Utility and proliferation of the use of Big Five and MBTI as psychological instruments

Abstract

This paper examines the benefits of Big Five and MBTI as psychological instruments concerning science and practical applications. It also focuses on the limitations of the same personality traits. It is important to note that through anecdotes, the paper illustrates the use of both personality model bearing in mind the scientific application and everyday life. Most fundamentally, arguments and analysis of the facts reveal that MBTI is the best model to be used when understanding an individuals’ personality.

Benefits associated with Big Five as psychological instruments

The primary advantage of Big Five as a psychological instrument is its potential to get the much-needed outcomes, which focuses on understanding an individual better. Equally, it is a vital tool for self-awareness and which contribute immensely to the functioning relationships. Generally, the Big Five Trait is a structure of personality. This particular psychological instrument came as a result of the need to investigate the essential components of character. The five broad traits that constitute the theoretical framework are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion/introversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. When it comes to an understanding of the benefits of Big Five model the question that lingers our mind is which personality traits does scientist and technicians possess? One significant advantage of Big Five is its universalism between many cultures and equally its stability taking into consideration the aspects of age limits. Arguably, the Big Five factors are necessary embedding, that is to say, the incorporation of data scientists lingo. Typically having been employed in Infamous Cambridge Analytical in the Brexit as well as the US presidential campaigns, one clear thing is that openness is one crucial character of the data scientist. For data analytics, it looks like the high O is critical since it allows them to expand and study hard science. Speaking of practical benefits of Big Five, social media has become a primary component when it comes to the distribution of information as well as consumption. As examined by Dixon, (2017), social media flourishes on self-promotion as a means to advertise individuals as opposed to groups. Besides, self-disclosure is a unique element that is social media platforms. Research and studies on personality traits using the Big Five concerning Facebook Use indicates that a  persons’ with higher levels of extroversion are more likely to join Facebook, and on the other hand persons with low neuroticism tend to share more photos on their walls.

Limitations associated with Big Five

There are quite some limitations related to Big Five: one weakness is the possibility of language barriers; definitely, it can misinterpret inventory elements bearing in mind the cultural knowledge.  Another disadvantage of Big Five personality factors/traits is that they can often result in statistics anxiety as opposed to the other way. Notably, some personality traits may help people to experience statistics anxiety. Funder, (2015), noted that Agreeableness was negatively linked with the worth of statistical data; the result is social desirability when may result is biasness of results.

Furthermore, openness to experiences has also been found to correlate with statistics anxiety, in the sense that it can lead to non-generalization of the result thus compromising the computational data. In essence, personality traits like narcissism have been associated with binge posting: this implies persons’ with such traits tends to become addicted to Facebook. Therefore, such people may spend a lot of valuable time can compromise other essential activities. According to Rohrer, et al. (2017), narcissism does increase an individual level of anxiety, thus resulting in loneliness and isolation. Such pressure to become independent leaves one with less energy to focus on other things/aspects or people.

Benefits associated with MBTI

It is important to note that a well-known psychologist-Carl Jung brought this particular model. According to Chung, (2017), MBTI characterizes individuals with their attitudes because of the inner as well as the outer world. Extraversion and Introversion which links with Big Five are typical attitudes in MBTI. That said, MBTI has its advantages; when it comes to science, evidence has shown that certain personality traits such as Introversion and Extraversion play a vital role in users preferences for particular interface designs. Implies that the majority of users tends to prefer associated with interfaces that are in line with their personality. According to Furnham, (2017), cognitive preferences such as judging and sensations influence how people approach computer tasks; for instance the use of Java (natural computer language) in the design of arts and so forth. It no doubts that the MBTI model has assisted a majority of organizations/firms and businesses. During recruitments, it is essential for an organization to determine the best candidate for a particular job.

Given that interview are usually considerably longer, it can be categorized into situational, behavior and technical session to get to know the potential employee better. It is possible to explore the skills and attitude of a prospective employee during the sessions. Most fundamentally, the MBTI helps the manager to assess the abilities and work style of a job candidate to observe whether or not they fit in the work culture of the organization. Moreover, as a leader, or senior executive, one of the fundamental strengths is the extent of your self-awareness as well as that of other employees. As for such, the vital element in motivating the employees is open and transparent, and this means that one has to be true to self. In turn, the employees will tend to follow suit, and this will enable the growth of the business/organization.

Limitations associated with MBTI

Speaking of limitations, when it comes to analysis of the data and approaches to solving computer tasks, the MBTI model can result in errors. Through false judgments and sensations, a user may opt to take interfaces that do not coincide with his or her preference, thereby resulting in loss of interests and eventually errors. Another limitation of MBTI concerning job interview/sessions is that they do not offer definite answers. Personality traits are essential only to a certain degree. Some individuals do have a variety of different personalities and thus treating them as characters of the type shown in the model test is not fair. Yes, a personality test during the interview may be, but it should not be used as a final verdict when it comes to recruiting of potential employees.

Anecdotes that illustrates my position on the utility of Big Five and its practical applications to everyday life

Anecdote 1

John is an IT administrator who works for Yummy Company: as usual, John’s department involves a lot of data entries ranging from entering of employee, documentation, and analysis of data center among others. Since childhood, John vividly believed that friends were not as important; he finds it difficult to associate with them in the workplace. Naturally, this complicates things for John as a slight disagreement with colleagues could often lead to fights and quarrels.

Anecdotes that illustrates my position on the utility of MBTI and its practical applications to everyday life

Anecdote 1

Several characters in the film Walking Dead do give us an understanding of the personality chart concerning the MBTI. Primarily, the film is created for season five, but there cease to be spoilers given that the majority of the character in the movie were dead. The Zombie, in essence, survives the ordeal. In season six, the newer chart still has some deceased individuals.

The argument on whether or not Big Five or MBTI should be used

Amidst its limitations, the MBTI is the best that should be used in assessing personality traits. Given that the Big Five psychological approach is a non-theoretical approach, it does not provide much-needed research as it only focuses on pseudo-research. In other words, it does offer a better understand when it comes to talking about an individual’s personality. Moreover, the MBTI is a comprehensive model of personality that has been proven to give valid judgments on a person’s character (Celli, & Lepri, 2018).

Two future suggestions

In the future, firstly, there is a need for psychologists to improve on the use of the Big Five model since with time it will be unfruitful.  Secondly, considerations of MBTI as physiological instruments need to relook at the traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness together with the facet of openness to concepts within the clinical training context.

References

Celli, F., & Lepri, B. (2018). Is Big Five better than MBTI? A personality computing challenge using Twitter data.

Chung, D. (2017). The Big Five Social System Traits as the Source of Personality Traits, MBTI, Social Styles, Personality Disorders, and Cultures. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5(09), 269.

Dixon, M. (2017). Personality, person perception, and impression management: does impression efficacy and motivation predict change in personality presentation? (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University-Camden Graduate School).

Funder, D. C. (2015). The personality puzzle: seventh international student edition. WW Norton & Company.

Furnham, A. (2017). Myers-briggs type indicator (mbti). Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, 1-4.

Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D., & Schmukle, S. C. (2017). In your eyes only? Discrepancies and agreement between self-and other-reports of personality from age 14 to 29.