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John Neely

(978) 745-4878
john@hawthornemedia.com

CPP Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Myers-Briggs Assessment

Created in 1943 by Isabel Briggs Myers to Improve Home-Front Productivity

October 28, 2003

Palo Alto, CA -- CPP, Inc., exclusive publisher of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) instrument, the world's most popular personality assessment, is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the MBTI instrument's creation.

In 1943, in Philadelphia and Washington, the mother-daughter team of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, self-schooled in Jungian psychology and personnel management, put the finishing touches on the new personality assessment tool.

Different people receive and process information and relate to the world around them in very different ways. The Myers-Briggs instrument is the premier assessment tool for understanding individual personality differences (everyone has one of 16 type preferences) and applying that understanding to the ways people work and interact.

In early 1942, Isabel felt she could and should do something to help the home-front war effort. As she wrote to her mother, an "improved device to place the worker in the proper niche, keep him happy, and increase production" could be of great value both while the war lasted and during the expected demobilization. It was late in 1943 that Isabel completed the creation, testing and validation of their breakthrough psychological assessment tool. Isabel would spend her remaining 37 years refining the instrument named after her mother and herself and creating new applications.

About the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Assessment

The MBTI® assessment is the most widely used personality instrument. More than 2 million are used worldwide each year by individuals and organizations, including 89 of the Fortune 100. CPP, Inc., offers more than 75 publications and tools to aid in understanding and applying assessment results. The Myers-Briggs assessment must be administered and interpreted by a qualified practitioner. Completing the MBTI questionnaire online or on paper takes 15 to 25 minutes.

For more information about the origins and history of the MBTI instrument, subscribe to CPP's free TYPEwriter newsletter; visit The Myers & Briggs Foundation at www.myersbriggs.org; or read Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers with Peter B. Myers and Katharine and Isabel by Frances Wright Saunders, both available from Davies-Black® Publishing, an imprint of CPP, Inc. To subscribe to TYPEwriter or order books, call 800-624-1765.

About CPP, Inc.

CPP, Inc., is the exclusive publisher of the Myers-Briggs instrument. For 45 years it has been the leading provider of assessments administered by professionals focused on meeting individual and organizational development needs. The company publishes assessments and training tools for a variety of applications, such as leadership development, coaching, teambuilding, career management, and retention. CPP's products and publications are available directly from CPP and through thousands of professional counselors and consultants worldwide.

To learn more about the Myers-Briggs assessment and CPP or to learn how to become a qualified MBTI practitioner, visit www.cpp.com.

MBTI, Myers-Briggs, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are registered trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust. The CPP logo is a trademark of CPP, Inc.