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When I first started Psychology, But Make It Fashion, many people wanted to know how to dress according to their MBTI. I was taken aback. Back in its infancy, MBTI YouTube Shorts were the most popular videos on the PBMIF YouTube channel! (Thou shall not be found anymore). A lot of people disliked the Shorts; and gave them an actual thumbs down! You'll see why in a bit. I thought wow people really like this thing... Its popularity is mind-boggling.
Actual questions asked: Can you write an article on MBTI fashion? Can you tell me how the MBTI types dress? How should I dress according to my MBTI? How should an ENFP dress? Is MBTI fashion real? Can I use the MBTI to style my clients? Should I not wear dresses anymore?
In order to deter such questions from being asked again, I have decided to write about it.
Does our personality determine our style? Surely it does, right?
Have you ever heard of MBTI? Has anyone ever asked you for your MBTI, and then told you that they can’t hang out with you anymore because, according to their MBTI, you’re not compatible with them? 💔
It kind of reminds me of astrology and horoscopes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with people who have an interest in horoscopes and compatibility and all that. But please, don’t let it hinder you from potentially making great relationships with others. Please do not base your whole personality on four letters that you got from taking a five minute quiz.
You're most certainly a multi-dimensional and unique individual that can't be placed into a small box.
I've also seen that it's been used for job screening in some countries. What?! Imagine being turned down for an interview because you were an I and not an E... Because does that really matter out of all things? *face palm*
It's also so mysterious how it's so popular in countries such as South Korea... Mega popular. Well, it's definitely a conversation starter for sure.
What is MBTI?
Now, MBTI stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, it’s named after its creators. The focus of MBTI is to categorise people according to the way they think and act based on four dimensions: introversion vs. extraversion; sensing vs. intuition; thinking vs. feeling; and judging vs. perceiving. When you take the MBTI personality test you will end up with a string of 4 letters, one letter from each dimension (in bold) (e.g., ESTP).
That’s great and all, but what about it?
The MBTI is based upon Carl Jung’s (unsupported) theories that are not so regarded in psychology today.
The dichotomies fail to make sense. Why should I have to fit in one or the other alone, and not both?
Not only that, the test delivers inconsistent results.
Someone somewhere probably: Why am I INFJ today when I was INTJ last month?!?!
There is little to no research in psychology on the MBTI because psychology journals basically just have no concern for it. Stein and Swan (2019), sum up the MBTI quite well with its involvement in psychology, “MBTI's continued popularity says about how the general public might evaluate scientific theories. Presumably, a purpose of the field of psychology is to assist the general public in becoming psychologically literate. Unfortunately, the ideas about psychology that gain the most traction with the public can lack theoretical rigor.
"MBTI lacks agreement with known data, lacks testability, and suffers from internal contradictions.
"Today the administration and interpretation of the MBTI is a huge business and force in shaping the general public's perceptions of psychology.”
In other words, psychology nowadays aims to be as scientific as possible, but one of the most popular ideas in psychology is not. Psychology, the science of the mind, has had a tough time being recognised as a science.
Why should I have to fit in one or the other alone, and not both?
According to Stromberg and Caswell (2015), the test is just simply for entertainment. I wasn’t surprised at all when I found literally no research on MBTI and fashion.
To answer the question, MBTI (fashion) is rather nonsense - but it could do with a lot of tweaking... and actual research not carried out by big businesses for profit.
If you're an MBTI fan, and you like the MBTI ~vibes~, and you want to dress like your MBTI, by all means go ahead. As long as you're comfortable - Dress however you want - Your fashion is yours to explore - that's the PBMIF philosophy, and always will be.
The PBMIF slogan isn't curiosity is the best outfit for nothing!
Rather, take a look at the Big Five Model of personality... What could this say about your fashion sense?
The Big Five model is one of the most popular models of personality. It concerns five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN)), as the measure of personality. A lot of research has been carried out on this model. The Big Five is predictive for things such as relationship satisfaction, education, and job performance, whereas the MBTI is not, at all. The model demonstrates replicability across different cultures and test-retest reliability. The Big Five is currently the dominant model of personality in the literature (Feher & Vernon, 2021).
The Big Five is a self-report personality test. There are 50 short statements to answer. Your results will be displayed in a bar chart showing the level of each trait. There are five traits. The lower the bar, the lower the trait.
Stolovy (2021) explored the relationships between clothing practices, personality, and body image among Israeli women using the Big Five model. 792 surveys were received from women from both urban and rural areas in Israel, with a mean age of 42 years. Two thirds of the sample were married women, and just over half were mothers. Over 80% of participants stated that they had an academic degree, and a majority considered themselves as non-religious.
The researcher found that:
Conscientiousness was related with a classic style of dress; formal, conventional and representative. Do you dress formally? Conscientiousness is associated with organisation, punctuality, and reliability.
Those who scored low on agreeableness were related with a unique style of dress. Agreeableness is associated with a person’s tendency to put others’ needs above their own, warmth, and cooperation. Considering this, it is more likely that these participants did not care what others thought about their style.
On the other hand, extraversion was related with an urban style of dress (playful and eclectic). According to the Big Five model, extraversion is associated with being a people person, outgoingness, and sociability in general.
Those who scored high on openness were related with an urban style of dress as well. Openness to experience is associated with creativeness and curiosity.
Does your style reflect your personality or maybe not...?
This study indicates that personality traits influence our clothing choices, and highlights the importance of the psychology of dress, a neglected area of research (Stolovy, 2021). It would be quite interesting to see this study replicated cross culturally, and with men as the sample.
Feher, A. & Vernon, P. A. (2021). Looking beyond the Big Five: A selective review of alternatives to the Big Five model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110002
Stein, R. & Swan, A. B. (2019). Evaluating the validity of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator theory: A teaching tool and window into intuitive psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12434
Stolovy, T. (2021). Styling the Self: Clothing Practices, Personality Traits, and Body Image Among Israeli Women. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.719318
Stromberg, J. & Caswell, E. (2015, Oct 08). Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5881947/myers-briggs-personality-test-meaningless