Dr Richard Price

School of Medical Sciences Education

Development
 Rationale – why do we do
this?
 Context – what is the MBTI?
 Content – what do we do?
 Impact – student
evaluation?
 Future thoughts and plans?
 Growing importance of
development of professionalism
 Self-awareness an important part
of professionalism
 Self aware doctors are better
doctors
 Professional – ‘doctors use themselves to
practice the art (of medicine). This requires a
considerable degree of self-awareness’
(Thislethwaite and Spencer 2008 )

 Practical – ‘Medical students are exposed to a

hidden curriculum that places the acquisition
of biomedical knowledge above the
development of awareness skills that enhance
the relationship between doctor and patient’
(Dobie (2007))
 MBTI is chosen tool for looking
at self awareness....
 An instrument that helps you identify your
preferred ways of;
 gathering information
 making decisions
 orientating yourself to the world around you
 Understanding more about yourself
 Understanding more about others
 Understanding more about how you
interact with others
 Model based on theory
 Good research evidence of reliability and
validity
 But...
 Is personality that fixed?
 Transmitting the complexity of the model

 Whether true or not, gives us a language..

 Attendance compulsory, participation
voluntary – self awareness/ MBTI tool
 No assessment or record
 Confidential and purely for your benefit
 A model – may or may not work for you
 Clarity issues
 Not pigeon – holing or judgemental
 Not meant to be self-fulfilling!
 No right or wrongs
 No better or worse types
 Introductory comments
 Do questionnaire
 Theory
 Explanation of categories to enable
individual clarification
 Coffee
 So what? – communicating/ working
with other types
 Some light –hearted exercises
 How do I learn?
 KEY ISSUE IS PREFERENCE
 Four dichotomous areas
 Where do you prefer to focus your
attention/ get your energy?
 How do you take in information?
 How do you make decisions?
 How do you deal with the outer world?
INTROVERSION EXTROVERSION
 Drawn to inner  Drawn to outer
world world
 Prefer writing  Prefer talking

 Learn best by  Learn best by

reflection discussing and
 Private and
doing
contained  Sociable and
expressive
 SENSING
 Detail
 Factual and concrete
 Focus on real/ actual
 Observe and remember
details
 Build carefully and
thoroughly towards
conclusions
 Trust experience
 Understand through practical
application
INTUITION
 Future possibilities
 Big picture
 Imaginative and creative
 Focus on patterns and
meanings
 Remember detail when they
fit a pattern
 Quick conclusions/ hunches
 Trust inspiration
 Clarify theories and ideas
before putting into practice
 THINKING FEELING
 ‘stand outside’  ‘stand inside’
 Analytical/  Empathic
Logical  Assess impacts of
 Use cause and decisions on people/
effect reasoning personal values
 Strive for  Strive for harmony
Objective truth  Fair – everyone
treated as an
 Fair – everyone individual
treated equally
 JUDGING PERCEIVING
 Scheduled  Spontaneous
 Planned / organised  Flexible
 Systematic  Casual
 Methodical  Open-ended
 Make short and  Adapt/ change
long-term plans course
 Like to have things  Like things loose
decided / closed and open to change
 Try to avoid last  Feel energised by
minute stress last minute
pressures
 How you and others communicate
 How you and others work
 How you can adapt to get the best out
of others and your relationships with
others

 Simple eg.... T/F and feedback

 I have to finish my work before I can play
 Or...
 I can play anytime

 I like to book my holidays 10 months in

advance
 Or…
 I like to book my holidays 1 week in
advance
Evaluation.....
 69% - ‘moderately/ very
significant overall’
 Recommend to others? – 87%
‘How much has it helped your skills and
understanding in...’
 Communication issues – 56%
 How you learn – 47%
 Relationships with others – 61%
 Working in groups – 62%
 Organising your life – 50%
 Significant
overall – 55%
 Recommend to others– 79%
 I had never considered the usefulness or
importance of personality type before and
prior to the session had felt perfectly settled
with my personality as it appeared to
me...However, after the session I found it
interesting to look at myself with this new
knowledge and gain a better understanding
of why I might behave in a certain way in
certain situations as well as generally which I
hadn't previously considered. It also made me
more aware of interactions with others.
 I honestly thought this was one of the best
sessions I've had so far in medical school
(and I've already done first year once!),
 I do feel that some less thoughtful people
may benefit from this as it reminds them that
those around them are not carbon copies and
that they should act accordingly
 Learning how to interact with other
personality types was very helpful
 It has made me more patient with P people
and deadlines.
 It helped me to realise that my personality
and approach to situations is not wrong as I
previously believed that when others tackled
situations in a different approach to myself,
their approach was right and mine is wrong.
 It gave me a better understanding of why I
struggle sometimes with work or revision
when I copy the revision styles of other
people, as it probably isn't the option that
suits me
 Really helps you understand yourself more,
for example I am a very feeling person and I
have often wondered why I find feedback
hard to take.
 I always felt that I had a personality that was
different from my cohort. The session showed
that was true but also helped me realise that it
didn't matter
 It is the best thing the Medical School could offer
us! Getting an understanding of my personality
helped me change the way I study and learn to a
much more productive and satisfying one. Also,
realising that not agreeing with people in groups
is mainly a matter of personality type is
extremely useful as it helps you accept
differences and not take things personally.
 One little sentence said in the session made a
world of difference to me and that was the least
common type in the UK is INFJ (and INFP) and if
you're one of these and feel out of place, this
might be why. I'm not from the UK and have
often found the British way of thinking a real
struggle for me. This certainly has helped, as
well as seeing so many with my type on the
course. I'm not using it as an excuse, but rather a
tool to change my reactions and already, less
than a week later, I can see a difference. Thanks
so much! I admit that I did not think this session
would be any good but I'm glad I was proven
wrong.
 Although it was relatively
interesting, it didn’t really tell
me anything I wasn’t at least
vaguely aware of in my
personality type.
 Personally I never think about my personality
 I know myself, and don't need to be told
about my personality
 Personality is far too multi faceted and its origins and
expression too multi-factorial for a scientific
evaluation of it to be worthwhile. The concept of
reducing it to a 4 dimensional black and white
analysis is arbitrary and unhelpful. For it to take three
hours is a joke.

I also found the idea that I am fundamentally limited

in the ways that I should be behaving most of the
time in order to live a life that is suited to who I was
biologically set up to be, potentially destructive.
Personally I think that Myers Briggs is medical school
funded narcissism and would have liked to have seen
the money spent on other things
 I found it quite unsettling as an introvert with a
tendency to overanalyse anyway. Particularly after
googling further information about my personality
type and finding postings from people feeling they
didn't fit into the world, considering themselves,
'alien' and struggling with interpersonal relationships.
It made me question whether or not I'm actually
suited to medicine, as though of course everyone can
act in multiple ways outside of their own personality
type, perhaps if you are never able to be your 'shoes
off self' its more tiring/stressful?
I've actually tried to avoid thinking about it at all
since, as I don't think its very helpful for me to do so.
 Initial session year 1 – questionnaire and self
assessment.
 Links to communication, teamwork and
learning style - compulsory
 Year 4 – repeat questionnaire and brief
overview of theory.
 Brief review of links to communication
 Links to career choice, understanding and
managing stress, decision making
 Improving support for transition to the
workplace
 Large prevalence of stress in medics
 Possibly one way to enhance
‘individualisation’ of provision within a large
student body – appraisal, personal education
plans, enhancing feedback etc
 Thank you!!!
 t.r.h.price@ncl.ac.uk