Types and tales : a study of four subjects' temperaments and the stories they tell

The study of a possible correlation between oral narrative style and Myers BriggsType Indicator (MBTI) personality type is a matter that, based on my rather extensive literature survey, has not been investigated. In my paper, I review a collection of literature to present a foundation for my research (e.g., Labov, 1972b; Polanyi, 1985;Seegmiller and Epperson, 1987; Weade and Gritzmacher, 1987). I also collect and report data from my own study, which presents work done with four subjects representing each of the four MBTI temperaments wherein the subjects' temperament types are compared with their oral narratives. The results of my study yielded no evidence to suggest thatMBTI types correlate with predictable narrative styles.