The history of the MBTI® assessment

Today, the MBTI tool is the most widely used and recognized personality tool in the world. Around two million people complete it every year, but how did it begin?

Who created the MBTI assessment?

It began with Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, in the United States in the early mid-20th century. 

Briggs was inspired to research personality type theory when she met Isabel’s future husband, Clarence Myers. She noticed he had a different way of seeing the world. This intrigued her enough to start a literature review to understand different temperaments. 

What is Jung’s influence on MBTI theory?

Carl G Jung published Psychological Types in 1921. Briggs read the English translation (1923) and saw similarities between their ideas. However, Jung’s theories of personal difference were much more developed. 

Briggs and Myers thought Jung’s work was so useful that they wanted to make his ideas accessible to a wider audience.

When was the MBTI assessment first published?

World War II was a huge influence on the project’s development. Myers believed that if people understood each other better, they’d work together better and there’d be less conflict. The post-war world could be a better place. 

She was determined to find a way to give people access to their psychological type. This led to the idea of a type indicator, and Myers dedicated the rest of her life to its development. 

She spent the next 20 years developing questions and validating the instrument and the theory. The MBTI instrument was first published in 1962.

Who publishes the MBTI questionnaire now?

The Myers-Briggs Company (formerly CPP, Inc.) has published, researched and updated the MBTI instrument since 1975. It has trained practitioners since 1989.

Today, The Myers-Briggs Company continues to follow Myers’ guiding principle: that understanding personality and difference can change the world for the better.

 

Key moments in MBTI history

1919 Isabel Briggs Myers graduates from Swarthmore College.
Isabel’s mother, Katharine Briggs, starts to research personality type theory
1921 Carl Jung publishes Psychological Types: The Psychology of Individuation
1943 Form A of the instrument is copyrighted
1962 Isabel self-publishes Introduction to Type. Educational Testing Services (ETS) publishes research version of the MBTI instrument and the MBTI Manual
1968

Katharine Cook Briggs dies.
MBTI questionnaire published in Japan by industrial psychologist Takeshi Ohsawa. It’s the first MBTI translation

1969 Isabel Briggs Myers and clinical psychologist Mary McCaulley start Typology Lab
1975

CPP, Inc. (formerly Consulting Psychologists Press) publishes the MBTI instrument.
Typology Lab becomes the Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT). It is the center for research, data collection, information, training and publications

1977 CAPT publishes first issue of The Journal of Psychological Type
1980 Isabel Briggs Myers dies. Peter and Katharine Myers become co-owners of the MBTI copyrights
1985 MBTI Manual second edition published
1990 Form K published. It is the precursor to the Step II assessment (Form Q)
1998 Step I™ (Form M) updated. MBTI Manual third edition published
2001 Step II™ (Form Q) and MBTI Step II Manual published
2007 MBTI Complete launched
2009 Step III™ published
2017 CPP, Inc. buys OPP Ltd
2018 CPP, Inc. becomes The Myers-Briggs Company
2019

New global versions of MBTI Step I and Step II assessments published.
New version of MBTIonline launched

 

The MBTI questionnaire, first published in 1943, was originally developed in the United States by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Katharine Briggs was inspired to start researching personality type theory when she first met Isabel’s future husband, Clarence Myers. Whilst Clarence was a very eligible match for her daughter, Katharine noticed that he had a different way of seeing the world to her and her family, and was intrigued enough to start an extensive literature review based on understanding different temperaments. It was shortly after Carl Jung’s publication of Psychological Types (1921; 1923 in English) that Katharine realised how closely his theories resembled hers, and how much more developed they were.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung was a renowned Swiss psychiatrist, and is still seen by many, along with Sigmund Freud, as one of the founding fathers of modern-day psychology. His theory of psychological types proposes that people are innately different, both in terms of the way they see the world and take in information, and how they make decisions. Briggs and Myers thought that these ideas were so useful that they wanted to make them accessible to a wider audience.

Driven by a desire to help people understand themselves and each other better in a post-war climate, Isabel Myers set about devising a questionnaire that would identify which psychological type a person was. To do this, she enlisted the help of more experienced psychometricians, and her work was later endorsed by professors from the Universities of California, Michigan and Florida. Isabel’s subsequent writings on type and self-development remain utterly resonant today, both in professional and personal life.

Making the Indicator publicly available

The MBTI questionnaire was first published by the Educational Testing Service, before being taken over by Consulting Psychologists Press (CPP), who still publishes the instrument today. The Myers-Briggs Company has been distributing and training people to use the MBTI questionnaire since 1989 and, since then, has developed fully validated translations of the questionnaire in 14 languages, and completed a significant body of research into its validity, ensuring that it remains a robust tool for users across Europe.

An explosion in popularity

The MBTI questionnaire is now used in situations as diverse as marital counselling and executive development, and has become the world’s most popular personality instrument. Its positive approach to understanding differences is appreciated by the two million people who complete the questionnaire globally every year.

bChannels

bChannels logo
Discover how we helped an organisation define and develop their leadership

Beauty Kitchen

BEAUTY KITCHEN logo medium
How to lead the market for sustainable beauty products

Bosch Rexroth

Bosch_Rexroth
Adding an emotional culture to technical DNA

Cambiana Consulting

Cambiana Consulting logo
Using the MBTI® assessment to develop leadership EQ

Campus Veolia

Logo Campus VEOLIA
Accelerating collaboration within teams

Celesio

celesio logo
How did MBTI and TKI help with leadership development

creative careers

creative careers
Giving leaders the confidence to handle conflict

Crohn’s & Colitis UK

Crohns Colitis case study logo
Aligning a UK-wide team with a new organizational strategy

DBRS

DBRS logo
Learn about a teambuild for virtual workers centred on the FIRO tool

Deichmann-Obuv

Deichmann logo
Find out how the MBTI inspired senior management

Deliveroo

Deliveroo case study
Food courier uses MBTI type to help teams work better

Diageo

DIAGEO
See how the MBTI boosted teams, planning and performance

Bosch Sports Business

Edith Bosch
Discover how MBTI insights helped redefine Edith Bosch

EMpower

EMpower
Developing a global workforce in a pandemic

England and Wales Cricket Board

ECB logo
Discover how the ECB uses the MBTI to develop its cricketers

EY Academy of Business

EY logo
Find out how the MBTI assisted leadership development

Friesland Campina

FrieslandCampina
Find out about the MBTI tool’s ability to champion diversity

Girls in Tech

Girls in Tech
High-profile Silicon Valley board improves communication to ignite success of girls in tech

HEC

HEC Paris
Discover how MBTI insights helped HEC approach diversity

Hotel Chocolat

Hotel Chocolat logo
Learn how senior leaders were developed with MBTI and FIRO

Imperial College Business School

Imperial College logo
How does a world-leading university develop self-awareness in MBA leadership students?

John Lewis

John Lewis
See how MBTI Step II created a tangible shift in team performance

Launchpad

Launchpad logo
Find out how The Myers-Briggs Company consultancy helped Launchpad back on track

Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan
See how Macmillan uses the MBTI instrument for team development

Macmillan Cancer Support and MBTI insights

Macmillan
Find out how Macmillan uses MBTI insights to upskill GPs

Michael Brown

Michael Brown logo
See how the TKI helped manage conflict and develop teams

Mid-Cheshire NHS

NHS logo
Find out how MBTI and FIRO boosted this NHS Trust

National Church Institutions

Church of England logo
Discover how collaboration was forged from diversity

NHS North West Leadership Academy HRDs

NHS North West Leadership Academy
Find out how The Myers-Briggs Company's development tools assisted HR Directors

Omada Consulting

Omada logo
How FIRO develops tomorrow's sports leaders and teams

PACT - leadership

PACT - Parents and children together
Helping a leadership team get the best out of each other using MBTI® type

PACT - recruitment

PACT - Parents and children together
Focusing on competencies for top-level selection

PACT - resilience

PACT - Parents and children together
See how an adoption charity helps families build resilience

PageGroup

PageGroup logo
Find out how PageGroup promoted MBTI development

Pension Insurance Corporation

PIC logo
See how PIC created new values and HR processes

The Phoenix Group

Phoenix logo
Find out how Phoenix embraced high impact MBTI development

Qlik®

CS_Logo_Qlik
Going global: the role of virtual technology in MBTI® training

RAF Cranwell

RAF
Learn how MBTI helped transform training methods

TDC Group

TDC logo
Teams, communication and the MBTI instrument

The Change Organisation

The Change Organisation logo
Discover how the MBTI helped shape culture

Thorntons

Thorntons logo
Learn how Thorntons' Leadership Academy used MBTI insights

University of Surrey

University of Surrey logo
Discover how MBTI addressed students’ leadership skills

Waitrose

Waitrose logo
Find out how the MBTI eased a Waitrose relocation