Intellectual History: What if the Myers Briggs approach had pre-dated Freud?

[GeographyDude]

In Myers Briggs, there are 16 personality types, and no one type is a majority. And the point is to play to strength and be matter-of-fact about deficiencies. I mean, what else could it be?

Sigmund Freud's whole approach follows the medical model of finding a problem and then focusing and fixating on the "problem."

Complications: The Myer Briggs personality questionaire was developed over time by a mother, Katherine Cook Briggs, and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers. Later versions drew upon the personality theories of Carl Jung who was himself a student of Freud. But the idea of playing-to-strength could certainly have been formalized and popularized much earlier. And, among a number of books Freud wrote, Studies in Hysteria was published in 1895, but I'm going to say the majority of his influence was after 1900.

And so, the question . . .

What if the Myer Briggs approach had pre-dated Freud?

 

[GeographyDude]

http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/mar/19/myers-briggs-test-unscientific

" . . I tweeted this fact, thinking it would be of passing interest to a few people. I was unprepared for the intensity of the replies I got. I learned several things that day.

"1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used by countless organisations and industries, although one of the few areas that doesn't use it is psychology, which says a lot.

"2. Many people who have encountered the MBTI in the workplace really don't have a lot of positive things to say about it.

"3. For some organisations, use of the MBTI seemingly crosses the line into full-blown ideology.

Well, any idea and even good ideas can be taken too far. And I certainly don't want to say the Myers-Briggs questionnaire is the end-all and be-all.

What interests me is the general question, play-to-strength vs. medical model.