Dental students' personality: a Jungian perspective

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was employed to measure the nature and strength of dental students' various basic preference in perceiving and making judgments. The MBTI yields four sets of scores--extrovert-introvert (E-l), sensing-intuitive (S-N), thinking-feeling (T-F), and judging-perceptive (J-P)--and represents 16 personality types that define these preferences. The sample consisted of five classes at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry (n = 217). The data indicated that the largest group (32 students) was ESFJ, while the next largest (30) was ESTJ. The least frequently represented groups were the INTP (3), the INFP (7), the INTP (7), and the ENTP (7). Dental students exhibited characteristics different from those of students in business, engineering, social work, medicine, and other fields. These findings have implications for admissions committee decisions as well as for the organization and curriculum of the dental school.