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highlight areas of personal development” (Passmore, Holloway & Rawle-Cope, 2010, p. 2).  

Personality type can help individuals understand their uniqueness and how to best utilize their 

own personality.  The fundamentals of the MBTI assessment are based on Carl Jung’ personality 

theory and are self-reported based on perceptions.  Myers Briggs was a mother-daughter team of 

Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers and they expanded Jung’s personality theory into 

personality preferences.  “The Jungian definition of cognitive style is by far the most widely used 

and thoroughly researched, while the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most frequently used 

instrument for identifying style.”  Also “MBTI has become the most widely used personality 

measure for nonpsychiatric populations” (Opt & Loffredo, 2010, p.  557).  In his article 

“Cautionary Comments Regarding the Myers Briggs Type Indicator,” Pittenger (2005) says 

“both Jung’s theory and supporters of the MBTI treat personality as an invariant that is set at 

birth and tempered by experience” (Pittenger, 2005, p. 212).   The same sentiment is shared by 

Cummings (1995), “Jung argued that psychological type has a biological foundation and Myers 

stated that preferences are inborn and no attempt should be made to reverse them; otherwise 

development may be blocked” (p. 2).   

 

There are four indices that combine to create sixteen different composite types.  Some 

examples include: ISFJ, ENTP, ESFP, and others.  These break down into E and I (extraversion 

and introversion), S and N (sensing and intuition), T and F (thinking and feeling) and J and P 

(judgment and perception) (Bhardwaj, Joshi, & Bhardwaj, 2010, pp. 99-100).  Many studies have 

come to conclusions about the frequency of these types.  Cummings (1995) found 70-75% of the 

population prefers extraversion versus introversion, 70-75% prefer sensing rather than intuition, 

50% prefer thinking instead of feeling, and 50-65% prefer judgment to perception (p. 2).  In his 

article, “The Myers Briggs Type Indicator and Career Obstacles” Healy and Woodward (1998) 

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takes a deeper look into the different types, which reveal differences and distinctions.  Introverts 

prefer solitude and privacy while extroverts often pay attention to their environment.  Individuals 

with “sensing” prefer immediate sensation and intuitive individuals are more interested in 

possibilities rather than facts.  “Thinkers” are analytically oriented and problem solve critically 

whereas their counter part the “feeling” type are more attuned to values of others and connect 

with people to form networks.  The final category is judgment and perception and their 

differences lie in decision making.  The “judgers” make decisions rather quickly and the 

“perceivers” are more curious and explorative (Healy & Woodward, 1998, pp. 2-3).   

Strengths Finder 

 “What are your weaknesses?”  This is a typical question at a job interview.  Interviewees 

are often coached on how to answer this particular question.  Sometimes an interviewer might 

ask the question, “What are your greatest strengths?”  This question holds a pot of gold because 

it engages a person in positive thinking.  “One cannot build on weakness.  To achieve results, 

one has to use all the available strengths…These strengths are the true opportunities” (Linley & 

Harrington, 2006, p.37).   

The recent Strengths Finder 2.0 developed by Donald Clifton is utilized in many markets 

ranging from the work place to the living room of any person for their own personal knowledge.  

He developed his assessment based off the positive psychology research of Martin Seligman and 

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. In his article Seligman says;  

Positive psychology at the subjective level is about positive subjective experience: well-

being and satisfaction (past); flow, joy, the sensual pleasures, and happiness (present), 

and constructive cognitions about the future – optimism, hope, and faith. At the 

individual level it is about positive personal traits-the capacity for love and vocation, 

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courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, 

future-mindedness, high talent, and wisdom. At the group level it is about civic virtues 

and the institutions that move individuals towards better citizenship: responsibility, 

nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic (Seligman, 2001, p. 

3).   

Understanding our personality from a strengths foundation also comes from the theories 

of Karen Horney and Carl Rogers.  Rogers believed “human beings are organismically motivated 

toward developing to their full potential, and are striving to become all they can be” (Asplund, 

Lopez, Hodges & Harter, 2007, p. 7).  Horney believed “the self is forward moving and growth 

oriented” (DeRobertis, 2006, p. 184).  Both Rogers and Horney agreed that the self is always 

working and moving towards “self-actualization.”  These theories by Rogers and Horney show 

up when Clifton asked the question  “what would happen if we studied what is right with 

people?”  He argued that it was how an individual used their strengths that made the difference 

and that our strengths are not affected by our mood.  

There are many other definitions of strengths throughout literature.  “Strengths are 

produced through the refinement of talents with knowledge and skill” and are considered “a 

natural capacity for behaving, thinking, or feeling in a way that allows optimal functioning and 

performance in the pursuit of valued outcomes” (Linley & Harrington, 2006, p. 39).   More often 

than not, humans want to work with what they are good at, rather than what they are not.  

“Human beings have a natural tendency to want to develop their capacities, to exploit their 

natural potential, to become all that they can be” (Linley & Harrington, 2006, p. 40).  It is 

important to keep all of these factors in mind when taking the Strengths Finder assessment.  

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