DOES TYPE FENCE YOU IN?

Not if you understand it.  An understanding of type frees you in several ways.  It gives you confidence in your own direction of development -- the areas in which you can become excellent with the most ease and pleasure.  It can also reduce the guilt many people feel at not being able to do everything in life equally well.  As Isabel Myers put it, "For most people, really understanding their own type in particular, and other people's types in general, is a releasing experience rather than a restricting one.  It sets one free to recognize one's own natural bent and to trust one's own potential for growth and excellence, with no obligation to copy anyone else, however admirable that person may be in his or her own different way."  Finally, acknowledging your own preferences opens the possibility of finding constructive values instead of conflicts in the differences you encounter with someone whose preferences are opposite yours.

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR TYPE?

Scores on the MBTI can be changed depending on how you answer the questions.  Score changes can result in a report of a different type.  Jung seemed to believe that each person has a true type that he or she may not yet have discovered.  The true type does not change, although it may seem to, as one focuses on developing different mental processes at different stages of one's life.  Behaviors can change, of course, but their roots remain the same.

However, there are many reasons you might take the MBTI two different times and come out different types.  You might still be discovering your preferences, and trying them on for size.  Or you might be working especially hard to develop one of the mental processes, so that you report it on the MBTI with stronger than usual emphasis.  Or, you might take the MBTI one time as your "job self," responding as you see yourself acting on the job, and you might take it another time as your "home self," responding as you see yourself in your home environment.  If your type differs between two reports this fact may lead to interesting information about yourself.  As you cast your thoughts back to your frame of mind when you were answering the questions, consider how it may have affected your reporting of yourself and whether it reflects your true type.

WHAT'S THE BEST TYPE TO BE?

For you, the type you really are.  Jung's theory says your best satisfactions in life will be those that come through the strengths of your type.

IS EVERYONE OF THE SAME TYPE ALIKE?

No.  There are many individual differences within each type, because many things influence personality besides type. 

-Gordon Lawrence

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