Big Five vs 16 types of personality
In the Big Five vs 16 types of personality question, the difference is the shape of the answer. The Big Five gives you a score on each of five traits, and each trait is a ruler on which most people sit near the middle. A sixteen-type system sorts you into one of sixteen boxes, built from four either-or choices. Most researchers who study personality work with the Big Five, because a ruler keeps what a box throws away, and the type view on this site is made from your Big Five answers for that reason.
The two systems side by side
| What | Big Five | Sixteen types |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A score for each of five traits | A code of four letters, one of sixteen |
| How it is shaped | Rulers: most people sit near the middle | Boxes: each pair of letters puts you on one side |
| Where it comes from | Research that grouped the ways people describe themselves into five broad traits | A theory of types by Carl Jung, turned into questionnaires |
| On this site | Three tests with 10, 50 and 120 statements | A view of your Big Five answers, with no questions of its own |
| When you take it again | The scores move a little | A letter can flip if a trait was near the middle |
How the Big Five is built
The Big Five describes five broad traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. You answer statements about yourself, the answers for each trait are added up, and you see where you stand on each ruler. The Big Five test here uses the IPIP-NEO-120, a public-domain questionnaire[1]. The page on the Big Five traits explains each one in plain words.
How the sixteen types are built
A sixteen-type system asks four questions and gives each a letter. E or I is outgoing or quiet, S or N is down-to-earth or open to new things, T or F is direct or warm, and J or P is organised or easy-going. Four pairs with two sides each make sixteen combinations, and the combination is your type.
The best known such questionnaire is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a commercial test of which this site is not a part. The 16 personality types test here is not that instrument. It asks nothing of its own and gives no type names. It re-reads your Big Five answers in the form people who know type codes expect.
- E or I is read from your extraversion, S or N from your openness, T or F from your agreeableness and J or P from your conscientiousness.
- Neuroticism has no letter, because a type code has four pairs and the Big Five has five traits. It stays in your Big Five result.
- We have not checked the research on how closely the two systems agree, so we claim nothing beyond this pairing.
Why a box can lose information
Most people sit near the middle of most traits. On a ruler that is easy to see: you are a little to one side of the middle, or a little to the other. In a box system the middle has to be cut in two. Two people who are almost the same can get different letters, and two people with the same letter can be far apart, one just over the line and one at the far end.
That is also why a letter can change when you take a test again. Your answers on a dial near the middle could have gone either way on another day. The type view on this site shows both letters for a dial that close to the middle, and it shows the four rulers first and the code last.
What each one is good for
- The Big Five is the better tool when you want a detailed picture of yourself, something you can compare with your own result in a few months, and something that researchers use too.
- A type code is handy as shorthand and as a way into a conversation. A single code is easy to remember and to share, which is much of its appeal.
- Neither tells you what job you should do, whether a friendship will work or how you will act in a particular situation. People are more varied than any set of scales, and situations matter.
Which one to take first
- If you have a few minutes, take the quick personality test for a first sketch of the five traits.
- If you want a steadier picture, take the personality test, and if you want the most detail, take the Big Five test, which looks at each trait from six sides.
- Then open the 16 personality types test to see the same answers read as four dials and a code.
- Compare the two views, and notice which dials were close to the middle.
On how far any online questionnaire can be trusted, see the guide on whether online tests are accurate.
Questions
Is the Big Five better than the sixteen types?
For a detailed and steady picture of yourself, most researchers prefer it, because a score on a ruler keeps what a box throws away. A type code is a convenient shorthand, and no more.
Is the 16-type view on Selfspecs the same as the MBTI?
No. It asks no questions of its own, gives no type names and follows no publisher's scoring. It reads your Big Five answers in the form of a type code.
Why does the Big Five have five traits when types have four pairs?
Because the two systems were built separately. The fifth Big Five trait, neuroticism, has no pair in a type code, so it has no letter.
Can my type change?
A letter can change between two results if your answers on that dial were close to the middle. The dials themselves move far less than the letters do.
Sources
- Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89.doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003