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Personality

Knowing about your own personality and that of the people you meet can be extremely interesting and helpful, both in terms of its impact on your self-awareness and self-growth and on the quality of your relationships with others. For further comment on the value of understanding personality issues see Personality on the Personal Development track.

On the present Theories track we look more closely at methods of assessing personality, and focus on a specific method, viz. the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This popular method is based on the research of Carl Jung, Katharine C. Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, and it uses a questionnaire to enable subjects to record their preferences and so determine their personality 'type'.

Key Elements of MBTI

The MBTI scheme is based on four pairs of personality characteristics, leading to 16 distinct personality types (see illustration above). The four pairs are as follows:

• Extraversion (E) and Introversion (I)
  Extraverts focus on the outer world and other people; introverts focus on the inner world and their own company.
• Sensing (S) and INtuition (N)
  Sensing people take in information largely through the five senses; iNtuitives operate in a more global way, taking in information as a whole and being oblivious to fine detail.
• Thinking (T) and Feeling (F)
  Thinking people make decisions ruled by their head; Feeling people make decisions ruled by their heart.
• Judging (J) and Perceiving (P)
  Judging people like to be organised and complete their projects on time; Perceiving people are more flexible and like to keep their options open.

Having completed the MBTI personality assessment a person will establish their particular 'type' in terms of four letters from the above, such as 'ENFJ'. The particular combination will signify a specific type of personality, set of behaviour characteristics, etc. The Temperament Sorter II, originally developed by Keirsey, is based on the MBTI scheme, and access details are provided below.

Further Information

For further information about personality and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator see:

Great Ideas in Personality - Theory and Research
Personality Theories by Dr C George Boeree
Temperament Sorter II

	Page last modified: 4 March 2005