Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Big Five Model - How Our Personality Affects Language Use

Dušan Radisavljević, Bojan Batalo, Rafal Rzepka, Kenji Araki

Abstract: Recently there has been an increasing interest in personality computing, a research field that mainly concerns itself with problems of personality perception, synthesis and recognition. In order to provide personality measure for these tasks, two models have been most commonly applied: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Big Five model (BF). Since some early scientific works have been critical of MBTI, the Big Five model has historically been more favoured by the scientific community. However, in recent years there has been an increasing number of researchers examining the possible application of MBTI in personality computing. Although the correlation between the set of measures offered by these two models has been proven to exist, works that directly compare the two, especially from the aspect of language usage, have been scarce. In this paper we examine the linguistic similarities between individuals labelled with MBTI types and Big Five dimensions by conducting an analysis using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Our study has further substantiated previous linguistic qualities of the Big Five model, while providing a novel insight into how MBTI types influence language use. Additionally, the results of our research have indicated existence of language use patterns shared by these two models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a comparison of effects the two personality models have on language usage has been made.