Letters of MBTI

Korea's obsession with the MBTI personality test

There are people who love pseudoscience personality tests and others who roll their eyes at them; I am firmly in the first camp. Astrology, numerology, Enneagram, Big 5, Human Design, MBTI—I have tried it all in attempts to better understand myself and the people around me.

I first discovered the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in high school when I stumbled on an online self-assessment. After answering a hundred or so questions, the test typed me as INFP and I have rarely changed in type during the many versions of tests I’ve taken since. I even got an “official” type test done in 2014 through a friend who was writing an article about using MBTI for dating.

MBTI gave me the language to clarify aspects of myself I struggled to understand or accept. My penchant for daydreaming, craving for validation, self-isolation—here were my tendencies spelled out in a formulaic quiz result, showing me that my whims and neuroticisms were not just my own failings. To a lonely and dramatic teenager, such coherence of one’s self is life-changing.

Korea’s obsession with MBTI started during the pandemic when people were craving group connection and belonging. Many Koreans’ understanding of MBTI is limited to the 16Personalities test, a dichotomy-based entrypoint that uses traits differentiated by letters rather than Jungian cognitive functions. From this understanding bloomed a huge trend amongst Koreans to pinpoint behavior based on one’s letters, much like the E vs. I differentiation in the comic above.

Further examples:

• “너 T야?” (Are you a T?) is a big meme, calling out anyone who thinks with logic and rationale (T, or Thinking) rather than empathy (F, or Feeling).

• The stereotype of J (Judging) vs. P (Perceiving) comes into play when traveling. Js are prone to planning and executing an itinerary, while Ps show up to their destination and let the days spontaneously unfold.

• N (Intuition) types are known to daydream and use their imaginations, whereas S (Sensing) are focused on the tangible, present reality.

The popularity of these dichotomies has even resulted in a Youtube series called MBTI Inside. 16 people representing each type gather in one house, and in subsequent episodes they split into rooms based on the divide of E or I, N or S, T or F, and J or P. Watch if you’re interested in a fascinating social experiment.

While MBTI is a useful model for self-understanding, it will never be able to holistically capture one’s ever-changing personality. I may be an INFP but I am decent at planning trips like a “J”, and my engineering job has instilled lots of “T” behaviors in me. Koreans love taking trends to the extreme which seems to be happening with MBTI as well; some job listings explicitly state not wanting certain types and people lead with asking each other’s MBTI upon first meeting.

Given MBTI’s lack of nuance in favor of rigid binaries, I would never recommend it for any serious decision making. Still, it’s a fun tool that sheds light on aspects of one’s personality and provides context for others’ differences. MBTI is ultimately meant to be empowering as a guide to examine and accept one’s strengths and blind spots.

💭 Do you know your MBTI? Do you relate to your type? Share in the comments!