20. Assigning MBTI to others is technically an invalid exercise
The whole purpose of MBTI is to allow for self-assessment of one’s personality based on a series of questions. Even when one assesses oneself the test provides different results at different times. Evaluating historical figures for their MBTI requires the evaluator to presume to answer the questions as he or she believes the historical figure would. Such a presumption alone renders the results invalid. Other than as an exercise in fun, or argument, evaluating past lives for MBTI has no basis in reality. Yet it remains a popular exercise, as the links in this article prove. No evaluator, no matter how familiar with George Washington’s life and career, cannot, so to speak, put words in his mouth. Evaluating Washington’s personality based on his own writings, as well as those of his contemporaries and historians, cannot reveal his true MBTI.
MBTI exists to allow the theories of Carl Jung to be applied by individuals in their daily lives. Yet it remains controversial. It has often been criticized as unscientific. Psychology Today published an article in 2013 titled, “Goodbye to MBTI, the Fad That Won’t Die”. The article reports that more than 2.5 million people take the test each year. It also reports wildly differing results received by the author on different occasions of taking the test. If one individual can receive different results at different times, how accurate can applying MBTI to other people possibly be? Especially those from times when society and behaviors were markedly different from today. It may be fun to assign MBTI to persons of the past, but it is entirely subjective. For every MBTI found online for a historical figure, a contradicting one can also be found.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Me: Stories of My Life”. Katharine Hepburn. 1996
“American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson”. Joseph J. Ellis. 1998
“Al Capone”. Entry, Famous cases and criminals. FBI.gov. Online
“Eisenhower: Soldier and President”. Stephen E. Ambrose. 2007
“Lyndon B. Johnson”, Essay Excerpt, Character Above All, Robert Dallek. PBS.org. Online
“The Machinery of the Universe”. Max Nelson, The Paris Review. July 1, 2015
“Who Was Edgar Allan Poe?” Article, The Poe Museum. Online
“Elvis: What Happened”. Red West, Sonny West, and Dave Hebler, as told to Steve Dunleavy. 1977
“The Earhart Brand”. Katie E. Martin, Flight Paths. Purdue University. Online
“Nothing Personal: The questionable Myers-Briggs test”. Dean Burnett, The Guardian. March 19, 2013