THE WEEK magazine recently did a cover story on psychometrics.

While the article is fairly well-researched and comprehensive, as the authorized distributors of many respectable psychometrics like the MBTI?, FIRO?, the Strong Interest Inventory?, the Saville? Assessment, we would like to add our comments to this article:

1. The MBTI? (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) is one of the world's most researched and used psychometric assessments, for the simple reason that it works. However, as with all psychometrics, it is a starting point for exploring human personality and understanding important differences between people.

2. Much of the controversy surrounding the MBTI? arises from the fact that it ends up being used for things it was never intended to! The MBTI? indicates our inbuilt personality preferences, gives us a way to be aware of our inherent preferences (or biases) and then offers suggestions on how to use the non-preferred parts of our personality when appropriate. It was never intended to predict a person's compatibility with another, or as a selection and recruitment tool.

3. It is also worth mentioning that the creators of the MBTI? never said that a person is either completely an Introvert or completely an Extrovert.??We all use both sides of our personality as we should.?

Here are some excerpts from the article where the founders of Anahat clarify some of these popular misconceptions:

Janaki Venkat, one of the founder-directors of Anahat, which is the official distributor of the MBTI test in India since 2005, told THE WEEK, “Young people are naturally attracted to typology because they want to find their tribe. When we train professionals who are authorised to administer MBTI, we make sure they present it with equal respect regardless of your type. MBTI gives equal weightage to all 16 types and does not see one type as inferior to the other. This is one of the reasons for MBTI’s popularity.”

Child Rights and You (CRY) board member Pervin Varma said MBTI was introduced in the NGO in 2001. “The assessment was insightful and transformed our working relationships, by giving us a deeper appreciation of the gifts in differences. Areas of possible friction were turned to opportunities for collaboration,” she said.

Head-HR at Mumbai-based Great Eastern Shipping,?Salil Raghavan, who is also certified by Anahat to administer MBTI since 2005, recounted how the test helped him personally ... As a Sensing-Judging personality (his boss) had a preference for details and structure while Raghavan looked at the macro picture and was flexible due to his Intuitive-Perceiving (preferences). “Understanding his personality helped me anticipate his needs in advance and prepare for his review sessions,” said Raghavan.

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Best regards,

Team Anahat