Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.

Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR AND CONCEPTUAL SYSTEMS THEORY

VIRGINIA LEE BROWN, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to add construct validity to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This research examined the relationship between the MBTI and the Paragraph Completion Test (PCT), a measure of conceptual development within the framework of Conceptual Systems Theory. Participants in this study were 174 female undergraduate students and 47 female graduate students in the School of Nursing, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Continuous variables of the four MBTI dimensions were utilized in a forward stepwise, multiple regression analysis, and indicated that among the four MBTI dimensions, the S-N dimension was the best predictor of conceptual level (CL), significant at the.001 level. A two way ANOVA 3 x 3 factorial design was used to analyze the relationships between the E-I and S-N dimensions of the MBTI and conceptual level. Results indicated a significant difference between sensing and intuitive types with intuitive types having higher CL scores, significant at the.001 level. A Scheffe procedure revealed significant differences between sensing types with strong preferences for sensing and the middle group (mildly sensing and mildly intuitive types) and between the sensing types with strong preferences for sensing and the intuitive types with strong preferences for intuition. The researcher concluded that at least in this particular population, mildly sensing types were more similar to intuitive types than to strongly sensing types. Additional comparisons were made between age and conceptual level and between the MBTI S-N and E-I dimensions and intellectual ability as measured by scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Results indicated a significant positive relationship between age and CL independent of the MBTI and no significant differences between extraverts and introverts nor between sensing and intuitive types on SAT scores. While the results were statistically significant, indicating the MBTI incorporates developmental properties, the correlation was not strong.

Subject Area

Educational psychology

Recommended Citation

BROWN, VIRGINIA LEE, "A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR AND CONCEPTUAL SYSTEMS THEORY" (1987). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8717248.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8717248

Share

COinS