Most credible source for MBTI percentages

[TrueHeart]

There are more ESFPs than ISTJs, at least. It's the whole test bias thing.

How can that sort of claim be verified without... well... you know... testing?

 

[Martoon]

Even if people didn't test as a different type than actuality, etc., you still come down to the fundamental problem that none of this collected data is from a truly random sampled population. If it's from employers who have their employees take the test, then it's skewed toward the kind of people who work for the kind of employers who have their employees take these kinds of tests. If it's sampled from people who voluntarily take the test, then I think it's heavily skewed, because I think some types tend to be much more interested in MBTI, etc. than other types.

Until we can randomly select a few thousand people in the world (or in a country, if you're just interested in that), and then somehow get all of them to take the test, we're not going to know.

 

[INTJMom]

entropie: Master of Qualifiers.

Hey! You should make him one of those posters!

 

[INTJMom]

Is there any credible study pertaining to how much of the world's population is a certain type? The most common and less common type? That kind of thing.

Apparently, the results will always be found in-credible by someone.

Why do you want to know?

 

[Moiety]

Apparently, the results will always be found in-credible by someone.

Why do you want to know?

Just curious as to what is the most common type, less common type etc...

There are more ESFPs than ISTJs, at least. It's the whole test bias thing.

Where are you drawing info to say that, then?

 

[INTJMom]

Just curious as to what is the most common type, less common type etc...

Did you notice the link ptgatsby posted?
Estimated Frequencies of Types - CAPT.org


Barron and Tieger only address the American population:
@ 75% are Extraverted
@75% are Sensors
50-50 split on T-F however
..........@ 2/3 men prefer T
..........@ 2/3 women prefer F
50-50 split on J-P with no difference between the sexes

 

[INTJMom]

Percentages of Type according to Barron-Tieger, Do What You Are

ENFJ ....5
INFJ .....1
ENFP ...5
INFP ....1
ENTJ ....5
INTJ .....1
ENTP... 5
INTP .....1

ESTJ ....13
ISTJ ......6
ESFJ ....13
ISFJ ......6
ESTP ....13
ISTP ......6
ESFP ....13
ISFP ......6

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Did you notice the link ptgatsby posted?
Estimated Frequencies of Types - CAPT.org


Barron and Tieger only address the American population:
@ 75% are Extraverted
@75% are Sensors
50-50 split on T-F however
..........@ 2/3 men prefer T
..........@ 2/3 women prefer F
50-50 split on J-P with no difference between the sexes

I believe different sources have different definitions for introversion/extraverstion, or at least they have different criteria for where they draw the line between the two. That is why in some studies E/I is roughly 50/50 and in some it is 75/25.

 

[ptgatsby]

Until we can randomly select a few thousand people in the world (or in a country, if you're just interested in that), and then somehow get all of them to take the test, we're not going to know.

Although I mentioned this before, this has been done. The tests were validated using random sampling.

 

[redacted]

Percentages of Type according to Barron-Tieger, Do What You Are

ENFJ ....5
INFJ .....1
ENFP ...5
INFP ....1
ENTJ ....5
INTJ .....1
ENTP... 5
INTP .....1

ESTJ ....13
ISTJ ......6
ESFJ ....13
ISFJ ......6
ESTP ....13
ISTP ......6
ESFP ....13
ISFP ......6

Uh.... take a look at those numbers for a sec...

 

[animenagai]

Where all of these ESFP's?
I see SJ's everywhere I go!!!

I don't know if you are in college or not but a lot of the people who try to act all "SP-ish" are simply SJs trying to fit in.

For instance.. last year, I had a roommate who is very outgoing and enjoys the partying scene.
From a superficial perspective, he may seem like an ESTP.
However, he is very organized, structured, and hardworking on the weekdays- he hates messes and often was annoyed at me for not cleaning my side of the room. Everything else says that he is actually an ESTJ, not an ESTP. If Rationals and/or Idealists were running things, you would see a lot of Guardians trying to act like them too... The college partying scene demands Se- living for the moment.


On a side note, I thought Ne would work just as well for the scene- it doesn't.

lol dude, ESTP's are generally neat. it's in the literature.

 

[Jack Flak]

Where are you drawing info to say that, then?

Observation of the real world.

 

[INTJMom]

I believe different sources have different definitions for introversion/extraverstion, or at least they have different criteria for where they draw the line between the two. That is why in some studies E/I is roughly 50/50 and in some it is 75/25.

Oh really? That's interesting that there should be such a wide discrepancy.

 

[INTJMom]

Uh.... take a look at those numbers for a sec...

And?

 

[FDG]

I've posted it elsewhere on the board. In short, because people who take the Official MBTI are more likely to be taking the test for someone else than themselves. Such as an employer. When I B.S. my way through an interview, it's generally through my acting SJ.

+ definitely. Also I don't trust a stastic that tells me that, for example, ENTJs can be between 2 or 5 percent. There's an incredible variance there.

There are more ESFPs than ISTJs, at least. It's the whole test bias thing.

ESFPs are the most likely type to be everywhere except their home. I think this is part of why they are often perceived as being a greatest majority of the population (I'm not saying they cannot be the most frequent type, just that they are perceived to be even more).

 

[Jack Flak]

That's a good point, FDG. And tbph, I don't think there are any extremely trustworthy statistics out there.

 

[ptgatsby]

Oh really? That's interesting that there should be such a wide discrepancy.

The split comes from very old research done during the start of MBTI. Certain variations (Keirsey, most notably) continue to stick with the numbers. It's virtually become a meme online now... mostly because the 'poor old introverts' feel like they are always being downtrodden on.

The catch is, of course, that MBTI tends to draw an arbitary line splitting the two groups. It makes sense if you agree with the functional theory, but does lose a lot of meaning when you start to try to get a feel for where you are relative to the population.

 

[Martoon]

Until we can randomly select a few thousand people in the world (or in a country, if you're just interested in that), and then somehow get all of them to take the test, we're not going to know.

Although I mentioned this before, this has been done. The tests were validated using random sampling.

I guess I'm confused as to how this would be done. I know of some different methods through which you could randomly select people, but how do you get all of them to take the test? If you just grab some guy off the street, and ask him to take the test, there's a good chance he won't. (Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here.)

 

[redacted]

And?

This is what your numbers actually say:
IN - 4
EN - 20
IS - 24
ES - 52

To split those numbers into 16 types is completely misleading, unless you actually want to make the argument that by chance all INs, ENs, ISs, and ESs have the exact same distribution in our population, which is negligibly likely.

 

[INTJMom]

This is what your numbers actually say:
IN - 4
EN - 20
IS - 24
ES - 52

To split those numbers into 16 types is completely misleading, unless you actually want to make the argument that by chance all INs, ENs, ISs, and ESs have the exact same distribution in our population, which is negligibly likely.

I don't know why you added the numbers together. They were already split into 16 types. I don't see what the problem is.
Calculus wasn't my strong suit so I don't get what you're trying to say about the "exact same distribution". Exact same distribution where? About 1% of the American population is INTJ. What is so hard to understand about that?

You're probably over-thinking the numbers and giving them more weight than they deserve.
It's a rough estimate for the mildly curious.