The way you run may be linked to your personality type, according to a new study.
The Myers–Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a popular test that is designed to identify a person's personality type, strengths and preferences. Now, an international team of researchers suggests the MBTI inventory can help you understand your running style.
For the study, 80 runners were asked to complete three randomized 50m running trials at different speeds. The researchers, including scientists at the Volodalen SportsLab in France, analyzed how the different runners moved during these trials.
They also assessed the athlete's personality traits using the MBTI test, which categorizes people in four ways: extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving.
The team noticed the sensing-intuition branch specifically appeared to link to running style. 'Intuition' runners appear to use their legs as springs in a 'stretch-shortening' running style, with a more dynamic and elastic running form.
Meanwhile, 'sensing' runners seemed to favor a more earthbound running style, propelling themselves forward rather than upwards.
The MBTI test suggests that sensing individuals may be more likely to focus on concrete facts and physical realities, while 'intuitive' individuals emphasize abstract concepts and patterns of information.
"Sensing runners might describe their running form as: 'I run very close to the ground to save as much energy as possible' ", paper author and sports scientist Aurélien Patoz of the University of Lausanne told Newsweek.
"These individuals, according to the definition provided by the MBTI, should pay attention to physical realities and prefer practical and specific facts—preferably something they could perceive with their physical senses," he added.
"The 'physical contact' down-to-earth aspect of this personality trait seems to be reflected in both the mind and running form of sensing runners."
In contrast, Patoz said, intuition runners "might describe their running form as: 'I spend energy to fight against gravity because I can use my leg springs to recover energy from each step' ".
He added: "These individuals, according to the definition provided by the MBTI, should pay attention to the meaning and patterns of information, prefer abstract concepts and theories, and make unconscious connections across their disciplines of knowledge."
"Hence, individuals with a more dynamic and elastic running form should focus on abstract things."
According to the researchers, there may be a correlation between people's personality traits and their preferred movement patterns. Previous research has linked extraverted personality types with certain postures when sitting down.
The research is based on a theoretical framework called embodied cognition, which suggests there is a close relationship between the cognitive process in the brain—such as how we perceive things—and our physical bodies.
Embodied cognition suggests that our cognitive processes—like memory, processing speed, attention and spatial recognition—are influenced by our body's interactions with the physical environment.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person's personality type. The questionnaire was developed by Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs based on their work with Carl Jung's theory of personality types.
According to the MBTI, individuals fall on a continuum between four different dichotomies, for example, extraversion versus introversion. However, the test suggests individuals have a dominant preference in each of the four categories, which results in one of the sixteen possible personality types.
Although it is widely used, scientists have questioned its validity due to a lack of nuance, unconscious bias and empirical data.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
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Update 04/05/24, 7:57 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comments from Aurélien Patoz.
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