Interview with JPT™ founder and editor Thomas G. Carskadon
On the creation of the JPT . . .
At that first MBTI® conference in 1975, fascinating ideas were
flying through the air literally faster than I could write them down.
One question after another begged for research, and that research
would be more likely if there were a place to put that research.
And thus the idea of the Journal of Psychological Type was born.
Until that point what had been published was scattered across 93
different journals, 86 percent of which had published no more than
1 or 2 such articles in their entire history.
Meeting Isabel: The early days of the JPT . . .
I still remember vividly my first meeting with Isabel Myers. A small group of us got together at the
Student Mental Health Center at the University of Florida during one of her visits. She was well
into her seventies: a short, thin, almost frail looking woman with long gray hair. But she spoke
with a quiet passion, and an energy that made her glow. Cross Mary Poppins with the "Little Old
Lady from Pasadena" (of the famous Jan and Dean song), stir in a passionate humanity and a
genuine intellectual genius, and you have my first impression of Isabel Myers.
Support of Isabel's vision for the MBTI instrument . . .
People remember Isabel Myers as a brilliantly insightful theorist, and the indomitable senior author
of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® instrument; but sometimes they neglect to remember her as a
scientist. Isabel conducted extensive, exhaustive research. Most of it was done before the days of
computers or even sophisticated electronic calculators. Isabel did an astonishing amount of her
early work by herself, by hand. Long before it could be said of most of psychology, Isabel Myers
was a number cruncher and a data hound!
For every assumption we make, for every tenet of type theory, for every psychometric nuance of
the Indicator, we must ask, "How do we know? What is the evidence?" Isabel Myers understood
that. In that way, the journal carries on her work.
I believe that the journal has supported Isabel Myers' vision for the Indicator, and it has done so
through the work of an extraordinary group of authors, more than 450, representing more than
200 different institutions, including many of the finest universities and organizations in the world.
What types of research does the JPT seek?
One of the foremost strengths of the Indicator is that it cuts across so many different fields, so
really the answer to your question is all types of research and applications! If you have data, we
want to see it! New forms of the Indicator have been developed. I would like to see many of the
classic studies redone with the new and improved instruments we now have. I would like to see
not only applications of psychological type-which we have always welcomed-but also applications
with relevant data. Ethical use of the Indicator requires development, knowledge, and use of the
research base underlying its applications. Information about submitting research.
The future of the Journal of Psychological Type . . .
With a proven product that has stood the test of time for nearly three decades, the journal is the
only peer reviewed scholarly journal devoted specifically to psychological type and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument that is part of the prestigious PsycInfo system of the American
Psychological Association.
With support from the Myers & Briggs Foundation, the journal's new publisher, the Center for
Applications of Psychological Type, has come up with a new format, which looks great in print
and on the computer screens of subscribers. And now that the journal is published electronically,
subscribers receive a new research or application article in a timely manner every month!
The future of the journal is in the hands of our subscribers and the researchers who collect
and analyze the data, and the professionals who write about applications and uses of the MBTI
instrument. Join this growing coalition.
