The Role of Myers-Briggs Personality Traits Within the Perception of Career Preferences
Careers and the 16 Myers-Briggs Personality Types
![Good careers for you based off of your personality]()
Using suggestions like the ones we see above, researchers and psychologists have also been able to find a relationship between Myers-Briggs Personality Types and an individual’s career preference. Now, can this career preference be perceived by surrounding individuals? This is the question that this current study attempts to answer. We focused specifically on the career fields of business, engineering, physical sciences (ex. biology & chemistry), math, and law.
Main IV - Energy Exertion Trait
- This is the first out of four personality traits that are used to create a Myers-Briggs personality type. This trait describes where and how an individual spends their energy.
- The two levels of this variable are introvert (I) and extrovert (E).
- To manipulate this variable we created four hypothetical people, each with a specific MBTI personality type that would be randomly assigned to participants. These personalities were - ISTJ, ESFJ, ESTJ, and ISFJ. The same sentences were used to describe each trait in all of the excerpts. For example, each excerpt that had the extrovert trait included - “He is a very outgoing individual and is involved in several on-campus clubs and a fraternity.”
- Notice that the second and fourth traits remained constant throughout all personalities. This allows the data to focus on the affects of our two independent variables.
Moderator IV - Decision-Making Trait
- This is the third out of four personality traits that are used to create a Myers-Briggs personality type. This trait describes how an individual approaches making a decision.
- The two levels of this variable are thinking (T) and feeling (F).
- We manipulated this variable using the same method as our main independent variable. For example, each excerpt that had the thinking trait included - “Aaron’s parents describe him as a very realistic individual who consistently approaches any situation with logical reasoning.” The personality profiles allowed participants to gain a general understanding of the hypothetical person they were reading about.
- Each personality profile also contained the same name, gender, and age to assure that other variables would not effect the participant’s perception.
Dependent Variable - The Perception of the Career Preferences of Others
- Our dependent variable in our study was the participant’s perception of the career preferences of these hypothetical individuals.
- While previous research has found prevalent trends and relationships between MBTI personality types and career preferences, we wanted to test whether or not these preferences were perceived by others.
- We measured this dependent variable by having participants answer a single scale question.
- The question read as follows - “To what extent do you think this individual is pursuing a career in one of the following fields - business, engineering, physical sciences (ex. biology and chemistry), math, or law?” They were presented with the following choices to answer this question - (1) Strongly Disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neutral, (4) Agree, and (5) Strongly Agree.
Hypotheses
|
|
Introvert |
Extrovert |
| Decision-Making |
Thinking |
Most likely to be perceived as someone who will go into a career in business, engineering, physical sciences, math, or law. |
Not likely to be perceived as someone who will go into a career in business, engineering, physical sciences, math, or law. |
|
Feeling |
Not likely to be perceived as someone who will go into a career in business, engineering, physical sciences, math, or law. |
Not likely to be perceived as someone who will go into a career in business, engineering, physical sciences, math, or law. |
Picture of Results
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Means of the Personality Profile Perceptions
Discussion
- One limitation of this study is that it lacks statistical validity due to the small sample size.
- One strength of this study is the high construct validity due to the successful isolation of the energy exertion and decision-making traits.
- One implication of this study is that perception may be completely controlled by the person perceiving rather than the subject of the perception. However, follow-up research is needed to confirm this statement.
The Perceptions Did NOT Align with Expected Career Preferences
![Example from previous study that focused on identifying trends within MBTI personality types and career preferences.]()
While the results of our study did not support our hypothesis or previous studies (like the one pictured above), our efforts still contribute to the overall body of knowledge of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This helps psychologists and researchers identify personality classification systems that can be applied to the world of psychology in a number of different ways.
Using suggestions like the ones we see above, researchers and psychologists have also been able to find a relationship between Myers-Briggs Personality Types and an individual’s career preference. Now, can this career preference be perceived by surrounding individuals? This is the question that this current study attempts to answer. We focused specifically on the career fields of business, engineering, physical sciences (ex. biology & chemistry), math, and law.
While the results of our study did not support our hypothesis or previous studies (like the one pictured above), our efforts still contribute to the overall body of knowledge of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This helps psychologists and researchers identify personality classification systems that can be applied to the world of psychology in a number of different ways.