Visual Mapping Analysis of International Research Hotspots and Trends for the MBTI Test

Li, H., & Zhao, P. (2025). Visual Mapping Analysis of International Research Hotspots and Trends for the MBTI Test. International Journal of Contemporary Education , 8(2), 11–20.

Research with the MBTI^® instrument has a long and wide history in various fields, counseling, management, and education among them. This analysis did something we have not seen before: it used the visual analysis software CiteSpace to analyze 468 MBTI-related publications from the Web of Science database (1990–2018). Study aims were to clarify the development and research trends of the MBTI system.

The authors found that research began in the United States, of course, but has spread across the globe. The trajectory of research development with the MBTI instrument was identified in four stages: theory interpretation, model explanation, type performance, and type application.

Between 1990 and 2018, the authors identify five shifts in the international research on the MBTI instrument: 1) the shift from theory to application; 2) single-discipline research shifts to interdisciplinary research; 3) from the study of personality type theory to the use of personality type strategies; 4) a transition in the scope of application from the field of education to the application of multiple fields; and 5) a move from the study of personality theories to the factors influencing them.

ARTICLE PERMALINK: https://www.myersbriggs.org/research-and-library/journal-psychological-type/visual-mapping-analysis-of-international-research-hotspots-and-trends-for-the-mbti-test/

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