The obsession with MBTI
The topic of MBTI has now become an inevitable part of our daily conversations. It has become so prevalent that people ask for your MBTI the second after your name. From casual meet-ups to formal interviews, it seems as though this topic has fully seeped into society. While this trend may have not been identified yet in other countries, South Korea has been showing unprecedented attention to this specific idea of MBTI.
MBTI stands for “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator”, a self-assessed test to determine one’s personality—or categorize oneself into one of 16 groups. As the test taker goes through a list of questions, they are classified into either option for a total of four categories. The first one determines extroversion (E) and introversion (I). The second is sensing (S) and intuition (N), then thinking (T) and feeling (F), and, lastly, judging (J) and perceiving (P). The combination of these eight letters into a four-letter “MBTI”, according to many, determines who you are.
So, why are South Koreans so obsessed with this test, and why do they have an incessant desire to categorize their personality? The craving for a sense of belonging and affinity to a particular group is innate in human beings. As a result, such intriguing tests provide a chance for people to sympathize with and relate to those that are similar to them.
While the surge in the popularity of MBTI is a recent phenomenon, these trends of categorizing people and making generalizations regarding a particular group have always existed. A famous example is the belief that blood types play a role in shaping one’s personality. Just a decade back, every South Korean was asking for each other’s blood types. If you have type O blood, then you act this way. If you have type A blood, you act that way. All these assumptions made about the relationship between personality and blood type have not been scientifically proven. Rather, science has repeatedly proven the opposite: there is simply no correlation between the two. While most people discussed blood types for fun, some took it to an extreme, religiously believing in false assumptions and enforcing generalizations onto other people.
This phenomenon can also be identified in our contemporary society with MBTI. Of course, many use this test to know more about themselves. However, some force a vague characteristic of a specific MBTI onto others, even if they might not align with the descriptions at all. This is the point where the obsession with MBTI can get rather toxic and absurd. Not every tendency attributed to an MBTI type will apply to someone with that MBTI, and if this fact is not accepted, misunderstandings may arise. Furthermore, the MBTI test has become more accessible than ever: with a click of a button, anyone can take it. Nevertheless, it is important to note that this test is not professionally supervised, and in fact, is unreliable as it is only a self-assessment.
The MBTI phenomenon has escalated to a point where people view this as a social obsession, as some companies are even asking for MBTIs during job interviews. This means important decisions, such as job placements, may be made solely based on one’s MBTI. This then leads to questions: Is there a chance that the concept of MBTI, which seems so innocuous, can have legitimate harmful social consequences or is it simply a mere fad that is an inevitable result of people’s desire for categorization?
