About Personality Types

What personality traits do we share? Where do we differ?

Personality typing attempts to answer these questions by quantifying a person's personality based on gradations in respect to certain attributes. People who hold similar attributes are grouped together, while those who differ are placed in another group.

I was introduced to personality typing through David Keirsey's Please Understand Me. His book discusses the different Myers-Briggs personality types and divides them into four temperaments. I found the descriptions of the different temperaments to be helpful in understanding how people approach life differently.

A myriad of systems exist to type a person's personality: The Ancient Greeks developed a system based on the four humours (melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine). Over 5000 years ago, Indians started the Ayurvedic approach, which includes dietary suggestions for each type (vata, pitta, kapha). The psychologist William Sheldon created personality system based on a person's bodily shape(endomorph, exomorph, mesomorph).

Of the many theories, I found the following to be the most helpful in understanding myself and others:

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)
• Socionics
• Enneagram

With any personality system, the type descriptions give common tendencies for the individual, while the complete individual extends beyond any definition. Each individual is shaped by their culture and experiences as well as their personality types.

Remember, at its best, personality typology can be used to improve our relationships with others, allowing us to grow in both self-understanding and in our acceptance of others. We learn to extend beyond our habitual way of approaching the world, acknowledging that others approach the world differently.

However, personality typology should be used ethically. It should not be used to manipulate others and it should not be used to judge others like "He's an INFP, so he's an idealist. His ideas do not work in the real world."