The Relationship of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to IQ Level and the Fluid and Crystallized IQ Discrepancy on the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT)

Abstract

To better understand the putative relationship between personality style and cognition, we assessed adolescents and adults on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)and the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult intelligence Test (KAIT). The MBTI provides scores on four indexes: Extraversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuition, Thinking-Feeling, and Judging-Perceiving. The KAIT provides Fluid, Crystallized, and Composite Intelligence Quotients. Participants consisted of 1,297 individuals, aged 14 to 94 years, who were tested throughout the United States during the nationwide standardization of the KAIT. It was hypothesized that individuals favoring Intuition and Thinking would be more intelligent and would favor fluid over crystallized intelligence relative to those favoring Sensing and Feeling, respectively. Several multiple analyses of variance and covariance (MANOVAs and MANCOVAs) were conducted with sex, race, KAIT IQ, and KAIT Fluid and Crystallized IQ discrepancy serving as independent variables and continuous scores on the MBTI used as dependent variables. Consistent with hypothesized relationships, people classified as Intuitive earned higher KAIT Composite IQs than those classified as Sensing. However, most other hypotheses were not supported, as the Fluid-Crystallized discrepancy was not meaningfully related to any MBTI dimension.