The first things you may have noticed about my blog are the odd terms I use to refer to the MBTI(R) such as tool, instrument, assessment and personality assessment. Perhaps you are wondering why I don't use the much simpler and more familiar term test, or personality test. The answer to that question is quite simple: it's incorrect, since the MBTI tool is not a test. This is one of its most misunderstood aspects, so I encourage you to read my blog
"Why the MBTI(R) Tool is Not a Test."
This is one of many changes in acceptable MBTI - related language which has taken place in recent years. When I first became certified to use the MBTI tool in 1998, no one thought twice about referring to it as a noun rather than an adjective. My first blog post, "Discovering a New World," is an article I wrote not too long after getting certified, and I had to update some of the language before publishing it on this website last year. Another example of these language changes is the fact that we were called Qualified Users, a term which only changed to Certified Practitioners within the past five years or so.
Another aspect of my language which may sound stuffy and stilted is my use of the word "preference." This is another change which has taken place within the past few years. When I went through Qualification Training in 1998, it was perfectly natural and acceptable to refer to people as Extraverts and Introverts. But now these terms are considered by some, especially detractors of the MBTI assessment, to constitute negative labeling and pigeonholing. There is some sense to this thinking because we all extravert and introvert at different times.
As stated in the MBTI(R) Language Guidelines, "We are talking about preferences and not hard - and - fast categories." What is important is to know which side of this dichotomy, Extraversion or Introversion, gives us energy, and to know when we should move to and use the other side of the dichotomy. I use the word "prefer" because we are able to move back and forth between sides. Though one side is most comfortable, that does not mean we are stuck there, only that we prefer it.
For example, though I have a preference for Introversion, I have the flexibility (as does everyone else who prefers Introversion) to extravert when I attend a social function. Though I do need time alone afterwards to recharge my energy, calling me an Introvert makes it sound like I connect solely with my inner world, which is not accurate. Therefore it is now accepted usage to say I have a preference for Introversion, rather than that I am an Introvert. Like the term MBTI test (as opposed to assessment or instrument), Introvert (as opposed to having a preference for Introversion) is shorter and easier to say but incorrect.
The term "preference" also applies to our four - letter type codes and for the same reasons. To say someone is an INFJ or ESTP, though acceptable in the past, sounds in today's society like labeling and pigeonholing. A favorite illustration among personality type professionals compares the 16 type codes to a house with 16 rooms. The homeowner moves freely about his house, but there will always be one room that is his favorite and where he feels especially comfortable.
In the same way we will feel most comfortable with a particular combination (known as a code) of type preferences. But especially as we get older, though we will still prefer one side, we will feel more and more comfortable using as appropriate the opposite sides of each of the four dichotomies in our type code. Dichotomy is the term for Introversion and Extraversion, as mentioned earlier, and three additional pairs of opposites: Sensing and Intuition; Thinking and Feeling; and Judging and Perceiving.
Therefore it is more accurate to describe me, for example, as having a preference for INFJ, than to say the shorter and simpler, but again incorrect phrase, I am an INFJ. This makes me sound inflexible and incapable of using the other preferences, Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving, when needed. Shorter and simpler is not always better and more correct, especially when the publisher of an assessment has specified what type of language needs to be used in relation to that assessment.
This brings me to one more reason why my language sounds stilted. Use of correct, publisher - approved language in discussions of the MBTI tool separates the professionals from the many uninformed people who post misleading and often critical blogs and articles about it. At the top of this list are those who refer to it as a test, a dead giveaway that they are not certified in its use and probably are not really familiar with it. They may have never even taken it, but only an online knockoff.
The language that we use in discussing the MBTI tool may seem unimportant, and worrying about correct language usage may seem like making a mountain out of a molehill. Correct MBTI language may take a bit longer to read and write, but when it comes to sounding and being professional, and accurately communicating the richness of the MBTI personality assessment, to me it's more than worth the effort!