensing / Feeling / Perceiving

Entertainers are very open and generous with their time. They love being around others and making sure that they have fun. Their approach and style to life is respected by many others because they believe in chasing after their dreams. Even if that means that achieving their dreams will be difficult, they still go after it with all their heart. They're passionate and spontaneous all at the same time. And you can easily sense their zeal for life when you're around them.

Want to better understand your personality type? Curious about which one of the 16 personalities you fit into? Take our free personality test to uncover this and many other insights into your personality, values, and belief systems. By better understanding yourself, you can make more informed decisions about business and life.