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Personality Type: An Owner’s Manual by Lenore Thomson
Thomson has years of experience both writing about theology & psychoanalysis and teaching university courses on psychological type. She brings her wealth of experience to this comprehensive book on Myers-Briggs Type. She uses commonly known cultural figures and familiar cartoon strips to provide examples of a cognitive process or type. If you are a trekkie and love type, you’ll definitely relate to her examples.
She shows a depth of understanding of the 16 types and the 8 cognitive processes. It is a meaty read, enthralling and dense with information, insight, and perspective.
(more…)Which Myers-Briggs Type says “It depends”?
It depends!...on their psychological make-up. I considered Myers-Briggs Type®, Temperament, and cognitive processes while thinking this through.
For the past few years I’ve thought that mostly the Artisan Temperament uses that phrase frequently. Yesterday I gained new insight while reading Personality Type: An Owner’s Manual by Lenore Thompson Bentz.
Why might you care? (more…)
Ask a Type or Temperament Question
I’d be delighted to respond to your questions or comments regarding understanding or applying the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, Type Theory, and Temperament Theory in your personal and/or professional life. Post your comment or question below.
You can expect a 1 word to 3-5 paragraph response within a reasonable timeframe. Consider this a give and take of ideas since no one is an “expert” on the mysterious complexity and adaptability of any human being.
Intro to Myers-Briggs® Type and Temperament
What kind of person are you? How well do you know your team?
Type theory and temperament theory are two of the most useful models for developing self-awareness and appreciation of personality differences. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI), a questionnaire used to self-assess psychological type, is one of the most widely used personality instruments.
These are invaluable tools for:
- Personal mastery
- Executive coaching
- Team performance
- Sales effectiveness
- Problem solving
- Organizational development
Type and temperament will help you understand why you are more comfortable working independently or with others. You will understand why you get along so well with one person, but can’t seem to click with someone else. And you will understand and appreciate these differences, so you can be more effective as an individual or as a member of a team.
Type theory is based on the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung. Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, elaborated on Jung’s ideas. Type theory has been researched, developed, and applied for over 50 years.
Jung observed that people exhibit differing, yet predictable patterns of behavior. These differences are caused by the different ways we use our minds. Jung theorized that when we use our minds, we are always doing one of two things: taking in information (or perceiving), or organizing and making decisions based on that information (or judging).
Jung also noticed that there are two kinds of perceiving, and two kinds of judging. We take in information through our sensing and through our intuition. We make judgements based on our thinking (objective analysis) and on our feelings, or values. Sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling are called functions, or mental processes.
We use these mental processes in both the external world (which Jung called extraversion) and in the internal world (which Jung called introversion).
All of us use all of these mental processes in both the external and internal worlds every day. The differences in our personality can be attributed to our preferences for one mental process over another.
Four Dichotomies
Where do you get your energy?
Extraversion
Introversion
How do you prefer to process information?
Sensing iNtuition How do you prefer to make evaluations and decisions?
Thinking Feeling How do you prefer to interact with the environment?
Judging Perceiving According to Jung, each of us has a preference for extraversion or introversion. We direct our focus, or draw our energy, primarily from the external world or the internal world. We also have a preference for one of the perceiving functions. Either we prefer to take in information from our senses (sensing), or by looking at patterns, relationships, and connections between facts (intuition). We also prefer to evaluate that information, or make decisions about it, based on logic and objective reasoning (thinking), or based on our personal values and the impact on people (feeling). Note that feeling does not mean emotions, and that both thinking and feeling are rational means of making evaluations and decisions.
Finally, we have a preference for perceiving or judging, which gives us our preferred way of interacting with the environment, or our basic orientation toward the world. Note that perceiving doesn’t mean perceptive, but a preference for gathering information. Judging doesn’t mean judgmental, but a preference for making decisions.
Your preferences are revealed by the MBTI, and are indicated by a type code. A preference for extraversion is indicated by an E, introversion by an I, sensing by an S, intuition (because the “I” has already been used for introversion) by an N, thinking by a T, feeling by an F, perceiving by a P, and judging by a J. Thus, someone with a preference for extraversion, sensing, thinking, and judging would have a type code of ESTJ.
There are sixteen possible combinations of the four preferences, which reveal sixteen personality types. Understanding your type and the types of other important people in your life can help you to make the best of your personal and professional relationships.
Temperament theory was developed by David Keirsey about the same time as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Keirsey drew on a long history of personality theory to identify four basic patterns of behavior, or temperaments. Each of the temperaments maps to four of the sixteen types identified by Myers and Briggs. Each model helps to clarify and enhance the other.
The four temperaments are:
Idealist
Idealists are motivated by a need for meaning and significance. They have a talent for bringing people together, and helping them develop.Guardian
Guardians have a need for belonging and responsibility. They are skilled at logistics, and maintaining useful traditions.Rational
Rationals seek mastery, knowledge, and competence. They have a talent for strategic analysis, planning, and model building.Artisan
Artisans seek the freedom to act, and to see tangible results. They are gifted at using whatever is available to make things happen.Type and temperament theory are much richer—and incredibly more useful—than might be suggested from this brief introduction. To learn more about type theory, temperament theory, or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, please visit the publisher of the MBTI, CPP or Type Resources.
Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey
PUM I was my introduction to type and temperament in the late 80s and I’ve been a Myers-Briggs and Temperament fan ever since. The chapters on Temperament in relationship, parenting, and leadership are chock full of good examples. Myers-Briggs explanations are on target as well. You will refer to it time and again.