For the past few years, MBTI, which stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, has been the most trending topic among the younger generations and even used as a marketing source in South Korea. MBTI is a self-reported personality type test tool which was first designed in 1944 by Myers and Briggs based on the psychological typology of Carl Jung. Explaining the relationship between personality traits and behavior through 16 personality types, the indicator became popular with the success of a website called 16 Personalities which provides an online abbreviated test. Due to the success, similar forms of online psychological testing have emerged on various websites, becoming a topic of light conversation and self-introduction tool.
According to a survey of 50 Ewha students from May 18 to 29 conducted by Ewha Voice, all respondents disclosed that they have taken an online psychological test or personality test more than once. 57.8 percent of respondents answered that they think the results of the tests fits more than 80 percent of their actual personality while only 2.2 percent of respondents thought the results account for less than 40 percent.
Moreover, 75.5 percent of respondents revealed they frequently take psychological tests because they are fun and good to kill time. They also found it interesting to look at an analysis and explanations of themselves.
“I take the online MBTI test after every renewal, and other online psychological tests when they are trending in social media,” said Nam Yujin, a sophomore from the Division of Pharmacy. “It is fun to look at personality analysis of myself and share with others.”
Nam shared that MBTI is now one of the most popular conversation topics with her friends and she likes to search memes and type comparisons derived from MBTI results. She thinks the results can be used as an indicator to know a person’s personality better when meeting a them for the first time. However, she added that there needs to be much caution not to be overly immersed as it can lead to errors in generalization.
Waralee Niramitsiripong, a sophomore from the Division of International Studies, explained that she has immediately noticed the trend after coming to Korea from Thailand.
“From K-dramas and variety shows to casual everyday conversations, personality tests are mentioned very naturally, and sometimes even serve as icebreakers,” Niramitsiripong explained.
Niramitsiripong has never heard of any personality tests trending in Thailand, but she explained that the rise in the MBTI trend in Korea has influenced Thai people due to the popularity of Korean culture and K-pop. Since K-pop idols talk a lot about MBTI, many Thai fans may have cultivated interest in it. However, she expressed that it is hard to say that it has reached the point where it is generally trending in Thailand.
Beyond being used as a starter of everyday conversation, online psychological or personality tests are currently used by various companies to promote, market, and analyze consumers.
Poomang, a company which produces and provides various kinds of online personality, personal taste, and psychological tests has collaborated with companies willing to promote themselves with trending online personality tests.
Ryu Seungjoon, the CEO of Poomang introduced the company as an online psychological test making and sharing platform. Regarding the test production process, Ryu stressed that the top priority is to look at what the participants would like to know about themselves through the test.
“The most important thing to consider in psychological test production is the purpose,” Ryu said. “After setting the purpose of the test, we decide which psychological measurement to base on among scales such as MBTI, Big5. Then, we produce questions and result types.”
Ryu explained two reasons why many companies use online psychological tests as marketing tools: high exposure and positive image generation.
“Promotion using psychological tests has advantages in exposing the company as people voluntarily participate, and they share tests with people around them,” Ryu explained. “Moreover, this can create a good brand image for people as they get useful results from the test.”
Ryu explained that analyzing and sharing one's own personality is a desire that people have had for a long time. He believes that people’s needs have converged with many tests derived from MBTI as people think the indicator informs people about themselves more accurately than other typologies.
In addition, Ryu expressed that the trend of psychological testing is not just a once-occurring trend, but is expected to continue. It will develop further in the future because it is thought that there is enough demand to be used steadily as a marketing factor.