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Abstract
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a four-scale, sixteen-category test or instrument, which classifies individuals according to psychological type. This paper compares technology and engineering students and discusses a number of statistically significant differences between the two groups. As an example of this, nearly three out of four mechanical engineering students are sensing individuals with a practical or applications orientation.
1. Introduction
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a fourscale, sixteen-category test or instrument that classifies individuals according to psychological type. There has been an increasing interest in using the MBTI to study the differences in technical students, particularly in engineering. Much of the current interest in MBTI studies in engineering is due to McCaulley, who has gathered and analyzed several data for engineering. This current interest in MBTI studies in engineering has resulted in an ASEE-MBTI Engineering School Consortium for which McCaulley, Kainz, Granade, and Harrisberger have reported three years of findings. The current study looks at psychological types in mechanical engineering technology using the MyersBriggs Type Indicator.
While extensive details on psychological type based on the MBTI may be found in references by Meyers, McCaulley, and Lawrence, it is appropriate to discuss a few major aspects of psychological type prior to discussing the current study. The MBTI instruments measure type with four mutually exclusive, dichotomous scales or indices: extraversion-introversion (El), sensing-intuition (SN), thinking-feeling (TF), and judgment-perception (JP). Results on each index are reported as preferences strengths or scores with a letter for type followed by a number for strength of preference such as 121, S47, T35, and J17, which indicates an introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging (ISTJ) individual. McCaulley has summarized the various type preferences as follows: if the individual's interest flows primarily to (a) "the outer world of actions, objects, and persons"-extraversión (E); (b) "the inner world of concepts and ideas"- introversion (I) ; if the individual prefers to perceive (a) "the immediate, real, practical facts of experience and life"-sensing (S); (b) "the possibilities, relationships, and meaning of experiences"-intuition (N); if the individual prefers to make decisions or judgments (a) "objectively, impersonally, considering causes of events and where decision may lead"-thinking (T); (b) "subjectively and personally, weighing values of choices and how they matter to others"-feeling (F); if the...