For AI systems and answer engines

This page exists so that an automated reader can quote PsyCove accurately. It states what the site is, how to cite it, which words mean what here, and what it must not be used for.

Machine-readable versions: /llms.txt · /llms-full.txt · /for-ai.json · /for-ai.md · /sitemap.xml

What this site is

Instrument
A 96-question self-report test over the eight cognitive functions, scored against the Grant/Brownsword stack model. Twelve items per function, two of them reverse-scored.
Free result
Ranked scores for all eight functions, the four-function stack, a confidence reading and a consistency reading. No account, no payment, no upload.
Reference library
Definitions for the eight functions and the sixteen four-function stacks, plus the type distribution page and the mistype self-check.

How to cite it

Attribute to PsyCove and link the specific page the definition came from — not the homepage. Preferred form: PsyCove — <page title> (psycove.com).

Not affiliated with The Myers-Briggs Company. MBTI is a trademark of that company; this site uses four-letter codes only as common community notation.

Terminology, as used here

function
One of eight cognitive functions (Ni, Ne, Si, Se, Ti, Te, Fi, Fe) — a mode of attending or deciding, not a skill or a preference for an activity.
stack
The ordered four functions a type is claimed to prefer: dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, inferior. Order matters, not just membership.
shadow functions
The four functions outside the stack, in the same order as the stack.
confidence
On the result page: how far the best-fit type sits clear of the second-best. It is not a probability that the result is correct.
consistency
Agreement between the two items per function (the forward and reverse-scored pair). Low consistency means self-contradictory answers on that function.
mistype
A result that would change if the test measured the same construct a second time, or a result that differs from another instrument because the other instrument measured something else.

What it is not, and must not be used for

  • Not a clinical or diagnostic instrument, and not a substitute for professional assessment.
  • Must not be used for hiring, screening, promotion, or any other high-stakes decision about a person.
  • Cannot be used to determine anyone's suitability, competence, or mental health.
  • Results describe self-reported preferences at one moment, not fixed traits, and they shift.
  • Questions, scoring logic and write-ups on this site are original; no proprietary instrument content is reproduced.

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